I’m not sure why I didn’t take to ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ like others have. I know that the film was purposefully light and funny, but I found it a bit too corny (and boring) for a superhero movie.
Yes, I understand that I just said that a movie with men and women running around wearing latex suits with the ability to shrink and grow was overly-corny. Don’t get me wrong, I love what Peyton Reed has done, Paul Rudd as the lead role and Evangeline Lilly showed strength and confidence as the Wasp. Still ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ came up short for me.
The Mid-Credits Scene Made Everything Worth It
I was “meh” for the vast majority of the film. All the playfulness and humor paid off when the movie ended and we got to the film’s mid-credit scene. If you’re a Marvel fan, you probably sensed early on in the mid-credit scene that it was going to be important. Right off the bat, we see Scott, Hope, Janet and Hank on a roof where they introduce a smaller Quantum Tunnel in the back of Michael Pina’s van. Then there’s talk of the “quantum particles” with healing qualities (or something like that).
These aren’t brought up after the movie for no reason — both of these are likely going to show up again, most-likely in the yet-untitled Avengers 4 next year.
Just as we’re wondering if these things will be the connection to next year’s follow-up to Infinity War, we’re slapped in the face with an unmistakable connection. As Scott Lang shrank and went into the Quantum Tunnel to collect said particles, Hope, Janet and Hank hung outside working the technology that would bring Ant-Man back into the “real world”. After we watch Ant-Man quickly complete his task, he then calls up to the trio to bring him back. You could hear Janet respond to to Scott with a countdown that would pull him back. Unfortunately, she never finished the countdown.
We go back to the rooftop to see that Janet, Hank and Hope are no longer on the roof. In their place are now traces of floating ashes that we’ve become familiar (and traumatized with) when half a dozen of heroes disappeared in Infinity War. Some of the people in the theater immediately understood what happened while others took longer to fully-realize and were able to connect the dots. There was an audible recognition. Whether you knew immediately or it took a couple beats, everyone had that “Oh fuck” moment when their stomach dropped.
And that’s the brilliance of Marvel Studios coming together. They purposefully take their superhero films into uncommon genres, and then bring them altogether. Specifically with ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’; it’s a fun and whimsical, family-friendly comedy that was 99% unconnected to the larger Marvel cinematic world. It was all laugh and jokes while a fight for the universe was happening in Wakanda and Titan. Until the credits scene shook it up.
It took Marvel several years to perfect this approach; creating self-contained, successful movies with threads connecting them to the larger stakes. Those stakes were paid off in what was the probably the most-direct credits scene from the last several Marvel movies. Whether you enjoyed ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ or not, you’ll love the mid-credits scene.
