Marvel Studios’ upcoming Ant-Man And The Wasp is a project packed with potential. It’s the first film from the company with two titular heroes, and there’s a lot of room to grow with the fun characters introduced in the first movie. There are many directions for the story to go, and each one of them could offer something new and different for the fictional universe as a whole. When it comes right down to it, however, what director Peyton Reed really wants to further explore in the sequel are the key family dynamics that fueled this summer’s blockbuster.
Reed revealed this direction for Ant-Man And The Wasp when I had the chance to speak with him over the phone this past weekend. At the end of a long conversation both looking back at the movie he’s made and what’s to come, I asked the filmmaker what, at the heart of everything, he was really excited to explore in the follow-up. Reed broke it down, saying,
I think it’s deepening the exploration of those family dynamics. That was one of the things that I think audiences really connected with, was the relatability of these characters - certainly with Scott Lang and his relationship with Cassie, but also with the father-daughter relationship between Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne.
Continuing to connect the thread of characters who created strong bonds in Ant-Man, Peyton Reed also stressed the importance of the relationship between Hank Pym and Scott Lang – specifically as “mentor” and “mentee.” While he didn’t say it specifically, it sounds as though the original Ant-Man won’t be super happy about Lang’s antics during the events of Captain America: Civil War, explaining,
Hank has certain suspicions and feelings that have been earned about anything having to do with the Starks and the Avengers, and it will be interesting to see who those attitudes play out.
At this point in time, nothing specific has been revealed about the plot of Ant-Man and The Wasp, though it has been heavily speculated by fans that the plot will somehow involve Hope van Dyne’s mother, Janet van Dyne a.k.a. The Original Wasp, being rescued from the Quantum Realm. Unfortunately, it’s going to be a while until we have any firm details about the movie, given that Peyton Reed told me that there aren’t any plans to start hammering out story beats until next month. After that, it’s just the long wait until the film arrives in theaters.
Ant-Man And The Wasp is scheduled to hit theaters on July 6, 2018, and will star Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, and Michael Douglas. Meanwhile, you can now pick up your very own copy of Ant-Man, which is on Blu-ray and DVD today.
