No offense to anyone involved in the first two installments, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Ant-Man franchise has never really been regarded as unmissable in the grand scheme of the franchise’s goings-on.
That’s not to say that either of the pint-sized blockbusters are bad movies, but Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang and his cohorts haven’t exactly been dealing with stakes that require an Avengers-sized assist, at least until Quantumania arrives. If we ignore the pandemic-afflicted trio of Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Eternals, then Ant-Man and its sequel still rank as the lowest-grossing MCU films to have released since the end of Phase One, indicating their relatively lowly status.
However, Kevin Feige is adamant that the tiny superhero and his assorted associates deserve to be regarded as dwelling among the top tier of the MCU’s long and illustrious history, as he stated at the weekend’s CCXP convention. That being said, it’s not exactly a sentiment that’s been unanimously shared among the fandom, many of whom hadn’t really given the trilogy much thought until Quantumania promised to up the ante significantly.
It would be fair to assume that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will end up as the top-earning entry of the three, if only for the intrigue and excitement that comes with seeing Jonathan Majors introduce the Multiverse Saga’s big bad Kang the Conqueror to the masses. Maybe then will opinion on Scott Lang’s solo adventures go up in the estimation of its detractors, but for now the jury is out.