The MCU begins to eat itself alive as ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ gets blamed for ‘Quantumania’

The autopsy on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is well underway to try and explain the many shortcomings that have seen it go down in the history books as the worst-rated Marvel Cinematic Universe movie ever on both Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaScore, an unwanted distinction it shares with Eternals.

There are many reasons why critics, crowds, and even franchise fanatics were left disappointed by the end result, but one of the most notable could be a recurring problem that’s dogged the title hero’s adventures since the very beginning. Peyton Reed was adamant that he didn’t want his threequel to be deemed as another inconsequential palate cleanser, but a bombshell new report from Vulture offers that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever being deemed as the priority may have seriously hampered Quantumania.

In speaking to several VFX artists and production crew members who wished to remain anonymous, one hit the nail on the head as to why so much of Ant-Man 3 felt rushed, sloppy, and little more than the MCU going through the motions.

“In terms of priority, Wakanda Forever was definitely at the top of the list. All the money went to that. All the best resources went to that. It’s understandable given the context — with Chadwick and everything and how well the first film did. But it did diminish the ability to carry Ant-Man all the way through.”

Another echoed almost the exact same set of issues, painting the picture of the Phase Five kickoff being relegated to the status of second-class citizen as Marvel rushed to complete two massive blockbusters at almost the exact same time.

“Wakanda Forever took precedence. It felt like the higher-up and supervisor roles were shifted around to put that on their plates and there was a smaller team working on Ant-Man. It was on the back burner — less of a pressing thing. Maybe the director had an idea of what he wanted, but he wasn’t 100 percent clear. We had a rough environment that we were sticking a few main characters in. At that time, we weren’t told where the characters should be in that environment. We were just going with what felt right.”

The people behind the CGI we all take for granted are without a doubt among the most overworked and underpaid names in the industry, but if they’re effectively being told that their best work needs to be focused towards another project, then Quantumania didn’t really stand much of a chance.