Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Is this the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? The third installment in the Ant-Man series, thirty-first installment in the MCU and first installment in so-called "Phase Five". On release, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) became one of only two MCU movies to get a "rotten" rating on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes (along with 2021's Eternals). So, is it really that bad? I'd say - it's best for you to judge that yourself.

Following on from Endgame, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) finds himself living the high life, being recognised day-to-day in his hometown of San Franscico. Tension rises when his teenage daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) calls Scott out on his straying away from the life of a supposed super-hero, however, all hell breaks loose when one of Cassie's experiments gets the entire family trapped in the Quantum Realm. And soon, Scott finds himself face-to-face with the MCU's most electrifying foe yet - Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors).

Still holding an audience score (as of writing) of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, you can say there is a slight discrepancy between how critics and fans see Paul Rudd's third outing as Ant-Man. Jonathan Majors' performance is nothing short of amazing (spoiler alert - he might even get an oscar nomination next year) and with a script by a writer from Rick and Morty, if you appreciate much of the bizarre humour from that show you will not be disappointed.

However, it is still a weak start for Phase Five of the MCU, with strange editing choices throughout the film and various plot contrivances and conveniences (anyone heard of Chekhov's gun?). Is this the end of the MCU's domination of critics and audiences alike? I don't think so - but it's up to us to decide.