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Movies like "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" will make you nostalgic for the halcyon days of 2008, when a movie called "Iron Man" was released in theaters. Sure, devout comic readers were familiar with Tony Stark's story, but for the rest of the movie-going masses, it was a surprising and fun summer blockbuster. It was hard to imagine then that the snowball that started rolling that summer would still be felt almost 15 years later.

That's the problem with the state of the union over at Marvel Studios: it's become never-ending. Their latest outing, the third film in the "Ant-Man" series, has the misfortune of coming out when widespread fatigue seems to be settling in. The movies are still financially successful and perhaps, for some, that's enough to call it a success. But what's the lasting cultural impact of movies like "Doctor Strange in Multiverse of Madness" or "Thor: Love and Thunder," the nadir of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? It's hard to see any. When there's billions of dollars on the table, cultural importance doesn't rank high on the priority list because they will keep coming up with stories to cash in on.

Director Peyton Reed's 2015 "Ant-Man" had a refreshing touch on the by-the-numbers origin story Marvel churns out. Paul Rudd was cast as the unlikely superhero Scott Lang, who stumbled into the ability to shrink himself to the size of an ant. The movie was silly and unserious (and refreshingly ran just shy of two hours, which is a big deal for Marvel films) and didn't carry the weight of the world on its shoulders. Between the 2018 sequel "Ant-Man and the Wasp" and the latest installment, diminishing returns are in full effect.

In "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," Scott still carries himself as a regular guy, even though everyone on the street knows who he is. His focus is spending more time with his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), who has become more interested in her father's line of work. Her interest in science has led her to create an opening to the Quantum Realm, where they end up for almost the entirety of the movie. Scott, Cassie, Hope/The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) all get sucked into the Quantum Realm and face off with Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors, a formidable bad guy).

The small-scale, big-scale joy of the original "Ant-Man" has entirely vanished in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," which is disappointing because the original movie felt like it had a singular tone and voice in a sea of sameness. The latest movie is said to be the start of Phase 5 (something that will mean more to the Marvel scholars in the audience), so the stakes undoubtedly have to grow. Rudd gives the movie moments of brevity, but the tiresome action and clashing with faceless monsters makes the movie feel like an exercise in green screen technology more than setting up a new phase in the MCU (and the green screen has never been more evident).

Marvel pictures are often deemed "event cinema" but at this point, what does that even mean? Audiences still turn out for them, but the temperament feels like habit rather than enthusiasm, and with Marvel's continued dominance at the multiplexes, it seems like more releases are coming out every year, along with the Disney+ shows at home. The movies now expect you to be up-to-date on your homework, which takes a bit of excitement out of going to see the movies.

"Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" has bursts of energy and creative visuals, but it hammers home what has been evident for a few movies now: the Marvel banner is growing tired. If this is the beginning of a new phase, there could be a lot of new and exciting storylines coming down the pike. Their latest output presents a case to be skeptical of that being likely.