The Failure of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: A Lesson in Screenwriting and Marketing

By Joseph Giganti

August 11, 2026

The third installment of the Ant-Man trilogy marked the shift in perception of the “Multiverse Saga” of the MCU, with the film gaining the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s second-worst score on Rotten Tomatoes and general public hate upon release. Many criticized the ugly visuals and lackluster writing, and it worried many that this was shaping up to be Marvel’s second critical flop after “Eternals,” which, at the time, was nervously considered by the studio and fans alike a one-off misfire.

What made matters more confusing was that hype for Quantumania was through the roof. After Jonathan Majors debuted the Kang variant “The One Who Remains” in the season one finale of “Loki,” fans were clamoring to get their first proper look at the upcoming Avengers villain. Additionally, the two trailers released by Marvel Studios drove up hype even further, with great editing that made the trailer version of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” go viral on social media for its epic rendition of the pop song.

The film was marketed as an epic sci-fi/fantasy that explored a new world in detail and supported a threatening villain that would bring a darker, more mature tone to both the Ant-Man films and the Marvel franchise as a whole, beckoning in the beginning of Kang’s era. This, obviously, did not turn out to be the case.

So, why was the film such a misfire? And furthermore, how were they able to market it as what looked like a masterpiece?

The answer, in an affirmation of the Occam’s Razor antidote, is the most obvious one: the writing. Yes, the visuals were subpar, but the biggest complaint—and by far the biggest problem with the movie—was its screenplay.

And it’s the understanding of the mechanics of screenwriting that enabled the editors to take what was secretly a mangled, underdeveloped mess and present it as an upcoming masterpiece. Let’s examine:

The fun things about trailers, especially watching them in retrospect, are that they follow the same storytelling structures the movies themselves do. They are mini-movies, in a sense, teasing what a first and even second act would do in a film without providing the answers to the questions it raises. It gives you just enough of a sense of the story to want to go and see how it is resolved. It markets the story.

So what story was this initial trailer marketing?

There was a lot more focus on the world and atmosphere of this film—where it sat in relation to the aftermath of the events of Avengers: Endgame, specifically regarding previous small-time crook, current working man Scott Lang, who has now been thrust into global stardom. There’s some clear set-up regarding Cassie’s (naive) idealism being both inspired by her father and potentially their main tension, and that the love he has for his child will be his main motivator throughout the film (as is the goal to “get home”… something we’ve seen done in countless other films done with more inspiration and energy a million times over… but damn if Jonathan Majors doesn’t deliver his “I can get you home, and give you more time, if you help me…”).

But the trailer really believes its selling point is with the weird, zany, surreal images that the Quantum Realm produces. An Avatar/Star Wars hybrid of a world is clearly what they were going for, and it’s clear both Disney and the marketing team thought that resulted in a hit on their hands. They weren’t wrong, in a sense. The hook that this movie would primarily take place somewhere other than an Earth – or even Space – city/planet was a good one, as was the immediate reveal afterward that, as Major puts it, ‘this place isn’t what you think,’ and that this realm contains one of the fiercest and most threatening villains any of these heroes will face yet. That will be all the wonder the realm holds; there’s a looming threat they need to escape.

And that’s the first misdirection the trailer holds. The “secret” of Kang’s existence—and ruling—of the realm is almost immediately revealed in the trailer after everyone arrives in the Quantum Realm. Kang’s involvement in the film was the exact opposite of a widely kept secret, whether it was something Marvel tried to hide that everyone saw through (see: literally any of the Spider-Man sequels where a huge element of the villains or fellow heroes is hidden despite literally everyone knowing the secret), or an actual secret they managed to hide. No, Kang was the VERY first thing revealed about this film, and so it was certainly a choice in the final film for the writers to… keep him a secret from the other characters? In a way that didn’t A) make sense to keep secret once they arrived in the world, and B) build ANY tension or suspense for the audience whatsoever, since we all knew he was coming.

