Review: 'Quantumania' takes Ant-Man and The Wasp to the subatomic level, but the potential for Marvel's new villain is huge

Appropriately for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s tiniest heroes, the charms of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” are small, but still satisfying,

Life is pretty good for Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), the ex-con and now hero because of his work helping to save the world as Ant-Man, part of The Avengers group who saved half of humanity and defeated Thanos. Now he’s settled down to a calm life with girlfriend, fellow superhero and philanthropist Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly). Occasionally Scott has to bail his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) out of jail for acts of civil disobedience, and endure Cassie’s criticism that her dad has quit caring about helping people.

Cassie, aided by Hope and Hope’s inventor father Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), has been experimenting with creating a device to survey the subatomic universe called the “quantum realm.” When Hank’s wife, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), realizes Cassie’s device involves sending a signal into the quantum realm, she tells her to turn it off — but not before the device springs to life and starts sucking all the lab equipment, Hank’s ant farm, and eventually the five of them down into the subatomic.

Scott and Cassie get separated from the rest, and end up with a group of rebels trying to avoid the oppressive leader of this realm. Hope, Hank and Janet end up elsewhere, with Janet — who spent 30 years in the quantum realm (this was covered in 2018’s “Ant-Man and The Wasp”) — keeping secrets about why she’s so scared of returning. Janet leads Hope and Hank through the seedier elements of this place, which mostly involves a not-so-pleasant few minutes with a local scoundrel played by Bill Murray.

Ultimately, we find out about who is making Janet so nervous: Kang the Conquerer (Jonathan Majors), a  supervillain whose evil spans the multiverse.

Director Peyton Reed, now on his third movie with “Ant-Man” in the title, knows not to take this bug-themed superhero stuff too seriously. That’s why the rebels include a guy made entirely of goo, and another a telepath (William Jackson Harper, from “The Good Place”) who’s clearly annoyed by what people always think about. And it’s why Kang has a subordinate villain, straight out of Marvel canon, whose reveal is pretty hilarious.

The screenplay, the first produced feature script by “Rick & Morty” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” writer Jeff Loveness, has some funny bits, along with gaps in its credulity that aren’t papered over by saying “it’s the quantum realm — the rules are different here.” Still, the plot gives plenty of chances for Rudd’s easygoing charm to win us over, and to give the supporting players — especially Pfeiffer — room to shine.

The most intriguing thing about “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” is Majors as Kang — who, we already know from his appearance in Marvel’s series “Loki” and in promises from Marvel Uber-producer Kevin Feige, is going to be the big bad guy for several movies to come. Based on the evidence here, he will be someone worth following through this new phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

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‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’

★★★

Opening in theaters Friday, February 17. Rated PG-13 for violence/language and action. Running time: 124 minutes.