Movie critics are stinging like a murder hornet over Marvel’s latest release, Ant-Man, and the Wasp: Quantumania.  The Guardian called the movie baffling and illogical.  A headline in The New York Times used the word splat. CNBC said the villain is good but the movie is bad. While the comic giant did include, arguably, excellent graphics, it is one of the worst-reviewed Marvel movies to date. It received a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, making this film the second-lowest record in Marvel cinematic history, only beaten out by an earlier Marvel release, Eternals (Sharf).

The film centers around Scott Lang, who has lost five years with his daughter due to Thanos, a previous antagonist who wiped out half the population for five years. Scott and h

is family are accidentally pulled into the Quantum realm. In an attempt to return home, Scott agrees to complete a task for a man named Kang, who is revealed to be the villain and the main antagonist of the fifth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Despite the importance of this movie to the newest Marvel phase, it has received a lot of backlash.

The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes was that the movie lacked the fun that would spark later events and earlier adventures. One of the site’s approved critics, Kristen Maldonado,  draws attention to some specific flaws in the writing. 

“You have a great cast that gets lost in an overstuffed story. There’s no emotional connection, so many of the characters just didn’t get enough screen time,” she said. 

However, not everyone believes the movie to be a crash-and-burn. A few Lancaster movie-goers who saw the film don’t necessarily agree with the professional critics’ harsh analysis.

“I really enjoyed all parts of the movie. The graphics were amazing and the storyline flowed well,” said Abby Cagg, a self-proclaimed Marvel fan.

“I’m neutral to the backlash. I thought it was a pretty good movie,” commented Ayla Vandeneynden, a junior at Lancaster High School. 

“I believed the movie was a great introduction. It gave a good backstory but not enough that you wouldn’t want to know more, it set up for a sequel well,” said Cagg.

Overall, while people may disagree on how the film holds up, they seem to agree that it was an excellent doorway into Kang’s character and his era in the Marvel universe and that the actor playing Kang was an excellent pick. Both Wendy Ide, a writer from the Guardian, and Cagg agreed on the positive qualities of the character.

“The film’s main asset is Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror: his performance, with its velvet-soft line deliveries and unfathomable, boundless rage, is the magnetic core of this incoherent effects-dump of a movie,” said Ide.

“He’s not the typical villain, he’s more calm and clearly cared about Janet before she “betrayed” him,” commented Cagg. 

According to People Magazine, Marvel announced that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be available digitally on April 18 and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on May 16.