At the time of writing, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is still struggling to keep its head above water in the unwanted race to become the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s worst-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes, with director Peyton Reed’s threequel remaining a single perilous point above Eternals after clinging onto a 48 percent approval rating.
From the second the first reviews began flooding in, the knives were already being sharpened by the superhero franchise’s harshest critics, even if hardcore MCU fans are inevitably in staunch disagreement that Quantumania deserves to be aimlessly drifting around near the very bottom of the pile.
However, general audiences are siding much more with critics, after Paul Rudd’s third solo adventure piled misery on top of despondency to tie for the MCU’s worst-ever CinemaScore rating. Having been awarded a B, that puts it on the same lowly pedestal as Eternals for being the only two of Marvel Studios’ 31 blockbusters so far to have netted such a dismal consensus.
To add further insult to injury, one rung above in the B+ pantheon sit Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder, and Kenneth Branagh’s introductory outing for Chris Hemsworth’s Odinson. That means not only has the MCU delivered all three of its weakest Rotten Tomatoes performers in the last 13 months, but a trio of its most egregious CinemaScore failures, too.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 keeps facing more pressure by the day, then, with the focus now firmly – and incredibly ironically – on DC boss James Gunn to arrest the slide.
