Kathryn Newton and Paul Rudd in a scene from “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”

How many Marvel movies is too many Marvel movies?

I’ve been asking myself that question a lot as of late, and after seeing the latest adventure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it feels like we may finally be starting to see the answer.

I’m not saying that every film or TV show within the MCU needs to be brilliant, or even good. But with so many different storylines being churned out, I find myself, as a genuine fan of the franchise, feeling the strain of not only trying to keep up with it all, but I’m struggling to even care.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” the third in that pairing’s stand-alone adventures, is the latest and best example of these feelings.

The previous two chapters in the life and hijinks of Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne/The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) fittingly focused on more micro storylines, with subtle ties to the greater MCU that paid off in later films. This latest is a full-blown spectacle, with little substance in this next big bad.

“Quantumania” kicks off the latest phase of films and delivers just about every piece of vital information while never fully connecting to the audience. Deluged by decidedly average CGI with bored performances from a typically great cast, Marvel may not have shied too far from their paint-by-numbers approach in other films, but they at least had a heartbeat at their center — but “Quantumania” doesn’t seem to try.

The quickest rundown of the film I can give without spoiling too much is this: Scott’s daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) creates a kind of satellite for the quantum realm which sucks her, Scott, Hope, Hank (Michale Douglas) and Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) into it. Separated from the Van Dyne/Pym clan, Scott and Cassie meet some refugees who were displaced by the baddie Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) and are eventually swept up in trying to evade capture from him. Meanwhile, the Van Dyne/Pym’s are trying to find Scott and Cassie while Janet tries to avoid talking about what is really going on down there, and of course, eventually has to come clean when her past catches up with her.

Where the previous Ant-Man films shined the brightest was in the fact they were essentially fun heist movies. You have a charismatic and quippy lead (Rudd), his more serious counterpart (Lilly), and the grumpier old guy who puts up with it all (Michael Douglas). The previous films treaded the silliness expertly, and they worked.

This latest doesn’t seem to work out how stoic or fun it should be, so it fails at both. None of the actors is able to latch on to any kind of strong emotion to carry them through, even though the opportunities are there. The comedy is tired, and the jokes carry on for too long. With the exception of the first 15 minutes or so (which take place outside the quantum realm) the entire movie is listless and simply feels like a haphazard attempt to introduce Kang to the movie audience (we’ve already met a version of him in the Disney+ show “Loki”).

Somehow, we’re supposed to fear him. Majors, who is a terrific actor, is relegated to mumbling his way through his odd pronunciation/accent, and when the time comes for him to show his stuff, it doesn’t have nearly the impact it should.

Now, the MCU has typically had issues with villains, but the Kang seen here is just another generic-yet-loquacious baddie delivering exposition to set up this phase, but he’s supposed to be the ultimate bad guy for the entire string of stories coming out.

Rudd is never able to translate Lang’s feelings to the audience, even though it’s probably the one thing most in the audience can relate to — the drive to keep a loved one safe.

Instead, the movie takes every chance it can to undercut everything, throwing out more CGI, off-pace humor and flat acting, making this feel the least like an “Ant-Man” movie it can.

It’s become increasingly difficult to care about the new characters introduced recently within the greater MCU. There’s just too much of it, without enough of the moments that make a certain character feel distinct from the rest of the MCU bunch.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”

125 minutes

Rated PG-13 for violence/action, and language.

2 stars