Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania starts with a bright outlook for Scott. He is reflecting on his life through a series of montages as he reads from his new book. After a happy-go-lucky intro, things quickly go bad as he, and his family, get sucked into the Quantum Realm accidentally.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is different than the other solo movies starring Ant-Man. The first two were singular adventures, but this has a bigger tie-in to the MCU as a whole. Because of that, it's a bit of a mess as reflected in many reviews. Still, there are good moments with some of its characters. Who, of the main core cast that gets a lot of screen time, rises to the top?
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
8 Hope Van Dyne
Hope didn’t get to do a lot in this movie, which is odd. She was a huge part of the second movie given that her alias, The Wasp, was in the title. These movies have gone in phases as far as focuses have gone.
The first movie was all about Scott and Hank. The second introduced Hope into a hero role. The third is practically Kang and Janet’s movie, meaning it should have been called Kang the Conqueror and Janet van Dyne in Quantumania.
7 Jentorra
Jentorra is the leader of the rebels within the Quantum Realm who are hiding from Kang. She doesn’t get a huge role in the movie as well, but she at least has more agency than Hope. Her seemingly second in command, Quaz, has about as much screen time as her, so this is like a combo entry.
Both characters represent the native people of the Quantum Realm but unfortunately, the movie doesn’t have enough time to get into the rebellion concept or any new individuals for too long. As a fun aside, Katy O'Brian plays Jentorra and she is no stranger to the MCU. O’Brian played Kimball in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., so seeing her pop up again as a new Marvel character is a bit strange.
6 Cassie Lang
Cassie has existed in all of these movies but always as a background character. She was a little girl in the first two movies, but then became a teenager in The Avengers: Endgame due to the time skip. She was played by Emma Cate Fuhrmann in that movie and was now replaced by Kathryn Newton in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Given that time jump, it was expected to see Cassie come into her own in one of these MCU movies. While she does get a suit in this movie, Cassie, like Hope, isn’t given much room to breathe.
5 Scott Lang
This should be Scott’s movie given that he is Ant-Man. While he does get a lot of screen time upfront, once the team gets sucked into the Quantum Realm it becomes another movie. He and Cassie are grouped together while Hope, Hank, and Janet are off doing their own thing.
The movie cuts back and forth between the two parties, but Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania definitely feels the most interested in exploring Janet’s story. Scott, thanks to Paul Rudd, at least keeps the charm flowing.
4 Darren Cross/M.O.D.O.K.
Darren was the main villain in the first Ant-Man movie. His character was a rather stereotypical cheesy comic book villain who practically wrung his hands together every chance he got as if he tied some poor damsel to some train tracks. He returns in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniaas a new villain, M.O.D.O.K., who Kang created as a bodyguard of sorts.
He may be a villain out for blood, but he is hilarious in the movie. Every time he tries to go into some dark backstory, another character takes him out of his brooding. He has one of the funniest last lines in the movie before being defeated.
3 Hank Pym
Hank surprisingly has a lot more agency than Scott in the film. A big reason why is due to the fact that he is Janet’s husband who, again, seems to be the big focus of the movie. Hank doesn’t have a massive arc, but he does get to have some pretty cool moments thanks to his ants.
Once he discovers that his ants have evolved thousands of years ahead in civilization, he becomes a beast tamer of sorts. It’s thanks to Hank that the team was able to fight off Kang’s robot army in the end without much effort.
2 Kang
Kang was introduced in the Loki TV show at the very end. He has remained hidden since then, but Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is where he truly makes a splash. This is the beginning of Phase 5, which is seemingly setting up Kang as the next Thanos. It’s not just the prime Kang of this movie that Scott and the others have to worry about, either.
There is a whole citadel of Kangs out there ready to do something. It remains unclear what the prime Kang of this movie desired and what the other Kangs desired. The biggest conclusion one can make is that both Kang parties spell trouble for the entire multiverse.
1 Janet Van Dyne
As has been teased repeatedly, Janet is the main star of this movie. She was one of the end goals of the second movie but didn’t get much time as a character to grow after being reintroduced. This film goes into her full backstory and why she was so afraid of the Quantum Realm.
It was because she knew Kang was trapped in there waiting to get out. The dynamic between her and Kang is intense and is a driving force in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. She may not have a suit anymore, but Janet still manages to kick a lot of butt onscreen both physically and intellectually.