With its first three phases, Marvel made history on all fronts. It presented, for the first time, a group of 22 films that concluded in “Endgame”, telling a story that integrated more than a dozen superheroes, several stars and that established that it is possible to build a story for a decade, making a franchise as a product line that detonates into a huge event that became a huge blockbuster. The next big story, set to explode in 5-6 years, isn’t going so well and “Ant-Man & Wasp: Quantummania” is the most recent example.
One of the hallmarks of the Marvel Universe was in the quality of the films that was reflected on all fronts, but which was subject to the most important thing, the story, the script. Yes, there were hiccups, but even less fortunate installments like “Iton-Man 3” or “Thor” were above average and, of course, looked even better against the very uneven and generally bad DC Extended Universe. The best moments are, of course, in surprise titles like “Guardians of the Galaxy” or “Black Panther” which became a cultural success and got the first (and so far only) nomination for a superhero film in the main Oscar category.
With the arrival of Disney + and the accelerated pace of current times, the Marvel Universe has been affected by quantity versus quality. To make a quick comparison, Phases 1 and 2 included 6 films each over a period of 4 and 3 years. Phase 4 was made up of 7 in two years and Phase 5 will also have 6 in two years. Now, while the first three phases were only filmic, the following ones also include series. Phase 4 had 8 in the same period; 5 will have 7. That is, the number of products has more than doubled in a shorter period.
Beyond the amount that is undoubtedly one of the factors, the carelessness is in the care that is given to the story. For example, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantummania”, as happens with other of its frequent titles, loses value as an individual piece in order to contribute to a larger story by introducing the main villain (Kang, the conqueror) and that it will impact your commercial success and ultimately the universe.
For a story to be good, it must have dramatic unity. This means that the main character must have a conflict at the beginning, which must be resolved at the end and must be a projection of something internal and at the same time universal. Everything else that happens must contribute to it. That no longer happens with Marvel movies. In “Quantunmania” the title indicates that Anto-Man and Wasp are the central characters, but it is not quite so. There is a lot of time dedicated to the antagonist, as much to secondary roles (Kathryn Newton as Cassie, Ant-Man’s daughter, and Janet van Dyne, his mother-in-law, at the hands of Michelle Pfeiffer). The theme suggested at the beginning of the film is the relationship between Scott Lang (Ant-Man) and Cassie, emphasizing the time they lost when half the universe was wiped out). Instead of developing a story that addresses that issue and says something about it, the movie focuses on presenting flashy action sequences, one after another. Yes, maybe in terms of the show it seems like a good idea, but it is not. It is precisely what affected “Black Adam” because it implies that there is a show, but there is no background or emotional development, since there is no true connection with the characters.
So Marvel’s big little problem is that quantity distracts from quality and makes it lose focus on the foundation of any film: the story.