Janet’s motivation to keep the secret of Kang’s existence hidden, versus to bring her dearest family into crucial information that will keep them safe, makes absolutely no sense, both in-universe and out of it. You might be able to justify it if you’re purposely structuring the film so that the management of information makes the reveal of Kang a twist for the audience as well as the characters, but we all knew immediately! He’s in the trailers; he’s on the poster! The idea here surely must have been, “oh, the audience will feel really scared if Janet is so scared of Kang she can’t even say his name or tell her family about them,” but it falls absolutely flat. Especially when Jonathan Majors was fully able to bring a menace to the thankless role through his own performance.

After the existence of Kang is revealed in the trailer, everything is kept mostly under wraps, besides the tease of THREAT and DRAMA, and that Kang is tempting Ant-Man with a deal that supposedly gets both of them what they want, even though it’s A) obviously not going to go the way Scott would like, and B) Kang getting what he wants might spell certain doom for the world.

Which is GREAT! That is such a great moral premise — will Scott, who we find out later desperately wishes he could have back the time he lost with his daughter, something he always feared in prison and then came to pass while he was superheroing — and now continuing because he reaped the benefits, which could be a reason she’s causing civic unrest in the name of idealism and a better world (to get his attention but enacting her version of his heroism) — that could’ve made for such a good film. It does not.

That aspect is still the greatest part of the movie. Still, it is so wasted and so squandered, with time instead haplessly trying to pay off its premise and selling point of the “Quantum Realm,” by showing us Broccoli people and a 5-minute Bill Murray cameo (I bet you forgot he was in it, didn’t you). Especially that it played on Scott’s skills not as a superhero, but as a thief.

But all it really amounted to was the film’s best sequence when Scott partook in a subatomic heist. The concept of Scott as a superhero now desperately trying to have it all — fame and love after being seen as a petty criminal, acceptance and time with his family, and everything in between while not recongizing that to have the important things in life he’ll have to sacrifice the superficial things that might make his esteem boom — represented by this moral conflict is just not visible in the film whatsoever. A complete waste.

Yet, the trailer was good enough to quickly be considered one of Marvel’s greatest of all time, and building intense interest for the second trailer, which dropped during the Super Bowl:

This trailer, despite not being quite as good in my opinion (which is odd, because despite being objectively better from an editing and “here’s the story we’re marketing come see it” type of view, that Yellow Brick Road rendition did some insane heavy lifting if we’re being honest), gave a more complete look at the supposed story Quantumania was holding for audience members come opening day.

The trailer opens with Kang’s voice, reflecting on the “interesting” nature of Scott Lang. It distills what I spoke about earlier pretty simply: “You’re an Avenger… you have a daughter, but you’ve lost a lot of time. Like me.”

Here we immediately have our first new intriguing piece of story information, and one that was not even present in the film whatsoever. Kang’s comparison of himself and his similar wants to Scott—they both have been trapped — in the Quantum Realm, actually—and for different reasons—wish to make it back home to make up some of the time they’ve lost. Or even turn back time and get it all back. The idea of making these two unlikely-paired characters foils, pitting them as hero and villain despite being vastly overpowered, would have been a great turn of writing had it actually been used. Alas, the writers were far more focused on inserting a MODOK joke every 30 seconds (including such a scarring image of far more MODOK skin then I’d ever like to see) instead of exploring the lessons Scott might have learned from a darker, more twisted version of himself and how obsessing over the past and losing the present will just result in you repeating the same mistakes and living out the same fears you’ve already seen come to pass, is infuriating. Again, there was such potential here, and it’s just completely squandered.

“He can rewrite existence, and alter timelines,” says Janet of Kang, showing yet again that the editors of these trailers understood how stupid it is to keep this information hidden from everyone else for so long. But further more, this is a great way to set up that Kang, if he got out, really COULD give Scott what he wants… in addition to cause some truly devestating damage to the fabric of reality (right before this, also, we get a very on the nose but excusable line where Kang tells Scott he knows what he wants is ‘time’, just in case it wasn’t obvious to the audience). This is followed by a great visual example of what seems like Kang’s powers but are really just the Quantum Realm’s, which is splitting Ant-Man into two separate versions of himself. Another thing this trailer does well isthat nothing is waste— every shot and line serves at least two purposes (still wondering what the “don’t be a dick” scene, which plays about two minutes too long, was supposed to accomplish in the actual movie).

