The Wired cover celebrating the history of Industrial Light and Magic was eye-catching. It was hard to process all of the icons – both real, and imagined – gathered in one spot for the historic photo shoot. In fact, unless you were paying very close attention, you might have missed a miniature Marvel hero in the top left corner. First, here’s half of the image:
And since we didn’t spot Ant-Man on our own, we’ll credit Ant-Man director Peyton Reed for pointing out that Scott Lang is standing on the "I" in Wired.
While not really official promotion for Marvel’s upcoming Ant-Man movie, the use of the miniature hero in this clever fashion mirrors the extremely original visual approach the studio has been using to emphasize Ant-Man’s powers. This remains one of the best one-sheet posters I’ve seen for any superhero movie.
Could this all be a little too clever? Probably not. Ant-Man, outside of these left-of-center promotional items, has done a commendable job setting itself up as an extension of the ever-expanding and popular Marvel Cinematic Universe. I think even casual fans are aware that this hero will be part of the MCU, and as Captain America: Civil War continues filming, we might even get additional reports of Paul Rudd in Atlanta, adding scenes with the Avengers for next year’s blockbuster.
For now, what we know about Ant-Man is that it will be the final movie in Marvel’s Phase Two, and it’s going to establish Scott Lang (Rudd), Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) as vital components of Marvel’s history… and the history of The Avengers. Find out how when the movie opens in theaters on July 17.
