Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania was released on February 17, 2023. It is the third film in the series, following the 2015 release Ant-Man and its sequel Ant-Man and The Wasp. It was directed by Peyton Reed, making him the second director in Marvel history to direct all three films in a trilogy. The feat was first pulled off by Jon Watts, director of the Spiderman trilogy, and it will be done again in May by James Gunn when Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 is released.

The most stunning element of this film was its visual aesthetic of it. Whereas the first two Ant-Man films were entirely set on Earth in a generally grounded reality, this one is set mostly in The Quantum Realm. This new setting allows for many outlandish visuals, ranging from living buildings to aliens that appear to be made from Jello. These incredibly imaginative character designs make the film far closer to high science fiction like Star Wars, unlike the other two films, which felt like Mission Impossible, where the main characters can shrink. Furthermore, the costume design was truly phenomenal. Marvel’s wardrobe team has mastered the art of taking goofy comic book characters and making them look incredible on the big screen without entirely butchering the source material’s spirit.

The film has all of the same strengths as the other two films in the series. These include gut-busting humor, inventive action scenes, and more heart than one would expect. Much of the humor of this film revolves around Scott Lang’s newfound ego, which is a result of his saving the universe in Avengers: Endgame. Like the previous two films, the action often revolves around the characters taking advantage of the ability to shrink or grow things. Whether that is Doctor Pym growing a small squid to be the size of a bus or Ant-Man himself growing to over 100 feet tall. The film’s central theme is parenthood, with Ant-Man having to deal with his daughter, that has grown up without him. Despite being a mostly breezy and funny film, it still felt grounded enough for the emotional scenes to come through without a hitch.

Despite this film featuring a multitude of A-List stars (Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Bill Murray, to name a few.) They are all miraculously outdone by Hollywood newcomer Jonathan Majors. Majors, a Yale School of Drama graduate, portrays the villainous Kang The Conqueror. Majors brings the same subtlety and gusto to Kang as Marlon Brando brought to Vito Corleone in 1972. Thankfully for all fans of incredible acting, Majors is set to return as the character in many more Marvel projects, including season 2 of Loki, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, and Avengers: Secret Wars.