Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania writer Jeff Loveness gave his honest take on the mixed reviews from fans and critics.
Ant-Man 3 has had a rough start ever since its release. On top of the many criticisms, the MCU threequel received a "B" audience score rating, tying it for the worst in Marvel Studios' history.
Moreover, Ant-Man 3 also suffered the worst Rotten Tomatoes score in MCU history, gaining a 47% critic approval rating.
Ant-Man 3 Writer Reacts to Movie's Bad Reviews
Speaking with The Daily Beast, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania scribe Jeff Loveness talked about why he was surprised by the movie's bad reviews.
Loveness said the criticisms "took me [him] by surprise:"
“To be honest, those reviews took me by surprise. I was in a pretty low spot… Those were not good reviews, and I was like, ’What the …?’”
The Marvel writer, who is also penning Avengers: The Kang Dynasty's script, pointed out that he was "really proud" of what he wrote for Jonathan Majors' Kang the Conqueror and Michelle Pfeiffer's Janet Van Dyne:
“I’m really proud of what I wrote for Jonathan [Majors, who plays the villain Kang the Conqueror] and Michelle Pfeiffer [scientist Janet Pym]. I thought that was good stuff, you know? And so I was just despondent, and I was really sad about it.”
Despite the bad reviews, Loveness noted that the audience at the showing that he went to said otherwise, mentioning that they were laughing during the movie:
“I went to [a showing] of the movie after the reviews were in and the movie was out, and an audience was laughing, and it was one of those Sullivan’s Travels, ‘watching the movie with the prisoners’ moments.”
This made Loveness believe that Ant-Man 3 was accomplishing exactly what he set out for it to do: be entertaining for the audience:
“I think we live in this era where we’re trying to label things so that we can all group ourselves into thoughts on Twitter together. I think we all need to kind of take a step back from this collective fandom that we have and just try to enjoy stuff for ourselves.”
Although there were mixed criticisms, Loveness was still glad to hear that the audience (the ones who rushed to see the movie during opening weekend with him) were laughing at the jokes he worked on for the threequel, leading to his claim that the "[the reviews] are wrong:"
“I’m like, ‘Goddamn! No, [the reviews] are wrong! I’m right! MODOK is great! I’m pretty happy with it overall, and I think I learned how to take a punch this week. And now that I learned that it’s not too bad, I can just get on with making things.”
This isn't the first time that Loveness has defended Ant-Man 3 from critics, with the Marvel scribe explaining that the movie's ending is appropriate despite fan complaints:
“I kind of love the ending that we landed on. I hear what people are saying, but I feel if you just strand Ant-Man in the Quantum Realm again, that is exactly what happened at the end of the second movie, and the way out of it is exactly what happens in ‘Endgame’.”
Will Ant-Man 3's Reviews Affect Jeff Loveness' Avengers 5 Gig?
While it's easy to assume that Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania's bad reviews may directly affect Jeff Loveness' stint as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty's writer, these are two separate movies that don't entirely impact the MCU scribe's gig.
Although some fans may be hesitant to watch Avengers 5 due to Loveness' involvement, the Earth's Mightiest Heroes-led franchise is in a league of its own, with audiences still expected to flock to theaters to witness the crossover event.
However, Loveness' latest comments have a point, considering that Jonathan Majors and Michelle Pfeiffer had incredible performances in Ant-Man 3. More so, the threequel has a strong audience score on Rotten Tomatoes (currently at 83%), validating the writers' remarks about his movie-going experience during its opening weekend.
Hopefully, Loveness' comedic background combined with his first taste of MCU action could eventually redeem himself in Avengers 5.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is playing in theaters worldwide.
