This movie was good, and I am so proud of Marvel for continuing to fight it’s way out of the rut of 2020s. I thought we were going to hit a high note with Wakanda Forever and then we were going to go tumbling back to the quality over Multiverse of Madness. But I was wrong, and I am so glad that I was wrong.

This review is about Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania. Let’s start with the things that, in my opinion, were the bad stuff.

First of all, no Luis (Michael Peña). Luis holds the entire Antman franchise together and he is a fan favorite and my favorite Marvel character. He was nowhere to be found in the movie, even being excluded from the mid-credits scene or the end-credits scene. I think that was the biggest mistake this movie made.

Second, almost all of the aliens were slimy. This is a general statement, but I am sick of slimy aliens. Star Wars, the masterclass of creating aliens, did us a disservice by having mostly skin-textured and slimy aliens. I want the aliens with fur. I want aliens with feathers. Only one of the non-human background characters had feathers, and that is a disservice to sci-fi fans everywhere.

Those are the only things I found wrong with this movie. The villain was intimidating, and the plot was engaging. Not only did this work as a crutch for future movies (other crutch movies are Externals, No Way Home, and Black Widow), but it was a great stand-alone and  works well with it’s own trilogy. It’s just a fun movie as well. Not every movie needs to be special and serious. It was funny.

I have heard complaints about this movie being too much like Star Wars, which I get, and complaints about MODOK (Corey Stoll). However, I think MODOK was a great addition. I remember him from the Phineas and Ferb/Marvel crossover. But putting it as where Damien went after the original Antman and also mentioning him in the movie before MODOK appeared? Perfection. I like it!

This movie is a lot like end of first phase and second phase Marvel. For those of you unfamiliar of the jargon, it’s a lot like Captain America and both of the previous Antman movies.