Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have experienced a roller coaster of emotions following the cinematic sensation of Avengers: Endgame in 2019. For all intents and purposes, things looked bright for the next phase of the superhero franchise. Black Widow and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings kicked off Phase Four with relatively decent premieres, earning a top-10 Rotten Tomatoes freshness score of 91 percent for the former and a freshness score of 79 percent for the latter.
Then, to the dismay of Marvel fans everywhere, Chloé Zhao’s Eternals premiered with a soul-crushing 47 percent, becoming the first and only rotten MCU movie in its 13-year history. Since then, Phase Four has collectively whip-lashed the fandom with the box-office-breaking release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the disappointing and lackluster premieres of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder, and then the critically acclaimed Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Which brings us Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Marking the launch of Phase Five, the threequel had, by and large, received an overwhelming amount of praise in the weeks and months leading up to its premiere. Both its stars and Marvel’s president Kevin Feige called it a game-changing installment that would alter the fate of the MCU forever. However, while the movie does follow through on that specific promise, it breaks the hearts of Marvel fans everywhere with its underwhelming performance. Early reviews for Quantumania suggest it landing near the bottom of the totem pole as one of the MCU’s worst-reviewed movies of all time.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is among the five worst-reviewed MCU movies of all time
Marvel’s reputation as the driving force of Hollywood’s box office numbers puts a great deal of pressure on its films to meet fans’ expectations. To be fair, even movies from the franchise’s first and second phases have fallen short in the eyes of critics, with Thor: The Dark World, Iron Man 2, and Avengers: Age of Ultron all landing in the bottom 10 worst-reviewed MCU movies on Rotten Tomatoes.
However, none of that compares to the struggle it has experienced in recent years, with four of its worst-reviewed movies of all time releasing consecutively in 2021, 2022, and 2023 – all from Phase Four. At the very bottom is Eternals with 47 percent. Right above that is Thor: Love and Thunder with 64 percent. Then, above that is Thor: The Dark World with 66 percent, followed by The Incredible Hulk with 67 percent.
Right now, early reviews for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania forecast it to land just above Eternals with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 53 percent. This is subject to change as more and more reviews come rolling in. For now, though, it’s safe to assume Quantumania will go on to become one of the MCU’s five worst-reviewed movies of all time according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania premieres in theaters on Feb. 17.
