Marvel Studios’ dominant reign atop the box office mountain could be in jeopardy if it keeps this up. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is catching plenty of flack from both critics and even the fans who enjoyed the film. It follows the current trend of middling, unoriginal efforts from the once-mighty MCU.
It started with Eternals, which had been the worst reviewed of all Marvel’s films with its 47 percent rotten rating from critics. Not be outdone, Quantumania managed to tie that horrid score, according to Rotten Tomatoes. In between those two flicks, Kevin Feige and the rest of Marvel Studios gave the world the MCU’s answer to Jungle Cruise‘s shenanigans with Thor: Love and Thunder and the complete misfire that was Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Sure, audience scores help raise the Tomatometer, but even the most diehard fans have been less than impressed with the efforts.
Along with being tied for the lowest-rated MCU movie according to critics, Ant-Man’s unnecessary third adventure takes the prize for having the biggest second-week box office drop in Marvel Studios’ 15-year history. Of course, it’s still bringing in millions of dollars and the Disney Plus release should help right the ship, but the massive dip in ticket sales is a stark reminder that the MCU logo is no longer bulletproof.
Being the most recent of a franchise steadily dipping in quality, Quantumania is taking the brunt of the fans’ frustrations with Feige. Despite Ant-Man’s latest kicking off the MCU’s Phase Five, it has come to represent everything that audiences have hated about Phase Four. The memes continue to pour across Reddit and Twitter with no end in sight.
It’s not to say that director Peyton Reed’s third Ant-Man flick doesn’t deserve the ridicule. There was certainly nothing new or original about the plot or the characters. In fact, many viewers are drawing comparisons to Star Wars, what with the Quantum Realm’s assortment of alien creatures (or whatever they are) rebelling against the movie’s lone bright spot, Kang the Conqueror. Reed somehow managed to drop the ball with The Multiverse Saga’s linchpin villain, with Kang taking the title from Thanos. Then again, it’s a bad look for Kang when a would-be Avengers threat loses to the second-goofiest character in Marvel next to Taika Waititi’s Thor. Infinite variants or not, the MCU has painted itself into a corner with Quantumania’s ending.
Break out your light cycles
Certainly, there was nothing truly unique about Quantumania. Since the initial trailer was released, the comparisons to Sharkboy and Lavagirl, especially the uncanny resemblance between M.O.D.O.K. and George Lopez’s Mister Electric were spot on, but it goes beyond just the aesthetic of it all. There’s something about the entire experience that felt so…familiar. The Ant-Family is dragged into a world-within-a-world that Janet van Dyne knew all too well. They discover a powerful despot who rules with an army of faceless troops. Said despot needs a magical item to escape into the larger world…wait. That’s the plot of another Disney movie, Tron: Legacy. In fact, it’s almost identical to Tron: Legacy, but Quantumania’s soundtrack isn’t nearly as good.
Before you burn me at the stake, hear me out. At the heart of Tron: Legacy is the fractured relationship between an unintentionally absent parent and the child left behind. Tron features Kevin Flynn, who is held captive in the sentient computer world, the Grid, when his son, Sam, comes to his rescue. It just so happens Marvel doubled down on the “lost years” theme. Scott is desperate to reconnect with Cassie after missing five years of her life while he was trapped in his subatomic state. Then there’s Janet van Dyne, who disappeared into the Quantum Realm for 30 years, thus leaving a void between Janet and her daughter, Hope.
Of course, everyone has to go down the rabbit hole to reach their respective Wonderlands, and Quantumania borrowed that, too. In Tron, Sam goes to the abandoned Flynn’s Arcade, where he accesses his dad’s computer and steps into a trap that zaps him into the Grid. Replace the arcade with Hank Pym’s lab, where Cassie’s homemade tech triggers M.O.D.O.K.’s trap and drags the whole Pym-Lang clan into the Quantum Realm.
Once Scott and company reach the subatomic world, things align once again. When Sam arrives in the Grid, he discovers a world teeming with life. Likewise, the Ant-Family finds the Quantum Realm has sentient life of its own. Wouldn’t you know, both the Grid and the Quantum Realm have tyrannical overlords who view their kingdoms as prisons, just swap Tron’s Clu for Quantumania‘s Kang. There’s no denying the parallels here. The Conqueror (and God knows Marvel didn’t want us to forget Kang is a conqueror because it was used as either a noun or verb ad nauseam) even strikes a Clu-like pose on his rather similar-looking throne.
