Marvel Studios : Legends
The Marvel Cinematic Universe now has a long list of comic book superheroes in their arsenal, and all of them have origin stories. Many have grown up on the comics, and moved on to the films and series; it is possible, however, that a viewer who watches an MCU film has not been a fan, so has not kept track of who did what, when and why. Hence the TV docuseries, Marvel Studios: Legends, that lays it all out in snappy episodes, with footage from past films and series, which quickly explain the raison d’ etre of a particular comic book superhero. It makes for casual viewing, like a recap, but is well-edited so that all the key-elements of the story are shared in a few minutes.
After a 26-episode Season 1, a fresh Season 2 starts off with three episodes on Ant-Man, The Wasp, Hank & Jane, which are interconnected. Each Legends episode is released as a run-up to the premiere of the series or film, featuring that character, so that a viewer gets a capsule of information that helps clarify the lives and missions of baffling array of superheroes in a format longer than a standard promo but short enough to whet curiosity.
Episodes for Scott Lang/ Ant-Man, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hope van Dyne/ Wasp Evangeline Lilly) have been scheduled, like a quick refresher to announce their appearances in the film Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania (releasing in the US on February 17), that kicks of Phase 5, the new era of the MCU.
From the Ant-Man episode, and the promos of the film, it is clear that Rudd is ready to shrink to his tiny size, and Lilly all set to fly, in the third installment of the Ant-Man franchise, with the other actors reprising their parts. Adding to the cast are Bill Murray as Krylar, a villain from the Quantum Realm, and Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang, Ant-Man’s daughter. Jonathan Majors makes his MCU film debut as Kang the Conqueror after portraying the character in the Disney+ Loki, and marking the beginning of the next phase of the MCU, with the upcoming Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Reportedly Kang is a more deadly villain than Thanos.
Even though the episodes are bite-sized, they explain just what happened in the Quantum Realm, and how the Ant-Man legend came about. Even though the episodes have no new material or interviews with the maker or the cast, they are fun to watch, as the sheer scale of the CGI imagination and fast-paced action sequences, wrapped up in sci-fi, multiverse jargon is revealed, garnished with romance and family values.
