True to form, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s digital release is already mired in controversy. As is only appropriate for what has to be the most cursed movie in the MCU canon, given its terrible reviews, disappointing box office, and long-term impact on the franchise, the Paul Rudd threequel becoming available to buy or rent on VOD is being overwhelmingly overshadowed by two other issues: the bizarre lack of update on its Disney Plus arrival and the confusion around Jonathan Majors‘ future as Kang.
On March 25, the Creed III actor was arrested on alleged assault and harrassment charges, something which has not only led to Majors’ reputation taking a severe hit but also both his management and PR agency dropping him. Nevertheless, Marvel Studios itself is said to have no immediate plans to remove him from his all-important role as the Multiverse Saga’s big bad. Even if that is the case, however, the controversy surrounding Majors right now may be the secret reason behind Quantumania‘s curious Disney Plus delay.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever currently holds the record for the longest gap between a Marvel film’s theatrical and streaming release at 82 days. If Quantumania doesn’t arrive on D+ by May 10, however, it will steal that sequel’s crown — yes, that will mean the panned Peyton Reed effort will finally best the Oscar-nominated Ryan Coogler production in something, although in this case we’d rather it didn’t. Given that Disney has previously announced when an MCU flick was coming to streaming around a month prior, we can likely safely say Quantumania is going to break Black Panther 2‘s timeframe.
In that case, though, there was a clear reason for the delay — Marvel wanted to drop Wakanda Forever on the first of Black History Month. There doesn’t appear to be any such calendar-based reason behind the Ant-Man 3 strategy. That leaves it more than likely that the studio is simply sitting on Quantumania‘s streaming arrival until it has either made a clear decision on Majors’ future or else his legal team do as they claim they can and prove the actor’s innocence. After all, Majors was conspicuous in his absence from a recent Quantumania promo promoting its digital debut.
Given that Kang himself was marooned in the Quantum Realm for an age, it’s ironic that Jonathan Majors is now the apparent cause of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania being stuck in its own form of limbo.