Janet tells Scott RIGHT AFTER explaining how much of a threat he can be (giving us stakes that are never really felt in the movie), screaming to Ant-Man, “you CANNOT trust him,” to which Scott responds, “I don’t care who this guy is, I just lost so much. He can give us a second chance.” Again, great storytelling here. Not seen in the movie at all, though. Scott is ignoring his family’s warnings, pushing them away, with the ultimate goal of trying to bring them closer together (and also pretending his motivations are for everyone, and not selfish, self-preserving measures). Having the main tension of the film NOT being Janet wondering “oh my, should I tell my family about the homicidal maniac that runs this place and has killed multiple universes full of Avengers,” but “I told Scott, and he refuses to listen because of his drive to get what he wants” is SO MUCH BETTER. Especially if someone like Hope—or better yet, Hank, who has also lost so much time with his wife and starts to give in to the temptation Kang is offering—would’ve been so much more compelling.

Another interesting character aspect they aren’t afraid to lean into with Scott Lang here is that he’s been around the block; he’s had to deal with some very shady, slimy people, oftentimes as a way to get what he desires. So, yet again, the trailer isn’t afraid to pull back the curtain on Kang’s less-than-friendly demeanor, showing him threatening Scott, “Let me make this easy for you. You will bring me what I need, or everything you call a life… will end.” Does this kind of take away from the whole moral dilemma previously established? Slightly, but not really if we look at it critically. Yes, the whole “I’m gonna end you, and everyone you love” threat/trope is both pretty played out and takes away some of Scott’s own willingness to temporarily team up with Kang in order to achieve his goal, but I think, in a way, it also makes it better. Again, Scott has had to work with some pretty shady people. But he does so because, in his eyes, he’s one of them. He knows their code, how they operate. That they work on a certain set of rules, which includes following their word. So, despite the threat pushing him even further (and also giving him cover for choosing to work with Kang anyway), it also complicates the plot in a more layered way, not in a more trope-filled one. And of course, it deepens the stakes, so of course they’re gonna include it (there’s a good chance the line probably was written solely to put in the trailer).

This whole dynamic really contrasts nicely with Scott’s line several seconds later, and Cassie is pulled away from him by Kang’s guards while the time traveler tells Scott, “you may not want her to watch this,” and Scott responds, “we had a deal”. Scott’s superhero naivety makes him believe he knows how every bad guy and villain operates, and that he knows how to take advantage of that due to past experience. He does not, clearly, and the scene they are painting here is that now that Scott has gotten Kang what he needs, Kang is executing the potential threat instead of honoring his end of their bargain.

Yes, it’s a plot we’ve seen a million times before, but that doesn’t mean it had to be a bad one. A Faustian bargain is actually, in my opinion, one of the most compelling tales we can see reworked over and over again, especially in the superhero genre. It provides a moral flaw and blind spot for a supposed flawless superhero to reckon with and grow from, and it comments on the pitfalls that absolute power might bring to your mentality and perspective. When you believe you can do anything, deal with anything, and even obtain anything you need or desire, that can bring you down a path of unleashing the very thing you’ve sworn to destroy.

This would also contrast nicely with Cassie’s arc, who we see lamenting halfway through the trailer that “this is all my fault,” regarding their confinement in the Quantum Realm and the subsequent unleashing of Kang. This would further develop the themes mentioned above, regarding the idea that while power might not corrupt those who are, at their deepest level, good, it may certainly blind them to their limits or capabilities, often biting off more than they can chew. What’s great here is that Cassie’s perceived “failure”—an accident that seems to happen because she wants to be like her father—is a failure for both of them. Scott is too busy superheroing and walking the red carpets that come with that success to spend the time necessary with his daughter to make sure what she’s doing is safe and to fulfill the need she’s trying to satisfy by participating in civil unrest and unrestrained scientific exploration. Because part of it has to do with Cassie’s eg— she doesn’t take in any other person’s perspectives or warning, and just goes right ahead with what she’s doing.

