MCU Fans Agree That Quantumania's Gravest Sin Is Benching Ant-Man's Allies
"Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" is in theaters now, but even before it came out, fans were well aware that it wasn't going to be exactly like the first two installments in the franchise. All indications from the trailers and promotional campaign were that "Quantumania" is a large-scale, (micro-) cosmic adventure against the Marvel Cinematic Universe's current chief antagonist. It seemed to be more in line with a threat that The Avengers would assemble in order to take down than the comic hijinks that distinguish the first two "Ant-Man" cinematic outings — a dynamic that some might even describe as a problem for the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Still, many viewers of the film seem to feel that an opportunity was lost by not bringing the whole "Ant-Man" supporting cast into the Quantum Realm. One particularly conspicuous absence is that of Luis (Michael Peña), the best friend of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) who was responsible for much of the humor that sets the first two "Ant-Man" installments apart from the rest of the MCU. Scott's ex-wife Maggie (Judy Greer) and her husband Jim (Bobby Cannavale) are also completely absent from "Quantumania," and some fans are not happy about it.
Much of Ant-Man's established supporting cast is missing from Quantumania
It's not hard to figure out why Michael Peña's Luis and much of the rest of the supporting cast from "Ant-Man" and "Ant-Man and The Wasp" are absent from "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania." Set largely within the microcosmic Quantum Realm, the film is jam-packed with new characters and incidents and there most likely simply wasn't room for them. But fans like u/DaHydro on Reddit aren't satisfied with this explanation: "Crazy how they completely dropped his supporting cast from the last two movies, even during moments where they should've come up. Like, did nobody invite Cassie's mom and step-dad to her 'birthday' dinner?"
In another comment, u/DaHydro goes even further to say that MODOK (Darren Cross) could have been swapped out with Luis in MODOK form: "Hell, they could've cut MODOK out entirely and have Luis down in the Quantum Realm with them. Could've given him a whole side plot, the comedy just writes itself." And u/emilxerter strongly agrees: "MODOK Luis is something we missed out on unfortunately. Imagine Michael Peña's wide face and short limbs telling his classic stories." And u/1TripLeeFan spoke for many commenters when they wrote, "I missed the Michael Peña recap."
While we don't know if MODOK Luis was ever under consideration by the MCU brain trust, it is an amusing image to contemplate! Perhaps if there ends up being an "Ant-Man 4," fans will get their wish to see Luis and the rest of the "Ant-Man" gang cutting up in the Quantum Realm.