Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania screenwriter Jeff Loveness has reacted to the movie's negative reviews, saying he felt "despondent" about the film's reception.
"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 …?'" Loveness said in a recent interview with The Daily Beast. "I’m really proud of what I wrote for Jonathan [Majors] and Michelle Pfeiffer. I thought that was good stuff, you know? And so I was just despondent, and I was really sad about it."
However, watching the movie in a theater with fans who seemed to be enjoying themselves changed his mind. "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."
At 48%, the movie has the second-lowest Rotten Tomatoes critics' score of any Marvel title with only Eternals behind it. The appearance of MODOK, Corey Stoll's giant floating-headed villain, particularly attracted criticism from fans and critics alike. Ant-Man 3 is Loveness' feature film writing debut – his previous writing credits are on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Rick and Morty, and assorted Marvel comics.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is in theaters now. Next up for Marvel on the big screen is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which arrives on May 5. In the meantime, make sure you're up to date on what's in store for the MCU with our guides to Marvel Phase 5 and Marvel Phase 6.
