Disney seems to have learned a lesson about going woke and going broke, albeit it seems to have discovered the wrong one. They seem to have concluded that “if American audiences don’t applaud radical leftist ideas, then perhaps China will.”
Disney/Marvel’s upcoming superhero flick “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” seems to do just that. While China doesn’t tolerate LGBT messaging, what it does like to hear is that political systems that lead to communism are a good thing.
This is exactly what Disney/Marvel decided to get across in the movie with a line from a character.
According to YouTuber Valliant Renegade, who got an early viewing of the flick, one character delivers a very serious line in the film.
“Unpopular take, but hear me out: Socialism is a good thing,” says the character.
“Socialism is a Good Thing” – Actual line from #AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania – this movie needs to fail HARD because it was made for Chinese Communists. Do not HATE watch it
— Valliant Renegade (@ValliantRenegad) February 15, 2023
It doesn’t help that the movie is apparently so bloated with nonsense that even mainstream critics seem to be having a problem with it. Currently, on Rotten Tomatoes, the critic score sits at 50 percent. Normally this wouldn’t mean a thing to the audience as the critic score being low is indicative of the movie actually being enjoyable.
However, even with this friendliness towards the left’s favorite socio-economic system, it still managed to get the lowest score of any Disney/Marvel movie from critics.
Complaints range from the movie being overly complicated while still being incredibly dull, to the movie just being more filler. Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is described as being pretty two-dimensional.
The Fort Worth Weekly reported that one of the movie’s issues is that it tries to make Ant-Man, a comedic character, a more serious person. This just doesn’t work, especially for a comedian like Rudd:
This movie wants to give Scott more dramatic weight, but the thematic heaviness doesn’t suit the series or director Peyton Reed. The series was always better when it was funny, and despite Rudd’s best efforts, the comedy largely falls flat.
Marvel has been on a steep descent in quality for some time now. Its “phase 4” movies have ranged from passable to downright unwatchable, and almost all of it has been so soaked in social justice messaging that even people who tend to lean leftward find it a bit much.
(READ: Marvel Went from a ‘Take It or Leave It’ Brand to ‘Leave It’ With ‘Wakanda Forever’)
It would appear that Marvel would much rather appeal to China than leave behind the messaging, and if that’s the case, then it can lose American audiences and become a Chinese mouthpiece with movies that increasingly fare less well overseas.
At this point, Marvel is a dead brand walking.
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