Stealing from "Star Wars." Ignoring The Wasp. MODOK butt! Fans are seriously frustrated
with "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." The first big issue fans took
with "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" is the lack of Quantum
Realm rules. The entire premise of the Quantum Realm is that it is an unknown
location seemingly ruled by chaos. However, the film tries to reflect this by letting a bunch
of inexplicable things happen and not giving the audience any sort of explanation for the events.
While a few things were explained — like how the "ooze" let the characters understand every
language if consumed — that just left the other aspects of the Quantum journey that
were not even touched on even more confusing. For example, how could humans breathe air in a
subatomic atmosphere? It makes sense that the creatures who live down there have adapted to
their surroundings, but when Scott and company head to the Quantum Realm, they can all breathe
the air without their suits. One fan on Twitter even questioned how breathing was even possible if
the Quantum Realm is smaller than air molecules. "This isn't exactly ant science, is it?" One of the biggest gags of the film is the
introduction of MODOK. The man behind MODOK turns out to be a face that "Ant-Man" fans
will recognize from the franchise — Darren, played by Corey Stoll. Making Darren the person
inside the mechanism is a decent enough idea, especially since Marvel films love to bring
back familiar faces. However, the character ultimately ends up being little more than a big
joke and not much of a threat at all. What's more, the CGI for MODOK is incredibly bad, to the point
of being distracting. One fan on Twitter said, "There's LOTS of questionable CGI in this
one. MODOK in particular looked atrocious." Though the character is definitely supposed
to be hard to look at, there is no scenario in which he is supposed to be this ridiculous.
The character's visual representation makes it impossible to view him as a threat, too — even
more so because of the random, unnecessary nude shot the audience is surprised by when he is
fastened into his machinery. One fan asked, "What did I do to deserve
seeing MODOK butt naked?" MODOK is good for a few laughs but
is otherwise mostly a frustrating and forgettable character because of the
poor CGI and the unnecessary nudity. "It's a hole so deep, it cannot be filled." When Scott and his cohorts are pulled into the
Quantum Realm, they immediately get separated. This leaves Scott and Cassie searching for
Hank, Janet, and Hope. Having spent 30 years in the Quantum Realm, Janet knows the most out
of all of them and is their best bet to navigate their way through the chaotic environment.
Janet leads Hank and Hope to a bar of sorts, and fans of the "Star Wars" franchise may feel
familiar with this setting — especially because of its distinct similarities to the Mos
Eisley cantina in "Star Wars: A New Hope." In "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,"
creatures of all kinds are seen drinking together at the bar — just like in "A New
Hope." This led some fans to believe that the bar scene was further proof that
"Quantumania" was trying a little too hard to be like "Star Wars." One Twitter user
was upset about the similarities and tweeted, "Why was Quantumania just a weird Star Wars
rip off?!?! MCU baby, what is you doing" Another Twitter user noticed some similarities
with another popular MCU film, writing, "Quantum realm is basically star
wars x guardians of the galaxy." Though the creatures are not the same, and there
are certainly some unique elements, the energized music and overall setting were too similar
to the famous cantina scene for many viewers. One consistent theme throughout all of the
"Ant-Man" films is Scott's love for his daughter, Cassie. Their relationship is Scott's
motivation for everything he does in his life, and Scott does not hesitate to put
himself in harm's way if it means ensuring Cassie's safety. This is no different
in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." When Cassie and Scott are captured by Kang,
Scott is asked to use the Pym Particles to fix the energy source for Kang's ship so
he can escape the Quantum Realm. However, Scott refuses to do this because he does not want
to help Kang and act against Janet's instructions. Kang tries to torture Scott to get him to change
his mind, but he does not budge. His opinion quickly changes, though, when Kang begins
to torture Cassie and threatens to kill her. Kang torturing Cassie, though
not totally unexpected, is a low blow. Nothing in the world is
more important to Scott than Cassie, which is made clear by the scene where all of
the Scott possibilities are working together to acquire the energy source only in an effort
to save Cassie. A fan wrote on Twitter, "The 'for Cassie' scene with Scott's probability
variants forming an anthill had me bawling." Fans agree that Scott's love for Cassie
is the best part of the "Ant-Man" series, making the fact that he has to watch
her in pain all the more upsetting. Perhaps the most frustrating part of "Ant-Man
and the Wasp: Quantumania" is the anticlimactic third act, which finally showcases Kang's power.
