In four weeks, Marvel concludes their Phase Two slate of films with Ant-Man, starring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang. Following his solo adventure, fans can look forward to seeing Rudd reprise Scott alongside the many other superheroes appearing in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, which is rumored to see the debut of the Giant-Man powers. While Scott’s future following the Star Spangled Avenger’s threequel is uncertain, according to Rudd, we’ll be seeing a lot of him in the MCU in the coming years.
During an appearance on The Best Show, Rudd talked about working "a little bit" in the next Captain America film, and mused that his superhero journey is only in its infancy. Rudd said:
To be in that Marvel world, but kind of be somewhat in a bubble [on the solo movie] and now to kind of have these experiences where I’m standing opposite Captain America, It’s been a surreal ride so far. It’s really only just starting.
Most high-profile actors who sign on with Marvel sign multi-film deals, so to hear that Rudd will be reprising Scott at some point isn’t surprising. If Ant-Man is successful at the box office, and knowing Marvel it will be, we can likely expect a sequel to be green lit at some point. However, Marvel has their film schedule planned for the next four years, so unless they’re willing to add a fourth film in 2017 or 2018, the earliest we would see Ant-Man 2 is in 2019, after Inhumans, i.e. sometime in Phase Four. There’s also hasn’t been any word on if Scott will be seen in other Phase Three films, but given how massive the lineup for Avengers: Infinity War movies is expected to be, don’t be surprised if he’s one of the many heroes battling Thanos. I imagine his shrinking could somehow come in handy to take down the Mad Titan.
Ant-Man follows Scott Lang, a talented thief determined to make up for his crime-ridden past, being recruited by Michael Douglas’ Hank Pym for a mission of redemption. With the help of Pym’s daughter Hope Van Dyne, Scott uses Pym’s Ant-Man suit, which allows him to shrink in size (while also increasing his strength) and communicate with ants, to steal back a dangerous piece of technology from Pym’s industrialist competitor/former mentee Darren Cross, a.k.a. Yellowjacket. The film’s cast also includes Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Judy Greer, Tip "Ti" Harris, David Dastmalchian, Wood Harris, John Slattery, Haley Atwell, and many more. You can catch the film in theaters on July 17.
