Ant-Man 3: Peyton Reed Returns to Direct

Days after word started circulating Ant-Man 3 was in development at Marvel Studios, the threequel has reportedly found its director. To little surprise, THR is reporting Peyton Reed will be returning to redirect the third installment in the franchise. Reed previously directed Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp for Marvel Studios. In typical Marvel fashion, exact details on the Ant-Man followup are mum, except for the fact Paul Rudd is expected to return to play Scott Lang/Ant-Man. THR's initial reporting doesn't include any word on Evangeline Lilly's return, although that's something one would think is also all but guaranteed at this point.

Word initially surfaced courtesy of Marvel scoop maestro Charles Murphy last month an Ant-Man 3 would soon be put into development. It's expected Ant-Man 3 will lock down one of Marvel's available dates in 2022 and will enter production sometime after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder are in the can. Each of the films is expected to start shooting principal photography within the next several months.

As far as a potential storyline goes, Ant-Man and the Wasp opened up a whole new corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the in-depth exploration of the Quantum Realm. Reed's well aware of the box he and his team opened up with the sequel, previously sharing with us it's something he'd love to further explore in a future entry into the franchise.

"I think that was the case in the first movie, particularly when Adam McKay and Paul were reworking the script on the first movie," Reed previously shared with ComicBook.com. "In that movie, we added the Quantum Realm and Janet and stuff like that knowing that if we were able to make a sequel that that could be fertile ground."

He added, "There are definitely things in this movie that, if we're fortunate enough to make another one, there's a lot to play with. We spend more time in the Quantum Realm in this movie, obviously, than the first movie but it feels like we're just dipping our toes into it."

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall of 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If…? In Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Other MCU properties without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk on Disney+ and Ant-Man 3 in theaters.

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