Marvel’s Ant-man and The Wasp: Quantumania is a family film in more ways than one, featuring couple Scott Lang, Hope Van Dyne, her parents Henry Pym and Janet Van Dyne, and Scott’s daughter Cassie as they try to fight their way out of the sub-atomic universe known as the Quantum Realm. But one member of the fam is definitely missing. Cassie’s mom Maggie, played by character actor (and American treasure) Judy Greer in the first two Ant-Man movies is conspicuously missing from the cast. So what gives? Is she out of the picture in more ways than one?
The obvious answer of course is, why would she be? Maggie was estranged from Scott during his stint in prison and married police officer Jim Paxton (played by Bobby Cannavale) in an attempt to create a normal life for Cassie (an objective that, as Cassie points out early in Quantumania, did not succeed). Despite Scott’s now widely recognized status as an Avenger by the time Quantumania begins, there’s still no reason for Maggie not to want to cling to her much more normal life far-removed from super-heroics and mad Titans.
As for why Cassie is currently spending more time with Scott (and Henry and Hope), that answer is two-fold. With Henry, Hope, and Janet all having vanished in the blip, and Scott having been trapped in the Quantum Realm, Cassie may just be electing to spend time with the people she missed during their five-year absence. And [mild spoiler] Cassie obviously has super-scientific aspirations of her own. The ability to hang out with the brilliant Henry Pym and Hope van Dyne as opposed to her mom and stepdad probably holds a lot of allure for Cassie (and they also seem to be forgiving of her indiscretions, like getting arrested).
While Maggie isn’t in Quantumania there’s no reason to believe she isn’t still in Maggie’s life. But the screenwriters and director didn’t see fit to include a cameo for Greer. And that may cost them.
An analysis on Rotten Tomatoes finds that films just do better if they include Judy Greer. Sometimes to a difference of almost 40 percent. Franchises like Halloween, Jurassic World, and Ant-Man all do better with Greer than without. We can’t say the current lackluster reviews are down completely to the lack of Greer in Quantumania, but we can say we think she may have helped.