Ant-Man 3's David Dastmalchian Reveals How SpongeBob Inspired His New Quantumania Character

By Nathaniel Brail

Marvel Studios released the first film out of their Phase 5 slate of projects last weekend with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The film has been getting some pretty negative reviews and quickly became the second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to receive a negative rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Quantumania may not be getting the best reviews but it did some great things like introducing us to the main villain of the Multiverse Saga, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) and even David Dastmalchian's new character. Dastmalchian plays Veb in the movie, who is a character that lives in the Quantum Realm, and it seems that he took inspiration from a very iconic animated character. While speaking with ComicBook.com's Jenna Anderson, Dastmalchian revealed that SpongeBob SquarePants inspired his new character.

"Yeah, and they did have scripted pages. Jeff Loveness, who is a genius, he and Peyton were writing these freedom fighter characters. They sent me the fascination with different beings' physical structure, fascinating to Veb, holes with humans. Wow, amazing. I loved that. And I went back into thinking about the Micronauts," Dastmalchian revealed. "I was thinking about SpongeBob. I was thinking about, oh God, all different mythologies, cartoons, and comics that I love and trying to find Veb's voice, Veb's way of moving. I was in a hotel at that time, and I just started moving around and playing with his speech and the way he operated. I would make videos and send them to Peyton. And he was like, 'Yes, yes, yes.'"

"Once, by the time I got to London, I had arrived with this very, in one way, sad being who had lost a lot of the beings that it loved but had found community and family with Jentorra and the other freedom fighters and had a purpose like Veb's ooze, is really critical to how interdimensional beings that don't speak the same language can communicate, so it felt really good to have this purpose that he could be proud of. It's just lovely." The Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania star added.

The most recent Marvel Studios project to be released will be Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quatumania. Empire Magazine recently had a chat with director Peyton Reed about how the stakes have risen going into Quantumania. "People felt like, Oh, these are fun little palate cleansers after a gigantic Avengers movie," Reed told the outlet. "For this third one, I said, 'I don't want to be the palate cleanser anymore. I want to be the big Avengers movie.'"

"I grew up a real Marvel comics nerd, and there are a handful of antagonists in the Marvel comics universe who are all-timers," Reed continued. "Loki, obviously. Doctor Doom from the Fantastic Four. And Kang the Conqueror. In conversations with Kevin Feige and Marvel, it was like, I want to put Ant-Man and Wasp up against a really formidable villain in this movie, and so we're doing Kang the Conqueror." 

"In the comics, Kang has dominion over time, he's a time traveler. His situation is a little bit different in this movie, which I won't spoil for you, but he's someone who, [while] we live very linear lives, from childhood to death, Kang doesn't exist that way," the director smirked. "It struck me as interesting to take the tiniest Avengers — in some people's minds maybe the least powerful Avengers — and put them up against the most powerful force in the multiverse."

The studio describes the film as follows: "In the film, which officially kicks off phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Super-Hero partners Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope's parents Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible. Jonathan Majors joins the adventure as Kang."

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is in theaters now!

What do you think about his comments? Have you seen Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania? Let us know in the comments below or by hitting up our writer @NateBrail on Twitter!

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