The buzz fromAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s first screenings seem to have passed rather quickly, and the lifting of the film’s review embargo has unveiled a horde of negative reviews almost unparalleled by any other Marvel Studios movie.
After last week’s Hollywood premiere, initial reactions had positionedAnt-Man 3to perform on par with most Marvel Studios films, with some critics going as far as comparing it to the MCU’s version of aStar WarsorFlash Gordonmovie and Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror being an absolute standout among its all-star cast. Regardless, definitive reviews have changed that narrative to the point where thisAnt-Manis morelikely to compare withEternalsandThor’s worst entries in the eyes of critics.
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OnRotten Tomatoes' live score,Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniahas a measly 52% rating (from 141 reviews), making it Marvel Studios' worst release ever.Ant-Man 3is even a tad below 2021’sEternals, which opened to a 58% critics score before eventually dipping to 47%.Ant-Man 3didn’t fare well in Game Rant’s review, which matches up with the industry trend that makes up the review aggregator’s score, butQuantumaniais also not performing much better on the likes of IMDb (6.6/10) or Letterboxd (2.9/5).
Recently, critics’ reviews for superhero movies have trended towards a slight decline after a film’s release. This meansAnt-Man 3could hit lower scores once it officially premieres this weekend. While this metric does not indicate that a Marvel film will not enjoy a successful opening weekend, nor will it necessarily mirror viewers’ opinions, there has been some correlation with otherMCU releases likeThor: Love and Thunder.
Ant-Man 3is projected to easily surpass the box office totals of Scott Lang’s previous two adventures. However, that’s not necessarily a good forecast when factoringAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s bigger production budget. Even ifAnt-Man 3becomes profitable, negative reviews are bound to impact the movie’s commercial performance on its second weekend, especially given its release on Disney Plus won’t be too far down the line.
The bulk of criticism hurled towardsAnt-Man 3appears to be the movie serving as a setup for Phase Five rather than working as an individual production. Even among its worst critics, the one saving grace is thatKang the Conqueror is a worthy Marvel villain.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniawill release in theaters on July 28, 2025.
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