Ant-Man 3 failed to deliver what it initially promised. The film which was believed to be a crucial addition to The Mutiverse Saga turned out to be an underwhelming venture for several reasons. It is now reported that Marvel Studios had higher expectations from the Paul Rudd movie. The studio initially believed the movie to be an outstanding hit before their hopes were shattered by the fans.
Being the pilot project of Phase 5 and the first one to introduce our next big baddie, Ant-Man 3 was supposed to be a very important project for The Multiverse Saga. However, the movie didn’t feel so on many levels. Although some might ignore the movie’s exorbitantly low RT rating, it still can’t be denied that the movie had uncountable flaws.
Also Read: Ant-Man 3 Concept Art Reveals MCU May Have Saved a Game-Changing Kang Superpower for Secret Wars
The performance of Ant-Man 3 was a shock to the studio
Following the unforgettable Avengers: Endgame experience, the MCU hasn’t been the same. From disappointing characters to some of the worst works of visual effects, almost every project was met with highly mixed responses. Be it the movies or the Disney+ shows, the quality of MCU content has undoubtedly suffered due to a series of poor creative decisions.
According to The Watch podcast with Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald, Marvel Studios had massive expectations from Ant-Man 3. They were shocked to see the responses received by the movie both from the audiences and the critics. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ended its theatrical run with $476 million and a basket of criticism for uncountable reasons.
Surprisingly, and unlike most MCU projects, the Paul Rudd movie also made its name on the list of projects that failed to cross the break-even point. The project was also unsuccessful in setting up Kang the Conqueror as the successor to Thanos. However, things got really out of hand when it was realized that introducing Kang in Ant-Man 3 was more of a blunder.
Where did Ant-Man 3 go wrong?
Even though there are some positive points about The Multiverse Saga of the MCU, most of it has been not very pleasant. Ant-Man 3 was supposed to set up Kang the Conqueror as the next big baddie of the MCU but what we got was extremely subpar. We were frequently told in the movie about how he is utterly ruthless and menacing yet, it failed to establish the feeling of dread in us.
Introducing such a big character in an Ant-Man movie also hurt both the villain and the movie. The Paul Rudd franchise was always known to handle smaller issues and the things that were more personal to Scott Lang and the team. However, Quantumania ruined it to a large extent as it was neither successful in being a very memorable event in the MCU nor a good Ant-Man movie.
On top of it, the lack of character development and catastrophic visual effects also hampered the movie a lot. The visual effects department has been subjected to disappointment a lot recently as it looks to be degrading day by day. One of the few key points that worked for the movie was the performance by Jonathan Majors as Kang.
It can’t be denied that the ongoing Loki Season 2 did a better job in its pilot episode to establish the fear of the Time-travelling tyrant without even his presence yet.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania can be streamed on Disney+.
