Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania was supposed to kick off Phase 5 in style. Instead, the movie largely disappointed fans; wasting Kang the Conqueror on a battle with Scott Lang was a mistake on Marvel Studios' part, as was the decision to rely on The Volume in bringing the Quantum Realm to life.
Fans spent years waiting to finally explore the subatomic reality, only for it to be deemed bland, forgettable, and lacking in originality. It's been said that Marvel Studios thought it had a hit on its hands; still, the fact that the ending was reshot weeks before the threequel's release somewhat contradicts that.
Regardless, Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania was the MCU's second "Rotten" movie and grossed a so-so $476.1 million at the worldwide box office.
Ahead of its release, there was a huge amount of excitement surrounding Corey Stoll's return as Darren Cross/Yellowjacket following his apparent demise in 2015's Ant-Man. M.O.D.O.K.'s MCU debut was another let-down, unfortunately, as he was used as comedic fodder and brought to life with some undeniably hit-or-miss visual effects.
Marvel Studios and filmmaker Peyton Reed deserve credit for attempting to bring a comic-accurate M.O.D.O.K. to life on screen. However, concept artist Aleksi Briclot's take on the villain is arguably vastly superior to what we saw on screen at the start of 2023.
"[Attempted ]to make him really scary, with a twist revealing the usual comics look of the character," he said of his unused designs for Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. "First, it was looking like a bulky warrior silhouette, going to the roots: Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing and then revealing another surprising appearance."
M.O.D.O.K. emerging from Yellowjacket's armour would have been an insane visual and a fun surprise for fans. Ultimately, the movie went a different way, and we don't anticipate seeing Cross in this or any other form again.
Disney CEO Bob Iger appeared to address Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania's failings when he said, "Sequels typically worked well for us. Do you need a third and a fourth, for instance? Or is it time to turn to other characters?"
"There’s nothing in any way inherently off in terms of the Marvel brand," the executive added. "I think we just have to look at what characters and stories we’re mining, and you look at the trajectory of Marvel over the next five years, you’ll see a lot of newness. We’re going to turn back to the Avengers franchise, but with a whole different set of Avengers."
You can see Briclot's alternate Yellowjacket/M.O.D.O.K. for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania designs in the Instagram gallery below.