Peyton Reed on Freedoms With 'Ant-Man And The Wasp,' Fitting Into Marvel Cinematic Universe

Ant-Man and The Wasp director Peyton Reed had total control of the sequel from its conception, crafting a film which inevitably fits into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Speaking to ComicBook.com in the exclusive interview seen in the video above, the director opened up about his work Ant-Man and The Wasp which included writing it. By comparison to the first Ant-Man movie, Reed was creatively involved from the start, whereas the original film may have had influences from Edgar Wright who had been on board to direct it originally.

"I think for me, on the first movie, I approached that movie the same way I approach any movie," Reed said. "There's a script in whatever shape it's in. I come in and re-work the script and work on it. I shot every frame of that movie so I feel real ownership over the first movie."

Still, Reed doesn't mind coming in at the very beginning to lay the groundwork and build the entire structure. "Having said that, great being in on the ground floor of this and figuring out how we're gonna follow those characters and getting to introduce Wasp, for me, was the single most exciting thing," Reed said.

He's not the only one excited about Evangeline Lilly's heroic outing as The Wasp. The initial reactions to advanced screenings of Ant-Man and The Wasp highlighted the character with tremendous praise.

"You spent a whole first movie where she's clearly the more capable of taking care of the dilemma that Hank Pym has in the first movie," Reed said. "He sidelines her and now we're able to present her fully formed. That was exciting to me."

As for fitting in the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, Reed insists that the powers that be give him total control over the film despite needing to fit into a larger puzzle (such as taking place simultaneously with Avengers: Infinity War).

"There are always conversations. We're always aware of what the other people are doing with the movies. It's less like, 'You've gotta do this so it pays off here.' It usually is the opposite where, 'What you guys do in your movie is gonna effect a movie,' even if portions of that movie have already been shot, we have to do what's true to this movie, to tell this still and have it be complete -- and then it's the other person's problem!"

Marvel's next theatrical outing will be with Ant-Man and The Wasp on July 6. Avengers: Infinity War is now playing in theaters. Captain Marvel will follow it in March of 2019, with Avengers 4 coming in May of 2019 and Spider-Man: Far From Home slated for release on July 5, 2019.