Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is turning out to be quite the film; what was meant to be a groundbreaking turning point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Multiverse Saga has quickly achieved the unenviable accomplishment of landing the second worst Rotten Tomatoes score for a Marvel film. The jury’s still out on the popular vote, and will probably stay as such until the film’s release tomorrow, but one way or another, Quantumania will go down as a surefire conversation-starter.
There’s quite a bit packed into this movie; Cassie Lang starting her superhero journey, Kang’s threat getting ready to springboard into something more active, additional appearance from the likes of M.O.D.O.K. and the Freedom Fighters, and a more dramatic tonal shift than we’re used to seeing from the series.
Given so many new horizons, it’s fitting that in another life, it’s biggest inspiration may have been an MCU without “Ant-Man” in the title. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Quantumania director Peyton Reed responded to the similarities between his threequel and the original script for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which explored the grief that Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa faced in light of missing out on five years of his son’s life thanks to the Blip; a situation that Scott has found himself in since the events of Avengers: Endgame, and a conflict that we’re only now seeing him face.
“Well, the Scott-Cassie relationship has always really been the spine of the Ant-Man movies. He’s gotten sucked into this world — and certainly being an Avenger now is a big deal to Scott Lang — but his number-one priority in life is being a good father to his daughter. So the thing that all the movies inherited from the events of Avengers: Endgame was this five-year period. And for Scott, he lost a very crucial five years with his daughter. She’s now 18, and she’s no longer a little girl. She’s a young woman. So that seemed like really strong dramatic fodder for our movie.”
And we’d be wise to anticipate the theme of grief being a bit wider than this; fans have been gearing up for a major character death for some time now, given Kang’s imminent non-defeat at the very least, and with Scott himself remaining a prime candidate for the chopping block, audiences might just have the chance to explore some grief of their own.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will release to theaters on Feb. 17.
