Despite all his contributions to the Avengers and his role in saving the world from Thanos’s genocidal bend, Ant-Man’s own films have been largely trivial in the grand scheme of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The villains and storylines of Ant-Man (2015) and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) have been essentially insular, with fewer repercussions to the broader MCU when compared to the films of his peers in the Avengers.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For all the delights and excesses that come with tying together several plot lines across a menagerie of feature films and TV shows, the first two Ant-Man films presented a comic relief and goofiness that was a respite from the crocheted stories of the MCU.
Some of that light-heartedness is sacrificed in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The film retains some of that awkward, quippy comedy that Paul Rudd is known for, but in making the latest Ant-Man offering more significant to Marvel’s gameplan for the next year, the humour has been pruned to serve the blockbuster engine.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania signals the start of the fifth phase of the MCU. The story begins when the family of microscopic heroes — which include Scott Lang (Rudd), Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) — get unwillingly sucked into the Quantum Realm. This minute universe within ours is rendered with breathtaking splendour, comparable to James Cameron’s Pandora in Avatar. The Quantum Realm has its own indigenous flora and fauna, from tardigrades and mammoth-sized single-cell organisms to entire civilisations with their own customs and political allegiances.
However, the deeper we venture into the story, and the Quantum Realm, it becomes clear that the film is less about Ant-Man, than it is a vehicle to introduce the big baddie of phase five of the MCU: Kang the Conqueror.
Though Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania marks the debut of Kang, we first saw Jonathan Majors take up the character — or, at least, a variant of him — in the series Loki. There Kang went by He Who Remains, the secret head of the Time Variance Authority, or TVA. He was the villain in Loki, but as it turns out, he was a more benevolent version of Kang and aimed to ensure a single timeline to keep other versions of himself from appearing.
The death of He Who Remains at the end of Loki marked the splintering of one timeline and another start to the multiverse.
It is from this act that the Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania springs. Exiled by unknown forces into the Quantum Realm, Kang’s first encounter was with Janet van Dyne while she herself was trapped in the minute universe.
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As we learn from the beginning of the film, Janet has been largely guarded about her experiences in the Quantum Realm when she was stranded for 30 years, but as she and her family are forcibly pulled back in, she has little choice but to delve into those details.
Despite strong performances by the main cast, particularly from Pfeiffer and Majors, it is the supporting characters that put the breath of life in the show. There is a wonderful cameo by Bill Murray, who takes on the role of Lord Kylar that fits snugly in his catalogue of eccentric characters. The Good Place actor William Jackson Harper gives a gleeful performance as the telepath Quaz. But the most surprising and humorous is, perhaps, Corey Stoll’s return. Not so much as Darren Cross, the cruel businessman who dons the Yellowjacket suit in the first Ant-Man, but as a deranged remanant of his former self, a giant bob-head like figure known as Modok, who will be a familiar face for those who have seen the eponymous 2021 animated series.
The fight scenes are spectacular, although a smidge shyer than the MCU’s more epic blockbuster offerings, including Avengers: Infinity Wars. But for those who recall the warnings He Who Remains gave in Loki (or even simply take a look at the titles the MCU has slated for the next year), it becomes quite clear how the film will end even before it begins.
In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Kang the Conqueror is one of the variants that He Who Remains wanted to stifle out of existence, warning of the mayhem that would ensue if his more belligerent counterparts were allowed to exist. Whether or not Ant-Man and Wasp manage to defeat him by the end of the film, it is already clear from the beginning that there will be more Kangs to reckon with, as Majors is already confirmed to reprise the role in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
As such, the stakes are not so high in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. If it isn’t this Kang that will break out of the Quantum Realm, there will be others to fight — a whole council of them, in fact. Don’t let the film’s title deceive you, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a prelude to the saga of Kang, served in excessive MCU-fashion to hype up the year ahead.
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Sunday's games
All times UAE:
Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace, 4pm
Manchester City v Arsenal, 6.15pm
Everton v Watford, 8.30pm
Chelsea v Manchester United, 8.30pm
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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