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It was quite a big deal when the second Ant-Man film was named Ant-Man and the Wasp. It was the first time, after nineteen previous movies, that Marvel Studios has placed the name of a female character in the title of one of their films and the sentiment that fuelled this was actually the last line of the preceding instalment when, on being shown the super-suit her father had made for her, Evangeline Lilly’s Hope van Dyne exclaimed ‘About damn time!’.

Then the sequel came out and it was all found to be little more than a gesture. She wasn’t co-lead at all; the focus stayed totally on the male hero. In fact it seemed to be the start of an unfortunate trend where women in this series were not allowed to carry a story by themselves. We have had Captain Marvel since but her second film, released later this year, is now shared with two similarly powered women. Black Widow also finally got her own movie but that was essentially an ensemble piece. She Hulk did a small amount to address this on TV but try as they did, they never got past the sexist nature of her name so that’s a tentative win. We also had a female Thor for a while back there but I’m not sure she was ever doing anything more than servicing the man’s narrative. It will be interesting to see what happens with the new Black Panther and Hawkeye, as both of them seem ready to step out of the shadows of the men they took over from but there seems to be no chatter about either of them getting a follow up film or series though. They’ll probably put them in a movie together at this rate.

As for the Wasp in this new film, she is still sharing top billing but a fraction of the screen time. Lilly is calling out for her own film, literally, and well she might because she is undeniably being held back with things as they are. Read about it here.

It is interesting that the actor made this plea in a red carpet interview, when perhaps the publicist’s brief was a tad looser, but she is only voicing the opinion of anyone who optimistically assumed that her inclusion in the titles of these two Ant-Man sequels would actually be backed up by having her more involvement in the plot. To be honest I don’t think there was ever a real intention to actually do this. By my mind the film makers kind of showed their hand here by having the key part of this latest title come up at the end and changing the colour of lettering to show the words ant and man hidden within. Sure it might have been a bit much to expect this to be called Belowtheasphalt or something but all the same. Wasp is there, but she is the one that is hidden. Lilly’s character does save the day on occasion but of course she does; her main personality trait is being infinitely competent, but mostly she is just along for the ride.

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It should be noted that she is not just standing aside for the leading man though. There are six main players here and half of them are women. Rather than concentrating on his relationship with Hope, the film is more about Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang and his daughter Cassie, and Katheryn Newton gives the 18 year old a grounding that makes her so much more than just another kid in some older hero’s outfit. Crucially Newton also plays off Rudd’s natural comedy sensibility in a way that no one else in the movie does. The humour is dialled down in this film but it has not gone completely and with no Micheal Peña, Randall Park or David Dastmalchian to bounce off this time (not really, anyway) Newton is the only one with the easy lightness needed to be Rudd’s opposite number. (Although Michael Douglas still does a nice line in amusingly exasperated looks.)

Then there is Michelle Pfeiffer who returns as Janet van Dyne, the mother of Hope and the original holder of the yellow and black superhero moniker. In fact if she is actually the Wasp of the title then that would make more sense as the story is quite a lot about her. It is thirty one years since Pfeiffer played Catwoman but here she is all this time later still gloriously kicking butt in a comic book movie. It is great to see and she is more than up to the task.

Actually, while we are talking about Michael Keaton’s Batman films, it is interesting that he is also returning this year and in another movie that deals with alternate realities. Marvel have been playing in the multiverse for a couple of years now but rival studio DC look to be joining the party in epic fashion with this particular bit of casting.

See the trailer here:

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I really enjoyed No Way Home but I’d take Keaton’s Caped Crusader over any number of Spider-men any day, and while Quantumania itself has the opportunity to land its own delicious cameo, it doesn’t. Marvel are keeping their own ace card up behind their wrist repulsors for now. There is an exciting little appearance from one familiar face in the very final scene but it’s no Burton Batman.

What then of this films big bad? You’ll remember it was previous premium baddie Loki who first started all of these different timeline shenanigans when he faced off against this film’s Kang in the last episode of his TV show and it does seem now that this moment was a bit of a passing of the torch. Loki was always the best villain this series had but in Jonathan Majors’ Kang we finally seem to have an antagonist to measure up to the erstwhile Asgardian. Kang has that same calm menace and arrogance that occasionally explodes into indignant anger, and he is harbouring more than a little bit of a god complex himself.

Outside of the people, this film also offers a different setting with most of it happening in the entirety CGI quantum realm. Curiously this is all very reminiscent of Disney’s most recent animation Strange World which is not great timing. You’d think everyone could have talked about this, they do all work for the same company after all. The virtually created world is impressive though. I don’t know why everyone is raving about Avatar 2 doing the same kind of thing with its backgrounds when this has just as much of the digital artistry and six times more the imagination. We have certainly come a long way from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, that’s for sure.

Ant-Man and (the Wasp): QuANTuMANia is not a brilliant movie but it is highly entertaining and it does set up future Marvel films without the clumsiness of Iron Man 2. I would have liked to have seen more from Evangeline Lilly but there are plenty of great female characters. We also get the inclusion of established comic book villain M.O.D.O.K but he actually lends very little to the plot and I suspect for Marvel purists his appearance here will be equivalent to the treatment of Deadpool in Wolverine.

Still, if you are an MCU fan this once again essential viewing and if you more of are a casual visitor to this world then there is plenty here for you too. Just remember to stay to the end of the credits. (I’m surprised there are still people who don’t know to do that in these films but I’ve been told it was wrong of me to talk to them about this in my screening?)

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