Even their motivations are strikingly similar. Both Clu and Kang need something from the outside world to escape said prisons; Clu needs Kevin Flynn’s disc while Kang needs the battery for his ship, which Janet had tried to destroy. Seeing his opening, Clu uses Sam to track down Kevin’s disc. In the Quantum Realm, Kang manipulates Scott into stealing the battery. Now that I think about it, Kang could have saved himself an awful lot of trouble by keeping his word to reunite Scott and Cassie and then sending them on their merry ways back home.
Not convincing enough? The similarities run deeper. Clu has spent years eradicating the Grid’s native population. It just so happens that Kang is doing the same, looking to wipe out the Quantum Realm’s natives who oppose his will. He plans to do the same in the real world and rallies his faceless troops with an epic speech. It just so happens that Kang has a rousing speech of his own all about leaving the Quantum Realm, which he delivers to his faceless troops.
Reed and company also borrowed characters from Tron: Legacy. Not even Bill Murray’s cameo as Krylar is original. He’s the guy who can get you anything in the Quantum Realm, but he’s only out for himself, so he betrays Janet and Han. That’s basically Tron‘s Zuse, a guy with all the connections in the right places who could be our heroes’ greatest ally. Yet, Zuse turns heel and sells out Sam and Quorra.
Then there are the characters. Kang and Clu we’ve covered, but they’re not the only copycats. Like Sam, Cassie is a rebel without a cause who often finds herself on the wrong side of the law. We even get to see them both arrested just to drive home the point. Playing the part of Kevin Flynn is Janet (and to a lesser extent, Scott). As Kevin was trapped in the Grid for decades, Janet was stuck in the Quantum Realm. The only difference is that she left for a short time. They each felt the sting of betrayal from their real villains. Where Kevin trusted Clu only to be betrayed, so too did Janet befriend Kang before she learned of his evil schemes.
In the end, Sam and Quorra narrowly stop Clu, and Sam uses Kevin’s disc to leave the Grid. Likewise, the Ant-Family narrowly stops Kang from leaving the Quantum Realm and using the battery to get home. Let’s not forget as Clu has Rinzler, who turns against his master, in the end, Kang’s righthand man is M.O.D.O.K., the former Darren Cross. Just as Rinzler remembered he was Tron in the nick of time, Cross leaves M.O.D.O.K. behind to join the fight against Kang at the last moment. At least Rinzler/Tron didn’t shout, “I am not a dick!” when got his redemption moment. Then again, Marvel does enjoy its “Bohner” jokes, so I guess Darren was keeping the tradition alive even when it needs to die.
Nothing new for Marvel
When it’s all laid bare, there’s no denying the similarities. Quantumania basically is Tron: Legacy with lame jokes. Blasphemy! Marvel would never stoop to such depths…right? Right?
This isn’t anything new. Ready your pitchforks and torches because Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings borrowed heavily from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It wasn’t quite as obvious as the Quantumania/Tron connection, but the major elements of Shang-Chi came straight from Hogwarts. Swap Voldemort for the Dweller in Darkness and Shang-Chi for Harry, and you’ve got the makings of a very similar story of the magical chosen one living among mortals and a fantasy realm hidden just below the surface.
Need the smart, non-romantic female who knows all the ins and outs of the fantasy world? Replace Hermione with Xu Xialing, and you’ve got that covered. What about the lovable, bumbling comic relief/sidekick who gets a mini plotline? Katy definitely made for a suitable Ron Weasley replacement. For that matter, Ben Kingsley’s Trevor is a hapless dimwit who’s great with fantastical animals…just like Hagrid. All Shang-Chi was missing was a fill-in for Draco Malfoy, but I wager we’ll see that in the sequel.
Don’t think that Marvel won’t pillage more family-friendly fantasy adventures. Maybe for the next Avengers entry, we’ll get Pirates of the Caribbean. I mean, Thor is already silly enough to make a convincing Jack Sparrow.