Ant-Man: Paul Rudd Reveals What Stan Lee Told Him About the Character

While some of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have adapted well-known characters for live-action experiences, the Ant-Man films focused on characters that didn’t have the same cultural footprint as someone like Captain America, with star Paul Rudd recently recalling how Stan Lee thinks Ant-Man was one of the characters most deserving of a big-screen adaptation. According to Lee, the biggest selling point about Ant-Man and his size-changing abilities didn’t contain the same impact in illustrations as they did in live-action. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17th.

“One of the most incredible experiences I’ve had working on the Marvel films is getting to meet Stan Lee,” Rudd shared in a video for GQ. “And one of the things that he told me was how happy he was that they were making Ant-Man as a film. He felt in the comics, it was very tough to really gauge the scale. If you’re drawing Ant-Man, you can’t really draw other things at the proper scale. So audiences were going to finally see Ant-Man in the way that he always envisioned Ant-Man.”

Conceptually speaking, a character whose abilities allow him to shrink or grow in size means he might not be dealing with the same kinds of threats other members of the Marvel Universe might handle, which is at least partially why the first two Ant-Man films saw him tackle more grounded threats. Rudd went on to detail how all that is set to change with Quantumania.

“The first two were more standalone, smaller, separate from everything else that didn’t really have the huge spectacle maybe of some of the other big Marvel movies and this one kind of does,” the actor expressed. “In this new version, in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, it is such a huge film. I mean just the scope of it. The scale of it and how it’s kicking off this new phase with the introduction of Kang.”

Super heroes 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 Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), and Scott’s daughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), 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 possible. Directed by Peyton Reed and produced by Kevin Feige, p.g.a. and Stephen Broussard, p.g.a., Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania also stars Jonathan Majors as Kang, David Dastmalchian as Veb, Katy O’Brian as Jentorra, William Jackson Harper as Quaz, and Bill Murray as Lord Krylar.   

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17th.

What do you think of the actor’s remarks? Let us know in the comments!