Ant-Man's David Dastmalchian Reveals How The Suicide Squad Impacted His Quantumania Role

By Jenna Anderson

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania finds some clever ways to keeps audiences on their toes, subverting expectations at a number of turns. One of the most interesting might be an appearance by David Dastmalchian, who portrays an entirely new character from his role as Kurt in the first two Ant-Man films. Dastmalchian's new role, as the Quantum Realm freedom fighter Veb, comes after he had stepped into another incredibly-memorable superhero role — Abner Krill / Polka-Dot Man — in 2021's The Suicide Squad. In a recent interview with ComicBook.com's Jenna Anderson in support of Quantumania, Dastmalchian spoke about the creative experience of going from The Suicide Squad into this new film and role.

"Filming The Suicide Squad had a big impact on me as both a human being, but also how I look at storytelling," Dastmalchian revealed. "But I would say the biggest influence of that experience was just getting to be in the presence of James Gunn for five months of making a movie and seeing the way a storyteller, at that level, operates and brings both heart, pathos, comedy, and action into this beautiful recipe. There's a lot that James and Peyton have in common. They create a space where you feel safe to creatively take risks. I felt incredibly encouraged. And they're friends! There's so many things about the way they work that is in line with my favorite way of working, which is, there's an incredible story with incredible characters with an incredible script. They've created this incredible playground for me to come in and then just create."

"I was coming off of a very physically and emotionally exhausting, dramatic performance where I felt very tired, and I felt like acting was really hard at that moment," Dastmalchian continued. "I'd forgotten, for a second, about just being present, being on my mark, breathing, looking at the people around me, letting the words come out of me. And Veb just started to bubble to the surface. And everyone who knows me really well has told me in one way or another that Veb is me. That made me feel really good because I love that."

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What did you think of Veb in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now playing exclusively in theaters.

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