If any character in the Marvel Universe was the least likely to headline a big-budget MCU feature, it was probably Ant-Man. Originally developed back in the early days of the MCU as a project for beloved British director Edgar Wright (of Shaun of the Dead and Baby Driver fame), that version fell apart due to the proverbial “creative differences.” Marvel eventually brought on comedy director Peyton Reed to helm the project, delivering a fun, quirky, and solid introduction to the world’s unlikeliest hero and a film that used his weird power set in a creative way. The movie also featured a winning cast with Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, and Michael Pena. In 2018 the director and cast returned for Ant-Man and The Wasp, adding Michelle Pfeiffer and Randall Park. The follow-up film was another wacky and sillier adventure than the first outing, providing a crucial tie-in to the climactic Avengers: Endgame (2019).
With the imminent release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever just a few weeks away, Disney/Marvel dropped a teaser trailer for the third Ant-Man adventure, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. The creative team and cast are still intact, joined by Kathryn Newton (from HBO’s Big Little Lies) as Scott’s now teenage daughter Cassie and, surprisingly, Bill Murray. The plot is based around Cassie developing a quantum “satellite” that will send a signal to the quantum realm, unleashing all sorts of chaos. Ant-Man and his crew must journey down to the Quantum realm and fix things, with a possible diversion into the multi-verse, especially with the appearance of big baddie Kang the Conqueror, played with great menace by Jonathan Majors.
From the short teaser, we get all the weird and wild imagery that were hallmarks of the first two entries, plus a larger (and welcome) role for Pfeiffer’s Janet Van Dyne. In fact, with daughter Cassie part of the mix, there is a family Fantastic Four vibe to the proceedings. And with Major’s Kang first introduced in the 2021 Disney + series Loki (playing a bizarre, mild-mannered variant of the baddie), will we see an appearance by the TVA security force featured in that series? I loved the Terry Gilliam-inspired Loki, so any connection would be a fun addition. And one of the next Avengers movies is entitled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty so this little Ant-Man adventure could be the stepping stone to something much bigger.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is set for release on February 17, 2023. If you’re not suffering from MCU fatigue (I’m close but not there yet), check out the teaser trailer below and let me know your thoughts in the comments section.