Filmmaker Peyton Reed says the appeal of the upcoming “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is that, unlike the prior two films in the franchise, this one is much more along the scale of an “Avengers” style film.
The new film kicks off Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Reed, speaking with EW says that he’s aware audience treated the past two films as “fun little palate cleansers after a gigantic Avengers movie”. For this, he wanted to change that, and Marvel’s Kevin Feige agreed.
That said, the focus still remains on the characters, with the progressing of the father-daughter relationship being central to all the films – including this one where she’s now become a young woman (Kathryn Newton) and a scientific mind in her own right.
Reed confirms the bulk of the film takes place in the Quantum Realm, which required the creation of an “incredibly complex subatomic world, and all the environments and ecosystems and creatures and beings that inhabit that world”.
More importantly, the film’s villain is one of the most infamous baddies in the Marvel universe – Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). Talking about his inclusion, Reed says:
“I grew up a real Marvel comics nerd, and there are a handful of antagonists in the Marvel comics universe who are all-timers. Loki, obviously. Doctor Doom from the Fantastic Four. And Kang the Conqueror.
In conversations with Kevin Feige and Marvel, it was like, I want to put Ant-Man and Wasp up against a really formidable villain in this movie, and so we’re doing Kang the Conqueror. In the comics, Kang has dominion over time, he’s a time traveller.
His situation is a little bit different in this movie, which I won’t spoil for you, but he’s someone who, [while] we live very linear lives, from childhood to death, Kang doesn’t exist that way.
It struck me as interesting to take the tiniest Avengers – in some people’s minds maybe the least powerful Avengers – and put them up against the most powerful force in the multiverse.”
Another actor appearing is Bill Murray in an as-yet-unnamed role. Reed explains some elements of that role:
“Bill Murray plays a character from Janet van Dyne’s past. It’s a crucial role. A big theme in this movie is the things that parents and kids don’t say to each other, the secrets that they keep in families.
In the last movie, when Hank and Hope rescue Janet, Evangeline Lilly’s character had this idea of ‘Oh, I’m going to be reunited with my mom, this is going to be great, we’re going to talk about everything’.
But what happens if the other person, in this case, Janet, puts up a wall and maybe is not comfortable talking about certain things and doesn’t reveal certain things about her past? As we know from great stories, you can put the past behind you, but the past will always find a way to show up again. Bill’s character represents that in this movie.”
Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer star in the film, which hits cinemas on February 17th.