Bringing the Public into the Quantum Realm: Marvel Magic Meets Mind-Bending Science

The February 2023 release of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania presented a unique opportunity to engage members of the public with quantum information science (QIS) research. Never before had there been a film that featured quantum so prominently – right in the title! – and was guaranteed significant buzz and a huge audience. This talk will provide an overview of a communications and public outreach campaign organized by Argonne National Laboratory in the months around the release of the film, and reveal which activities were most successful in engaging public audiences. The campaign combined in-person events and social media content to explain real quantum phenomena and the QIS research going on at Argonne and other Chicago-area institutions. Events included a pre-release screening of the film organized in collaboration with Marvel Studios and The University of Chicago, a game-show style public lecture at Argonne, and an interactive panel at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2). Marvel-style videos and a Reddit Ask Me Anything were elements of a three-week social media campaign.