This is all, of course, surrounded by various visuals of both the Quantum Realm and Kang’s ferocity, with the tagline “Witness the beginning of a new dynasty,” our obligatory “if you weren’t thinking of seeing it yet, now you HAVE TO since this one is SUPER IMPORTANT for the next Avengers movie” tie-in (sigh… but again, marketing props where it’s due, because the shot they pick of Kang watching his army raise up against the rebellion from his high-up throne room is the perfect shot to go with that).

From there on out, the music increases in intensity as we’re given a lot of action-packed, sci-fi/fantasy visuals where, at times, we might not be sure what we’re looking at. Still, it’s got energy and color (somewhat, which is also a rarity for Marvel) so it must be good. And again, to the trailer’s credit, it is exciting! Followed by the crescendo of Ant-Man getting his butt kicked by Kang, including practically getting curb-stomped. “You thought you could win?” Kang taunts, followed by Ant-Man revealing, “I don’t have to win… we both just have to lose!” In fact, the end of the trailer is as perfect as you can get (well, almost), with Cassie giving a half-hearted “Dad!” (Kathryn Newton has some… interesting performance choices in this movie), followed by an amazing “I’m sorry, Cassie,” from Scott that sounds like he’s being choked out or killed as he delivers it, apologizing for failing her in some way (especially by death or entrapment in the Quantum Realm) and then the unbridled rage and power of Kang, as he screams and shoots laser beams out of his hands. It’s really, really effective.

This teases what many predicted (and what most likely) would be the ending, with Ant-Man sacrificing his return to the normal world and getting stuck in the Quantum Realm to dispel or trap Kang, atoning for his sin of giving him a way out in the first place, and fulfilling his arc and the moral question of the film. Unfortunately, reports say that while this was the original ending — in fact, that BOTH Scott and Hope get stuck — test audiences, for some stupid reason, didn’t like this ending, so they changed it that Scott defeats Kang with ants, makes it back to the world, and that everything is perfect and better now, with nothing actually changed and no consquences, save for Scott getting briefly terrified of the thought Kang might some day return in the most obviously written-and-filmed-two-months-before-release internal monologue ever put to screen.

These two trailers gave audiences the expectation of a darker, more mature, and higher-stakes Ant-Man movie that would set the tone for the Marvel chapters to come. Yet, the reason the trailers were actually so well-received and worked so well was that the marketing team understood the fundamentals of storytelling and screenwriting, and knew that there was a compelling stand-alone story about the perils of letting power get to your head and ego, that led you into making bad, Faustian decisions because of the belief that since you’re a hero, every decision you make must be coming from a place of moral, objective good. Especially since one of the themes of the Ant-Man trilogy, given Scott is an ex-con, is that people aren’t always black and white, and that they always have room for growth and change, and that accepting that you still have things to learn is what makes you capable of good.

So, to put it in a nutshell, we’ll use the Screenwriting Unchained method to put all of this theory into an easy-to-digest outline regarding what story these trailers outline:

Story-Type: Hybrid

• Plot-Led: The character ensemble, but specifically Scott Lang, has the immediate goal of returning home, which involves defeating Kang.
• Plot-Led: Scott wants to reconcile with his daughter and make up for his past failures, which, to him, include all the time he lost stuck in the Quantum Realm during Endgame.
• Character-Led: Scott needs to recognize that he can’t change the past, and needs to instead focus on the future by spending less time basking in the fame of superhero life and more time with his daughter in the here-and-now, instead of trying to take risky and morally questionable actions to undo what can’t be changed.

NOTE: These terms “plot-led” and “character-led” might not mean what you think.

