“Everyone’s Gonna Love This”: Why Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania’s Bad Reviews Shocked Marvel

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s bad reviews and mixed fan reception were reportedly a major shock to Marvel Studios. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s cast of characters included the introduction of Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite all the anticipation leading to the film’s release, the response to the movie included negative reviews and mixed reception from fans, leading to Marvel Studios being shocked by the film’s reception.

Speaking on The Watch podcast, MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios writer Joanna Robinson claimed that Marvel Studios thought the first of the MCU’s Phase 5 movies, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, would be a major success and was shocked by the movie’s bad reviews. According to Robinson, regarding Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Marvel thought, “Everyone’s gonna love this,” and was shocked when that was not the case. That negative surprise hurt the studio, with Robinson saying, “And then they were like, ‘Oh no, our internal barometer is not attuned to what people want anymore.'” Check out the full quote below:

“[Marvel Studios] is aware of what’s happening to their brand. My understanding, having talked to some people, is that ‘Quantumania’ really shook them, and I’m sure ‘Secret Invasion’ shook them further, but ‘Quantumania’ really shook them because they felt like they had something good. Because they all internally thought, ‘Everyone’s gonna love this.’ And then they put it out and people didn’t. And then they were like, ‘Oh no, our internal barometer is not attuned to what people want anymore.’ With ‘Quantumania,’ they were like, ‘We put out a banger.’ And then that’s not how a lot of people felt.”

Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania’s Criticisms Prevent A Major Avengers Problem

Avengers: The Kang Dynasty‘s story is set to either bring back Kang the Conqueror or the multiversal Council of Kangs introduced in one of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s post-credits scenes, or both. The lessons Marvel learned with the third Ant-Man should prevent a major Avengers problem. Kang the Conqueror is the MCU’s new main villain, replacing Thanos, and those are some big shoes to fill. The character was ultimately defeated too easily in a solo movie of an Avenger that does not stand as one of the MCU’s most powerful.

That was one of the most criticized aspects of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. With Avengers: The Kang Dynasty likely featuring multiple Kang variants, and perhaps the Conqueror himself, Marvel Studios needs to make the villain be feared again after his defeat to Ant-Man and the Wasp. Thankfully, the debut of Loki season 2 is already doing the work to make Kang be a fearful figure in the MCU again, with Tom Hiddleston’s God of Mischief speaking about the villain with nothing but utter fear, making up for the character’s early defeat.

Other Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania complaints, such as the movie’s VFX and world-building, should also be corrected by Marvel Studios. The MCU has been suffering from bad CGI in recent years, but with several movies getting delayed and Marvel reworking how it produces TV series, that aspect should be corrected in the near future. As for world-building, Marvel tried to pack too many concepts in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania instead of organically weaving them into the MCU. With Avengers: The Kang Dynasty being pushed back a year, Marvel can better space out the introduction of new lore and elements to the MCU.