Set visits present unique challenges. Filmmakers want to reveal details to visiting journalists, but they also want to protect secrets until they can be revealed on the big screen -- where they belong. Marvel Studios set visits are uniquely challenging, as there's always so many amazing things to discuss with directors like Peyton Reed, yet there are elements of his movie that he still wants to guard. So, when we went to Atlanta to visit the set of Marvel's upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp, we asked about Ghost, and learned... a little bit. Reed told us:
The big mission [of the movie] is to find Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer). What that means, ultimately, for our characters on a personal level is one thing, and what it means for the larger world is another thing... and all the other things are really, you know, stumbling blocks on the path. There is a big bad, that has a very unique relationship to our characters. And I know we've -- you know that the character, Ghost, is in the movie, and that we've adapted the character from the comics in a way that we feel is really unique to our movie and very much tied into this universe. So she becomes a really, really crucial part of the story in a way that I can't really reveal yet. Thank you very much.
Guarded. Revealing... yet guarded. Yes, we have seen images of Ghost in the trailers, as played by Black Mirror and Game of Thrones co-star Hannah John-Kamen. But her actions in the trailer have been very limited. So far, the most interesting aspects of her character have been the design of her unique suit, and the idea that she has been gender-swapped from the character in the comics, who was male. On that topic, John-Kamen spoke to CinemaBlend and elaborated:
Definitely, that's been amazing. ... You look at graphic novels, you can look at comic books [that were] written so long ago. And they're like 50-years old or 40-years old. And it's nice to like go, 'Do you know what? This is a modern world.' It's, again, freeing to be able to take that character and go, 'Yeah, that can be played by a male or female and that's definitely forward thinking.' And that's been amazing to be able to do.
Ghost isn't a household-name comic book villain, like The Joker, the Red Skull, Doctor Octopus or even Doctor Doom. Making his first appearance in 1987, Ghost was an IT researcher who became a super-powered computer hacker. It's our belief that the MCU version of Ghost will have a personal connection to either Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) or Bill Foster, a new character played by Laurence Fishburne. That's a guess, though, as details on the character were kept under wraps while we were on the set.
We'll find out for sure when Ant-Man and the Wasp reaches theaters on July 6. And it's the last Marvel Studios movie that we're getting in 2018, so savor it, fans. Now head to the next page for a slew of cool new images of Ghost in the new Marvel movie!
