“The Avengers” is the Guardians of the Quantum Realm, not the Ant-Man: Psychedelic Trip into the Hidden Universe
Actually, the rapid descent into the Quantum Realm, a sprawling universe within our own, makes this feel as much like “Guardians of the Galaxy” as Ant-Man, with a vast assortment of strange characters and outlandish, otherworldly and too often murky production design.
The movie started with a sense of humor, but similar to the introduction of the franchise in 2015, there are no similarities.
The trip is an especially Psychedelic trip, with precious little understanding of anything that resembles reality. The most identifiable aspect involves this hidden universe chafing under the rule of a being so powerful that its occupants exhibit a Voldemort-like reluctance to even speak his name, that being Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors.
A global pandemic, obviously, significantly altered the theatrical playing field for everyone in Hollywood after Marvel’s smashing success with “Avengers: Endgame,” but the studio hasn’t felt like quite as much like a big-league player since that climactic event.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Chris Evans as Captain America were two of the original pillars, along with Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, around which Marvel Studios concocted its then-audacious scheme of five movies culminating with the superhero team-up “The Avengers.”
It has been difficult to compensate for the loss of the first two after “Endgame,” as well as the sudden and unexpected death of the likeliest heir to their mantle, “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman.
With the benefit of hindsight, Marvel has essentially been in rebuilding mode since the Thanos saga reached its epic conclusion, having sacrificed a level of star power that simply isn’t easily replaced.
Any impulse to write an epitaph for the film would surely be misguided since “Quantumania” is currently in theaters. Beyond several high-profile sequels on this year’s release calendar, enormous anticipation exists regarding the studio’s integration of its former Fox properties with Deadpool, X-Men and the Fantastic Four due to join its cinematic universe.
As the universe has expanded, the delicate balance of satisfying existing fans while also creating points of entry for new ones has become more involved for Kevin Feige, the CEO of the company.
In that interview, Feige also mentioned producing fewer Disney+ series and spacing the out more, seemingly acknowledging the danger of diluting the brand.
Even if “Ant-Man and the Wasp” falls short, Marvel’s next phase could still wind up being a rousing success, and the potential of the aforementioned Fox additions seems particularly bright.