Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (PG-13)
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Caution: spoilers.
This is the 31st movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While it made a lot of money worldwide, it didn't make back its budget, so it's considered a failure. It also didn't get great reviews. I don't really understand that, because I thought it was great. I really enjoyed the whole plot, all the action and drama and humor, with good performances all around.
Scott Lang is no longer under house arrest. In fact, he's a successful memoirist, having written about his adventures as Ant-Man. So he's pretty much enjoying life now. However, his happiness is interrupted when he gets a phone call saying his 18-year-old daughter, Cassie, has been arrested. She's become a political activist, and had taken part in a protest to which the police apparently overreacted. Scott and Hope Van Dyne get her out of jail, and she later reveals that she's been working on a scientific project with Hank Pym, to map the Quantum Realm. Cassie also has her own shrinking suit, now. Hank has also been working on a project involving ants that build their own technology. When Janet learns about the former project, she tries to shut it down, but Cassie's device restarts itself and sucks Cassie, Scott, Hope, Hank, and Janet into the Quantum Realm, along with the ants. Scott and Cassie get captured by freedom fighters led by a woman named Jentorra. The group includes various human-seeming people, including a telepath named Quaz (William Jackson Harper, whom I know from The Good Place), and alien-seeming people, including a gelatinous creature named Veb. Meanwhile, Hank, Janet, and Hope try to find Scott and Cassie. And Janet eventually reveals to the others a bit about what she'd been up to during the 30 years she'd spent in the Quantum Realm.
The rebels are fighting against an evil ruler called Kang, also known as the Conqueror (I don't think I ever heard those words put together, as in "Kang the Conqueror", which I've heard him called in other media). He's a variant of He Who Remains, a character first seen in season one of the web series Loki, but Kang is a very different character, who had been exiled to the Quantum Realm by the many other Kang variants from different universes. Kang has an army of minions (I couldn't tell if they were robots or people wearing armor including face-covering helmets, or what). Also working for him is M.O.D.O.K., another villain who is familiar to me from other media, though he's somewhat different here than I've ever seen him before. (And a lot of viewers really didn't like the way he looks in this movie. I can't say I blame them, but it didn't bother me.) Anyway, Kang captures Scott and Cassie, and wants Scott to retrieve something that Janet had "stolen" from him. He threatens to kill Cassie if Scott refuses. The object Kang wants would allow him to escape the Quantum Realm, and he could then conquer countless worlds and destroy entire timelines. Meanwhile, everyone ultimately joins a battle against Kang and his forces, and try to prevent him from escaping the Quantum Realm.
That's all I want to say about the plot, except that our heroes all eventually return home. There's also a mid-credits scene with a bunch of Kang variants, and a post-credits scene with someone who appears to be another Kang variant in 1893, as well as Loki and Mobius. So I imagine that will play into season two of "Loki", which I look forward to watching. And... yeah, I just really liked everything about this movie. Especially the idea of Ant-Man, probably the most underrated Avenger, fighting the most powerful Kang variant in the Multiverse. Of course, he had a lot of help, and I liked all the characters, both familiar and new.
Phase One: Iron Man * The Incredible Hulk * Iron Man 2 * Thor * Captain America * The Avengers
Phase Two: Iron Man 3 * Thor: The Dark World * Captain America: The Winter Soldier * Guardians of the Galaxy * Avengers: Age of Ultron * Ant-Man
Phase Three: Captain America: Civil War * Doctor Strange * Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 * Spider-Man: Homecoming * Thor: Ragnarok *
Black Panther * Avengers: Infinity War * Ant-Man and the Wasp * Captain Marvel * Avengers: Endgame * Spider-Man: Far from Home
Phase Four: Black Widow * Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings * Eternals * Spider-Man: No Way Home *
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness * Thor: Love and Thunder * Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Phase Five: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania * Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 * The Marvels * Deadpool & Wolverine
short films: Marvel One-Shots
TV: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. * Agent Carter * Inhumans * Cloak & Dagger
Netflix: Daredevil * Jessica Jones * Luke Cage * Iron Fist * The Defenders * The Punisher
Hulu: Runaways * Helstrom
Disney+ (P4): WandaVision * The Falcon and the Winter Soldier * Loki * What If...? * Hawkeye * Moon Knight * Ms. Marvel * I Am Groot *
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law * Werewolf by Night * Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Disney+ (P5): Secret Invasion * Loki s2 * Echo * Agatha All Along