• Plot-Led is defined as: “if the main problem lies outside the protagonist and comes from other characters or nature, what leads the narrative is plot, the main dramatic action. Our character, or groups of characters if we have co-protagonists sharing the same goal, consciously wants to solve the problem and doesn’t need to change, because the main problem isn’t within the character, it’s outside.”
• Character-Led is defined as: “if the main problem lies within the protagonist, what drives the narrative is the protagonist’s evolution. Our character needs to change in order to solve the problem, and often wants this unconsciously, but is usually unaware of the problem, or denies its existence, and therefore can’t have the conscious goal of solving it.”

A HYBRID, which is far more common in films than you might think, oftentimes uses the plot-led strand of the story to incite the character-led strand, as seen here.

MAIN PROBLEM IN THE STORY: Scott needs to change his way of problem-solving and realize he can’t always fix everything without there being consequences, and find a way to get himself and his family out of the Quantum Realm and back to the human world, while making sure that Kang doesn’t.

M-FACTOR: This has to do with Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs. The more parts of the pyramid that are evident in the film, the better it might do. It seems here that the film might actually fulfill every single category on the pyramid:

• Physiological: Breathing, food, water, sleep, shelter, etc.
  • Suriving Avengers’ and universe killer Kang, and making it back home. But more importantly, surviving this strange new world and its unfamiliar dangers.
• Safety: security of body, employment, resources, morality, family, health, property, etc.
  • Scott wants to make sure his family (and himself) survive this ordeal, so it ties in quite a bit with physiological.
• Love/Belonging: Friendship, family, intimacy, etc.
  • Scott’s relationship with his daughter
• Esteem: Recognition, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others
  • Scott loves basking in the fame of being a superhero—writing memoirs, walking red carpets—and it’s become a core part of his identity. One, in fact, that is competing and pulling him away from his other needs.
• Self-Actualization: morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem-solving, lack of prejudice, acceptance of facts.
  • Scott needs to accept that just because he’s a superhero doesn’t mean he is all-powerful, and can change the past and balance all these parts of his life without there being very natural, human consequences.
  • Scott needs to pay the price/suffer the consequences of his Faustian bargain with Kang (aka — the Devil). He needs to realize that his way of problem-solving only creates more problems for the ones he loves, and change his ways.

THEME: Based on the trailer (since, of course, none of this is a direct analysis of the film itself, but rather, the one that was marketed), the themes include power, ego, survival, and most importantly, TIME.

MANAGING CONFLICT:

• Conscious Goal: Defeat Kang and escape the Quantum Realm (without letting Kang out).
• Unconscious Need: Accept that superhero life has consequences that you can’t escape, control, or undo, and that being a hero means you have to sacrifice.
• Motivation: Scott has his worst fears realized: he’s missed out on his daughter’s childhood and will do anything to get it back, and now has put her right in the middle of a danger-filled superhero world.
• What’s at Stake: The survival of Scott and his family, as well as his morality in decision-making and acceptance that he can’t control everything, which, if gone unfulfilled, will only continue to hurt those around him and put them in harm’s way.
• External Obstacles/Antagonist: Kang. The Quantum Realm.
• Internal Obstacles: Scott’s need to try and fix the past and escape consequence versus deal with things realistically and focus on the future.
• Catalyst: Being portaled into the Quantum Realm, and captured by Kang.

Everything else that would go into this outline is saved for the final film, because of course, a trailer can’t reveal EVERYTHING (even though, to be fair, this trailer, while good, reveals quite a bit, as you can see).

But this was the film advertised, and the reason why hype was so high, and definitely why a movie only marginally worse than most of Marvels’ overall subpar output was panned by audiences and critics alike. They were promised something extraordinary and above the grain, and instead were given slop that wasn’t afraid to own that it was slop. There were no stakes or consquences, and scenes that constantly meandered without a clear goal, or undercut themselves for a laugh at every possible moment.

The temptation now to rewatch this “film” is high, because that’s what good trailers do — but do I really want to get my hopes crushed again? I think not.