‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ Director Says They Discussed Making Janet Van Dyne a Villain

Ant-Man and the Wasp introduced a Marvel Comics fan-favorite to the big screen, but it sounds like her debut went through some evolutions.

In a recent interview with CBR, Ant-Man and the Wasp director Peyton Reed touched on the various fan theories that surrounded – and kind of continue to surround – Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). In response to theories that Janet might eventually be a villain, Reed kept things vague, but hinted that it was considered.

I can say that it was certainly one of the things that we talked about.” Reed revealed. “If I say or reveal anything more about Janet, there’s going to be a Marvel sniper that’s going to shoot me in the neck with a tranquilizer.”

There’s no telling what that hint could actually mean for Janet’s MCU future, especially considering previous indication that she might factor into Avengers 4. Still, it makes sense that all optioned were considered with regards to Janet, especially considering the circumstances that the film would find her in.

“We had so many discussions as we were first formulating the story.” Reed explained. “It was the big question in the movie: is Janet still alive down there after 30 years? Who is she now? How’s she been affected by the environment? It was the one thing that we really sort of had to formulate, what was going to happen to her, what it was going to lead to next, and how much of that we reveal in this movie.”

Despite Janet and her family being snapped to dust at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp, it sounds like her time in the Quantum Realm could end up playing some sort of role in Avengers 4.

“She mentions tardigrade fields, she mentions time vortexes as these warnings to Scott about what not to get involved in,” Reed said in a previous interview. “These things might prove valuable. They’re not just randomly spouted off in the moment. But, again, part of the fun of that was putting detail in there and throwing it out for the audience to guess which ones might be pertinent and which ones might not.”

Would you want to see Janet be a villain in the MCU? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Avengers: Infinity War is now available on digital platforms, DVD, and Blu-ray. Ant-Man and the Wasp is now available on digital platforms. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019; the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019; and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.