Throughout the film, Kang is portrayed as this ominously powerful being. He can kill on command
and has seemingly unlimited strength that comes from his helmet and suit. Beyond that, he does not
hesitate to show this power off when he wants to get his way. It makes sense that when Kang fights
Scott the two are evenly matched — after all, Kang's suit is damaged and Scott's suit is still
intact. However, before Kang's suit is broken, it is ultimately the ants and MODOK that
take him down, which seems a bit silly. The ants were pretty advanced, as Hank explains, but it doesn't really seem like that — even
combined with MODOK's sneak attack — would be even remotely enough to beat the man
who has killed several Avengers. The way that Kang is ultimately defeated ends up feeling
more like a cop-out than a well-deserved victory. At the end of the film, Janet is able to open the
portal to get everyone home, but they have to move quickly. Hank and Janet jump through, followed
by Hope. However, Scott pushes Cassie through but stays back to keep Kang from getting out,
leading to an intense battle. When it seems like all hope is lost for Scott making it back, Hope
crashes through the portal at the last second and helps Scott take down Kang. However, the portal
closes, and Scott and Hope are left in the Quantum Realm…for all of two seconds, until Cassie reopens
the portal, allowing Hope and Scott to escape. The situation seems incredibly anticlimactic,
with no stakes or consequences that have any impact on the characters. They defeat
Kang, but instead of getting stuck there, giving Cassie and her grandparents a
chance to try to get them out over time, they are immediately able to
make it home. One fan tweeted, "The movie would've felt more consequential if
Hope/Scott were stuck in the quantum realm." It makes sense how Cassie was able to quickly
open the portal, but the pacing felt off. Even a brief scene of Cassie panicking and trying
to reconnect the device would have added some needed drama to the situation. For many fans, to
have Hope and Scott's sacrifice mean virtually nothing, as they are saved immediately, is
frustrating and narratively unsatisfying. "Easy-peasy."
One of the biggest criticisms comes from the film's lack of Hope
content. There is a lot of room made for Paul Rudd's Scott Lang to tap into the plot and his
emotional depth, while Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conquerer steals the show. Michelle Pfeiffer dives
into her role as Janet as she guides the family through the Quantum Realm. However, Hope, played
by actress Evangeline Lilly, is shoved to the side in favor of these other characters. Fans found
this pretty disappointing — especially since the film is supposed to be "Ant-Man and the Wasp," not
just "Ant-Man." One fan on Twitter said it best, "Evangeline Lilly as Wasp in #Quantumania felt
nonexistent or maybe I can articulate it by saying she was there physically
yet her presence wasn't felt." Another fan theorized on Twitter that Lilly
might've been shoved to the sidelines because of her vaccination views, which she publicly
talked about during the coronavirus pandemic. However, as the same user points out, Letitia
Wright, who took the lead in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," has similar views and
is in nearly every scene of her film. No matter what the reason, it is clear
that the Wasp is much less of a priority in this film and seemingly in the MCU
in general. Lilly has a lot of talent and brings a lot to the scenes she is in,
but she is not in nearly as many as she should be for it to be considered
an "Ant-Man and the Wasp" film. Though this is not a specific moment from
the film, we would be remiss if we did not mention how upset fans were upon the recasting
of Cassie. Everyone knew young Cassie from the first couple of films would be recast because of
the blip, but Kathryn Newton was not supposed to be Cassie. The role was supposed to be played by
Emma Fuhrmann, a young actress who played Cassie for a brief scene in "Avengers: Endgame." Her
emotional depth and resemblance to Rudd's Scott Lang were evident from just a short scene with
the two of them — so why did Newton play Cassie? When Fuhrmann was cast, Cassie's role was just a
small, bit part for one film. Now that Cassie has been given a more important role in the MCU,
the casting team at Marvel opted for someone with more experience and a more recognizable
name. Unfortunately, Fuhrmann was not told of this change directly, and many fans weren't
happy. In a Twitter post, one fan wrote, "Emma Furhmann, Cassie's actress from Endgame, was robbed of the chance of a lifetime
and found out about it the exact same way we all did – through the announcement on
social media. They didn't even tell her." The way it was handled is devastating
and leaves fans wondering if Fuhrmann would have been the better choice for the role.
