It cannot be denied that powerful antagonist is a department in which the MCU has been failing a lot in the recent past. As Marvel sets up Kang the Conqueror in the latest Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the studio is called out once again by the fans for not showing his true potential. Twitter saw tons of tweets that show that the fans expected to watch far more havoc wreaked by the time-traveling tyrant than what was shown in the Peyton Reed directorial.
Spoilers from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ahead!
Marvel needed a greater level of threat following the departure of the Mad Titan. Kang the Conqueror was hoped by the fans to be an ideal successor to the previous Big Bad Thanos but it is evident that the fans are unhappy to see him getting beaten up by someone like Ant-Man.
Also Read: Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania Post Credit Scenes
Is Marvel struggling to show good antagonists lately?
Among all the sins committed by Thor: Love and Thunder, Gorr the God Butcher was a major one. Even after having an epic comic book origin for the character and an actor like Christian Bale helming the role, the movie failed badly. The studio faced widespread criticism for wasting such an iconic character. Now despite being shown in a better way than Gorr, Kang is also suffering the same fate.
It can be argued that this is only the beginning of Phase 5 and we are yet to get more and more of the Conqueror as shown in Ant-Man 3. But on the other side, the audience also expected more action than dialogue from the Jonathan Majors character after the hype created by the MCU. Although the movie leaves us in uncertainty about the death of Kang the Conqueror, the fans think that the story couldn’t do justice to him.
Looks like, nobody expected the Paul Rudd character to stop a force like Kang, especially after what we saw in Loki. He Who Remains singlehandedly tackled Loki and Sylvie without any struggle in the Disney+ series. We have also seen Thanos who didn’t spare a chance to torment the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. It is evident that the fans only want to watch it getting better and fiercer.
Kang the Conqueror disappoint the fans
After the lackluster impression left by the fourth Phase, the fans were hoping that the MCU will bounce back with the Phase 5 pilot Ant-Man 3. But the woes don’t end for the Kevin Feige citadel as the movie largely failed to fulfill the expectations.
Even though many fans defended that the movie didn’t deserve such a disastrous RT rating, many were disappointed with how Kang’s story was written. They blamed Marvel for not justifying their description of a monster who has killed uncountable ones and shattered timelines and praised Thanos for being superior.
The MCU has to stop telling me how threatening these villains are and start showing it. We were only TOLD about Gorr killing Gods and Kang destroying timelines, shown nothing.
Thanos came in swinging, killing 2 beloved characters and beating the sh*t out of Hulk. Perfect. pic.twitter.com/12Eb3YdUYm
— Jack McBryan (@McBDirect) February 17, 2023
We have collected several tweets that reflect how the fans reacted to the role of the Jonathan Majors character in the movie.
THIS. I stated this in my review and it’s one of my most passionate talking points. You need to show the audience so they believe the threat not just say it in a quick line of dialogue.
— Austin Medeiros (@austin_medz) February 17, 2023
I 100% agree. Since Endgame, i’m being TOLD how great all the villains are, but I’ve walked out of every movie underwhelmed (the only exception being Dafoe in No Way Home).
— Chase Wilson (@friskydingo4424) February 17, 2023
Thanos is and always will be the W vilain of the MCU
— Ʌrtur (@Artur_plr) February 17, 2023
Exactly.All he did was monologue and talk about killing the Avengers before–only to get his ass kicked by a bunch of…you know. Majors was good, but this is not a good first impression when it comes to showing how terrifying the character can be. The internet is fanboying again
— Matthew DeFazio (@manu5049) February 17, 2023
I can't take him seriously, dude lost to Antman😭🤣
— Jordan Knight (@Jordan10Knight) February 17, 2023
Exactly…way too much talking about what happened…what he did, what Janet did…that was the whole reason that “revolution” arc fell completely flat…
— Sam the Slayer 🏁 (@_iAM_sam_) February 17, 2023
But like most of the Marvel debates, this was also not one-sided. Many fans defended by saying that Kang is in his initial stages and we are yet to get more of him whereas Thanos became significant and saved the chaos till Avengers: Infinity War. On the other hand, Jonathan Majors’ character also garnered acclaim for his performance. At this point, one can only hope that they work further on the character in the upcoming projects.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is running in theaters near you.
Source: Twitter