Ant-Man 3 is proving to be a colossal disappointment for Marvel. The movie has grossed only $470 million worldwide on a $200 million budget till now, and the prospects of it reaching $500 million seem nonexistent. It has become the lowest-grossing film in the Ant-Man franchise as the first and the second movies grossed $519 and $622 million respectively.
Marvel fans have complained about the VFX and writing of the film since it was released. Now, Jeff Loveness, the writer of the film has revealed that there were even more writing issues that plagued the third entry in the Ant-Man franchise.
Jeff Loveness Reveals Janet Van Dyne’s Deleted Superpowers Scenes
Jeff Loveness, the writer of Ant-Man 3, sat down for an interview with Backstory Magazine and revealed that Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) was going to have phasing and healing powers. He explained that they were originally going to be explored and used more in the film, but it was all deleted because test audiences were confused by it. Loveness expressed:
“Janet’s got obviously those healing properties, but I looked it as more of like, less healing, and more of like, ‘Oh, she’s got a bit of that inter-dimensionality phasing as well, and she was able to almost like stabilize Ava.’ We wrote that. It was in there, and I think it was just confusing the viewers in our test screenings like, ’Wait, she has phasing powers?’”
Viewers of Ant-Man 2 or Ant-Man and The Wasp will remember that Janet Van Dyne used her healing powers to cure Ghost. It looks like those powers along with an added phasing ability would have played a role in the third film. But where was that power coming from? As per Loveness, it came from her touching Kang’s multiversal engine core.
“It (Janet’s powers) came from the core, actually, when she touches it, and steals it from Kang, and they’re in that big fight scene. When she blows the core, and she’s like grabbing for it, that almost like gave her those powers.”
However, Loveness stated that there’s a scene in the film when Janet and Hank first land in the Quantum Realm where her powers are sneakily depicted. He said:
“There’s a part where like they just landed in the jungle and Janet pushes him against the tree and says like do not move, and the light goes over them, I think it’s clever editing, but in the script, that was like, she phases them out of sequence, and so the scanner misses them.”
Loveness further said that he was also planning on exploring her trauma and explained that she didn’t have proper control over her abilities because being in the Quantum Realm made them more unstable. However, Marvel fans were incensed at the writer revealing that he and the makers had again stripped away meaningful character development from a character.
Marvel Fans Are Angry At Ant-Man 3 Writer
Fans of the Ant-Man franchise and the MCU are upset at Jeff Loveness’ explanations regarding Janet can Dyne not using her powers in the Quantum Realm. They also think that the makers should have at least used a throwaway line to explain what’s going on with her abilities. After all, Ant-Man 3 was a Janet van Dyne film in more ways than one, if they had fleshed out her character fully, at least there would have been one character in the cast who was written well.
Here’s what the fans are saying:
Love the current trend since WandaVision of every writer blatantly addressing stuff like this and saying "uhhhhh…we kinda forgot about that"
— Jake | #FrogManSweep (@V2Jake) March 30, 2023
But then why don't adress it or something. Sure you could just pretend she has none and dont let her use powers. But they would come in handy. Why not write that she loses powers when she is gone from the realm for too long. I don't know. Just make something up iguess.
— FQuaerZ (@RsRoyy) March 30, 2023
The powers not being there confused me
— LTweets (@LTweets2018) March 30, 2023
'see, in order to enjoy my movie, I need to do 12 interviews where I explain stuff, it had nothing to do with my skill as a screenwriter…'
— Brooklynder (@timmrush) March 30, 2023
Wtf she got that in 2 and saved Ghost. Then Jeff removed it.
— JD7 (@Jd14762) March 30, 2023
Loveness has come under fire from fans before for trying to explain away every criticism of Ant-Man 3. Fans now think that he shouldn’t be in charge of writing Avengers: Kang Dynasty. However, it looks like they can only hope that the next Avengers film turns out better than Ant-Man 3.
Ant-Man 3 is still in theaters.
Source: Backstory Magazine
