Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was the second rotten film of the MCU and tied with the first rotten MCU film Eternals as the lowest-ranked Marvel movie on Rotten Tomatoes. The MCU has been having a tough time ever since the end of the Infinity Saga after Avengers: Endgame, Marvel just hasn’t found any footing four years later. Even with the apparent success of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, the bad taste left by Quantumania is still there.
Fans and critics were not impressed by the third movie following Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and the Wasp/Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), to say the least, as there were problems across the board. The special effects were poorly rendered and obviously rushed, hurting the eyes of viewers.
No character arcs of any kind were present, leaving the characters stagnant with no development, and the same as when we started the movie. With too much exposition and too little of the fun from the past two Ant-Man films, Quantumania was simply meant to be a prologue to the main villain of the Multiverse Saga, Kang the Conqueror.
The movie doesn’t even do that very well, killing off the menacing Kang variant (Jonathan Majors) we meet trapped in the Quantum Realm. So the film has no bearing in the MCU, with no consequences or redeeming qualities.
But that could have all been changed if one thing had been different, and that’s if Scott and Hope had stayed trapped in the Quantum Realm, like Kang. In the finale act, Scott and Hope stay behind to keep Kang from escaping, and the Multiversal generator that allowed their friends to escape explodes, killing Kang and destroying itself, leaving Scott and Hope stuck behind in the Quantum Realm.
What looks like a game-changing move and a development that might affect the whole MCU is quickly and casually undone when their friends simply open a way back home with their own generator.
Leaving them behind would’ve added so much to the movie, and here’s how it would’ve been better for the MCU if Scott and Hope had stayed trapped in the Quantum Realm in Quantumania.
Created Consequences
As mentioned above, Quantumania has no bearing on the MCU. The movie’s events have no consequences outside of itself and make a rather dull adventure in the grand, interconnected universe built by Marvel. Having Scott and Hope stay stuck in the Quantum Realm would’ve made the movie more meaningful and likely affected other future MCU films, adding significance and value to the story and the characters.
Hope’s mother, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), was stuck in the Quantum Realm for thirty years, adding real consequences to her sacrifice in the first Ant-Man film in order to save lives. It becomes the focus of the second film Ant-Man and the Wasp as her husband Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), the original Ant-Man, spends much time trying with Scott and Hope to find her in the mysterious place between space and time.
Even though they had a way to get to her, they still had to find her in the infinitely small sub-reality. It should’ve taken years to find Scott and Hope, not seconds, and they would’ve had much to do while in the Quantum Realm.
Expand Knowledge of Quantum Realm and MCU
Scott himself was stuck in the Quantum Realm for five years, and while it felt like five hours for him because of the inconsistent laws of reality down there, Scott came back with the knowledge of how to use the Quantum Realm for time travel.
These five hours in the Quantum Realm shaped Avengers: Endgame, the biggest movie of the MCU and the second highest-grossing movie ever – Endgame was cheated out of the title of first by a re-release of Avatar in China earning just 0.1 billion more ten years after it was made, so really, these five hours were integral to the true highest grossing film of all time.
Imagine what Scott and Hope could’ve discovered while down in the Quantum Realm for however long, shaping the future of the MCU and movie history.
Continued Their Story Separately
Disney
The most significant impact if Scott and Hope had remained trapped in the Quantum Realm would’ve been on Scott and Hope themselves. A less-developed couple of the MCU would’ve been able to continue their story separate from the larger MCU for a while stuck down there, returning to the small roots of Ant-Man by literally getting smaller than ever before, exploring the exciting and unknown world that we never knew existed.
Scott and Hope could have become increasingly more knowledgeable about the origins of Kang and his time spent in the Quantum Realm as well. Of course, we will see plenty of Kang variants in the future, though the sacrifice from our two heroes would have made the payoff of their return home that much sweeter.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
