Ant-Man and the Wasp star Michael Douglas had “no idea what was going on” in the Marvel Studios blockbuster because he didn’t know he was supposed to watch Captain America: Civil War before going into the Ant-Man sequel.
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“I never read a comic book in my life. I’m so grateful that they brought me into this family. I did a little bit of homework on the Ant-Man — I really screwed up because they didn’t tell me when we started [Ant-Man and the Wasp] that I should go see Captain America,” the 73-year-old actor told MTV International.
“Because if I saw Captain America then I would understand what Ant-Man, Paul Rudd, had done in there and why,” Douglas continued. “So when I read the script for this, I had no idea what was going on. And then finally the director, Peyton Reed, said, ‘Well, he’s been in Captain America.‘ I said, ‘I didn’t see Captain America.’ And he looked at me like I committed the greatest sin in the world. ‘Well, if you told me to go see Captain America, I would! I’d go see it,’ you know, and I would know. But you should make a note, ‘Go see Captain America before you read the script.’”
Rudd’s Scott Lang was recruited by one-half of the Avengers to Team Cap in Civil War, where the size-shifting superhero used his Hank Pym-created shrinking and growing abilities to give Captain America (Chris Evans) and allies a much-needed assist during a strife against Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and his like-minded allies, who supported the Sokovia Accords and its government-imposed limits on superhumans.
Lang’s violation of the Sokovia Accords with Pym’s technology made fugitives of Douglas’ Hank Pym and daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly), forcing the on-the-run pair to dodge the authorities as they attempt to rescue the long lost Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the elusive Quantum Realm.
Director Peyton Reed previously said the work with Ant-Man by Civil War screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely informed his part two, giving his follow-up a natural jumping off point.
“But it was like, ‘Wow, this is amazing! Scott Lang went off, took the suit, fought with the Avengers, exposed the technology to Tony Stark, got put in prison, and the suit was confiscated!’ It gave us such fertile ground in terms of where to start our movie,” Reed told The Verge.
“And it made sense that Scott’s going to be on house arrest, and Hank and Hope are going to be pissed at Scott Lang, and also pissed off because the enforcers of the Sokovia Accord are now onto them. So it gave us a really organic jumping-off point. I don’t know that we would’ve come to it as quickly and clearly if Scott had not been in Civil War.”
Ant-Man and the Wasp is now playing.
