With so many heroes to choose from, it would seem obvious that Marvel would squeeze Avengers members into every film, but Ant-Man and The Wasp isn’t going that route for a specific reason.
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Ant-Man and The Wasp director Peyton Reed did have an Avenger play a part in the original Ant-Man, but when he spoke to CinemaBlend he explained why the sequel decided not to go that way.
“I always envisioned this as a standalone movie,” Reed said. “Obviously when you see the movie you’ll see how it ties into the larger universe, but I like that Hope and Scott and Hank are operating in this little corner of the universe. And then you sort of… you know how it ties into the larger thing, you know the timeline, but they’re doing their own thing over there.”
Now just because it isn’t an Avengers movie doesn’t mean it can’t feature other heroes. Doctor Strange was an origin film yet featured a Thor cameo, and Ant-Man featured a cameo from Falcon. For the sequel though Reed wanted to keep things separate.
“And I like that because it reminds me of the Marvel comics where you have the Avengers doing something here, and Spider-Man is doing something, and Black Panther is doing something, and Iron Man… they’ve got their own thing,” Reed said. “And then there’s cross-pollination. And this felt like we had already set up… we had enough characters to service in this movie. It was exciting just telling the Scott-Hope partnership story, [which] was a big deal. And introducing Wasp. That to me was exciting and a big responsibility.”
Just because Ant-Man and The Wasp doesn’t feature an Avenger doesn’t mean it won’t tie into Avengers: Infinity War, something Paul Rudd recently teased.
Ant-Man and The Wasp stars Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Evangeline Lilly (Wasp), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym), Michelle Pfeiffer (Janet Van Dyne), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), Michael Pena (Luis), Laurence Fishburne (Dr. Bill Foster), Walton Goggins (Sonny Burch), Bobby Cannavale (Paxton), Judy Greer (Maggie), and T.I. (Dave).
“In the aftermath of “Captain America: Civil War,” Scott Lang (Rudd) grapples with the consequences of his choices as both a Super Hero and a father. As he struggles to rebalance his home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne (Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas) with an urgent new mission. Scott must once again put on the suit and learn to fight alongside The Wasp as the team works together to uncover secrets from their past.”
Avengers: Infinity War is now playing in theaters. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Ant-Man and the Wasp on July 6th, Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming on July 5th, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.
