After Rewatching The MCU’s Lowest-Rated Movie, I’m Still Convinced It Did One Thing Extremely Right

The Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s lowest-rated movie might not be among the franchise’s best, but it did one thing mostly right, and it was easily my favorite part of the film. Sadly, the MCU’s Multiverse Saga has not been the most consistent. Sure, films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine are among the MCU’s best movies, but they are outliers.

Many MCU movies and TV shows in the Multiverse Saga have either underperformed or proven themselves divisive for different reasons. Marvel is making moves to fix those issues, with an MCU slowdown underway and an overhaul of how MCU TV shows are developed. Hopefully, that will ensure the overall quality of Marvel’s upcoming releases is as high as fans hope.

The Multiverse Saga has had a few promising MCU projects turn out to be disappointments. One such case is that of the MCU’s lowest-rated movie on the popular review aggregator platform Rotten Tomatoes. That said, while the film is at the bottom of the franchise with a 46% Critics’ Score, I’m convinced that one aspect of it was handled incredibly well.

Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania Did Not Live Up To Expectations

The Third Ant-Man Movie Ended The Trilogy On A Negative Note

The MCU’s lowest-rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The project was expected to be the biggest out of Marvel Studios’ releases in the Ant-Man franchise. However, Quantumania ended up only making $476 million worldwide. Not only was that disappointing for the MCU’s larger plans with Kang, it also made it the lowest-grossing Ant-Man movie.

With Avengers: The Kang Dynasty then set to be released, Quantumania was crucial for the MCU’s future.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was supposed to build up on the work done by Disney+’s Loki. That MCU series delved deep into the multiverse, introducing the TVA as the organization behind the control of the many timelines and Kang the Conqueror variants. With Avengers: The Kang Dynasty then set to be released, Quantumania was crucial for the MCU’s future.

I’m Convinced Jonathan Majors’ Kang The Conqueror Was Nearly Perfect In The MCU Movie

Everything Up Until Kang’s Ending Was Exciting

While this might be somewhat of a divisive opinion, I believe that where Kang is concerned, the Ant-Man trilogy finale did a great job. Jonathan Majors was inspired casting for Kang the Conqueror. The actor had already shown his chops playing the He Who Remains variant in Loki season 1. I was excited by just how different he made Kang.

Quantumania‘s version of the Marvel villain’s backstory was handled well. It created a key connection between Kang and the Ant-Man family, as he had bonded with Janet van Dyne over their years stuck in the Quantum Realm before being betrayed and abandoned by her. The MCU movie made Kang’s motivations easy to understand, and his hate created a frightening villain.

That said, the Ant-Man movie displayed his power levels in confusing ways, and that is where I believe it got lost with Kang. While he had been incredibly powerful, easily throwing Ant-Man around and threatening Cᴀssie, Kang was defeated by ants — though smart ones. That was disappointing, and the film ended with Kang’s death. He deserved a better ending.

Pivoting To Doctor Doom After Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania Makes Sense

The Multiverse Saga’s New Main Villain Was The Best Choice

While I was a fan of how Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania portrayed Kang the Conqueror, save for its ending, I don’t have a problem with the character being left behind in favor of using Doctor Doom. Sure, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty with Kang’s return and the multiversal Council of Kangs would have been exciting. However, Doom fits Marvel’s plans better.

Every MCU Avengers Movie

Movie

Release Year

The Avengers

2012

Avengers: Age of Ultron

2015

Avengers: Infinity War

2018

Avengers: Endgame

2019

Avengers: Doomsday

2026

Avengers: Secret Wars

2027

After all, it was Doctor Doom who was the main villain of 2015’s Secret Wars event, not Kang. As such, bringing in the villain for 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars and changing Avengers: The Kang Dynasty into Doomsday is a move I can easily get behind. With Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU to play Doom, there was no better choice.

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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ended up being a divisive movie that underperformed. No matter how threatening Kang was depicted as, the idea of using Doctor Doom, one of Marvel’s most popular villains, with Downey, the face of the MCU, playing him is notably the better option. With Jonathan Majors fired by Marvel, it might have been the only one.

How Kang The Conqueror Could Still Return Despite His Quantumania Fate

The Multiverse Offers Many Possibilities To Bring Back The Villain

Kang the Conqueror with a blue Fantastic Four background

Custom Image by Kai Young

Now that Marvel is using Doctor Doom for the next two Avengers movies and enough time has pᴀssed since Quantumania and Majors’ firing, the franchise could start looking at how to bring Kang back. No, it should not be as the MCU’s Big Bad. However, after all the setup in Loki, Kang deserves a better finale than being forgotten.

In Marvel Comics, when Kang was presumed ᴅᴇᴀᴅ once, he was later revealed to have gone back in time and taken a new idenтιтy. The same could be done in the MCU, with a new actor playing the same version of Kang that Majors gave life to. There is also the possibility of letting Kang stay ᴅᴇᴀᴅ and using a variant.

While one of Ant-Man: and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s post-credits scenes used Majors as the template for all Kang variants, Marvel could just cast multiple actors as the different versions of the character to bring back the Council of Kangs. The multiverse makes for an easy explanation as to why. I hope that happens, giving a fitting ending to that MCU storyline.

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