Marvel has always divided their cinematic universe into phases, a collection of movies that fulfill a specific purpose depending upon the saga of which it is a part of. A saga tells a larger story which takes years to develop and a phase is a smaller installment of it. The Infinity Saga which I think will be the most successful saga of the MCU had three phases. Phase One started with Iron Man and was then followed by a number of standalone movies which were interconnected to each other but their main objective was to introduce these characters to the masses and at the end brought them all together in one movie for an epic showdown- The Avengers. Phase Two began with Iron Man 3 and it expanded upon the larger story of the saga where more important characters were introduced.
Along with which Thanos was further teased after his glimpse in The Avengers. Captain America: Civil War was what kicked off Phase Three and this was the culminating chapter of the Infinity Saga. where our heroes finally come face to face with the big bad responsible for everything – Thanos. Phase Three ended with Spider-Man: Far From Home and was the most successful of all the phases. Phase Four is what we’ve been seeing for the two-three past years which ended with Wakanda Forever. It is considered to be the worst phase of Marvel. However, the next phase – Phase 5 has not begun well with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Has The Second Lowest Rotten Tomatoes Score!
Rotten Tomatoes have been infamous for giving MCU films great score on their review aggregating website. In fact many people have also pointed that the site seems biased towards the MCU as it gives DC movies consistently low scores even if they’re good but that is not the discussion for today. There have been times where RT have also addressed MCU’s misfires and rewarded them with low scores. Thor: The Dark World – 66%, Thor: Love and Thunder- 64% and Eternals which is the lowest rated MCU film of all time – 47%.
Eternals is the only movie to receive a Rotten rating on the site. Well, not anymore as it now has company thanks to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania disappointing critics worldwide. It has debuted on the site with the second lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of 51% which means this is the second MCU movie to have a Rotten rating. This number might increase or decrease depending upon how the audience finds the movie when it opens up for them. While that is ad enough, what is worse is that Quantumania was the Phase 5 opener.
It is the first film of Phase 5 and it opening with such poor reviews is not a good sign. The lowest phase opener before this was Iron Man 3 – 79%. A drop of 28 percent. For comparison here is a list of all the phase openers:
- Iron Man – 94%
- Iron Man 3 – 79%
- Captain America: Civil War – 90%
- WandaVision – 91%
- Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania – 51%
Even Phase 4’s opener had a terrific rating on 91% despite it being considered to be the worst phase of Marvel. This a major red flag and I think Marvel needs to be quick to address it. The critics seem to be really pissed with the MCU as their reviews reflect their fatigue. Here are some examples. Slant called the new Ant-Man as, “less the start of a new phase than it is a tired retread of adventures we’ve already been on.” The Denver Post noted, “Quantumania is a visually inspired subatomic set piece but is held back by the MCU’s accelerating sprawl:”
Entertainment i.e.’s review was brutal as they were spot on with their criticism, “It’s not actively awful in any kind of meaningful way, because it’s not remarkable enough to be that. Instead, it’s a filler episode in the TV-ification of the MCU. It’s fine if you miss it, because the next episode / movie will catch you up on it.” ButteredPopcorn found the movie dull and boring, “‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ starts Phase 5 off with a flop as a dull story and questionable execution causes the film to be a wildly worthless miss.”
BBC even went to the extent of calling Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as the worst Marvel film till date. Let me know what are your thoughts on this? Do you think the golden age of the MCU is over? Should Marvel stop? The core cast of the Ant-Man franchise including Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas are returning. Along with these regulars, the supporting cast of the film has added Kathryn Newton, Jonathan Majors, Bill Murray and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will release in theatres near you on 17th February 2023.
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