Ant-Man and the Wasp star Evangeline Lilly says the Ant-Man sequel originally intended to show more of the snap from Avengers: Infinity War in its mid-credits scene.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“We shot the Snappening. We shot ourselves being dissolved,” Lilly told ScreenRant.
“There was actually a [reaction shot]. They just took it out in the end. It was more dramatic, I think. [Director Peyton Reed] just cut back to floating ash and empty space. Then cutting back to watching us react to becoming dust.”
The finalized film sees Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) venture into the Quantum Realm under the supervision of Hope (Lilly), Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), who maintain contact with Scott as he collects energy from the void.
When Scott is stranded in the Quantum Realm, the camera returns to an outside rooftop, revealing the trio have dissolved into almost nothingness, leaving behind just ashy piles where they stood only moments before.
Lilly said she was “so grateful” that the reactions were cut, instead cutting to the direct aftermath of the Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) snap.
“Because at that point I [had] not seen Avengers: Infinity War. So, I had really no idea what a dusting looked like, or felt like, or what’s supposed to be, and I don’t think Peyton really did either,” Lilly said.
“Once I watched Avengers: Infinity War, I realized I dusted terribly. I did a really bad job of that. I had no idea really what was happening. And I’m so glad that they cut it out because I don’t think I would have been convincing at all. I think I made it look much more like an ascension to heaven than a torturous end.”
Reed, when explaining the intention behind the mid-credits shocker, said he wanted to land a “gut punch” following Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s feel-good ending.
“The thing that really appealed to us, was because it was a thing the whole way through of how are we going to deal with this issue Infinity War, and it occurred to us we were going to do it in an Ant-Man and the Wasp way. Which was to tell our story, make it self-contained, and make the ending of the movie with everything wrapped up in such a neat bow at the end of the movie,” Reed said.
“The mission at hand, Scott Lang being on house arrest and seeing his daughter, the X-Con guys landing the big fish and getting their company saved, Hank and Janet reunited – it’s all The Partridge Family, the neatest possible bow of all time. And then we go into a colorful credit sequence. And then do this scene that would hopefully punch the audience in the gut.”
Ant-Man and the Wasp is now available to own digitally and releases to 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray October 16. Rudd and Lilly next return in Avengers 4, out May 3.
