Spoilers ahead for Ant-Man and The Wasp.
Following the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War, it was unclear exactly how the Marvel Cinematic Universe would function as we waited for the eventual release of Avengers 4. Enter Peyton Reed's Ant-Man and The Wasp, which ran parallel to the timeline in Infinity War. The hit sequel picked up on Paul Rudd's Scott Lang for the first time since his appearance in Captain America: Civil War, including his house arrest and plea deal after breaking the Sokovia Accords. There are ton of references to the epic Tarmac fight and Scott's new ability to grow in size, which was very confusing for actor Michael Douglas. Because since he didn't see Civil War, Douglas was in the dark when beginning the project. As he tells it,
I never read a comic book in my life. I'm so grateful that they brought me into this family. I did a little bit of homework on Ant-Man. I really screwed up because they didn't tell me when we started this that I should go see Captain America (Civil War). Because if I saw Captain America, then I would understand what Ant-Man, Paul Rudd, had done in there and why. So when I read the script for this I had no idea in the beginning what was going on. And then finally the director Peyton Reed said 'Well, he's been in Captain America.' I said 'I didn't see Captain America!' And he looked at me like I had committed the greatest sin the world.
Well, this is pretty damn adorable. Michael Douglas' performance as Hank Pym has been consistently great, but he hasn't committed to watching every single installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It looks like he missed the memo about Ant-Man's role in Captain America's threequel, and therefore was utterly confused when the script for Ant-Man and The Wasp was constantly making references to events that he wasn't privy to.
Scott Lang's appearance in Civil War set up a ton of Ant-Man and The Wasp's events, especially the film's framing device. The stakes of the film were made grounded by Scott's house arrest, and trying to balance his superheroic duties with being there for his daughter. None of this would have been possible if he hadn't been arrested in Civil War.
In addition to Scott Lang's plea deal, there was also some new tech introduced inCaptain America: Civil War. Namely, Ant-Man's ability to grow as well as shrink. Scott grew into Giant Man for the first time in the epic tarmac battle, and was able to hold his own against Spider-Man, War Machine, and Vision. There were plenty of references to Ant-Man's ability to grow, and we saw as he took a variety of sizes throughout the course of Ant-Man and The Wasp. The largest occurred at Fishermans' Wharf, where he eventually passed from exhaustion.
It should be interesting to see what's next for Ant-Man. The mid-credits scene of his sequel revealed that Hope, Janet, and Hank were all killed during Thanos' finger snap of death. Scott is currently stranded in the Quantum Realm, possibly opening up the ability for interdimensional travel in Avengers 4.
Ant-Man and The Wasp is in theaters now, and Avengers 4 will arrive on May 3rd 2019. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
