When Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you can expect them to share billing once again. Ant-Man helmer Peyton Reed revealed in a recent interview with Yahoo! that the two will receive equal billing on the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp sequel.
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“They’re a partnership, and she’s a very, very important part of that,” Reed told the site. “And that was a very gratifying thing, I guess technically we were the first Marvel movie with a female hero in the title of the movie. Finding that balance in that movie, that’s very important to me because that’s very much a men’s playing field, historically. But that’s really, really changing now in a great way.”
Rudd’s also been on the press circuit of late for other projects. At one recent stop with The Ringer, the fan-favorite revealed what initially drew him to the character. “I’m very, very proud of Ant-Man. I love the character,” Rudd said. “When I first learned about Ant-Man, I thought, ‘What a weird, interesting, funny ability.’ He shrinks and can talk to ants [laughs].”
He added, “I liked that it was a regular guy that seemed to be thrown into this extraordinary world and had to try, and continues to try, to adapt to it all,” Rudd said. “And that his struggles are real, and they’re human struggles, and it was funny, and it was cool to be a part of such elite company, for sure.”
While Hank Pym — the character played by Michael Douglas in the MCU — was the original Ant-Man, Marvel Studios opted to go with Scott Lang, a more recent character that picked up the Ant-Man mantle, at least as far as the comics are concerned.
“When Edgar Wright came to us with the idea of Paul Rudd, we felt a huge sense of relief because the first step in creating any Marvel Studios film is finding the right star,” Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige said about Rudd’s casting. “We knew early on that we had found the right person in Paul. When he not only agreed to do it but became as enthusiastic as any actor we’d ever met with about doing the work, we knew we’d found the right guy.”
The Ant-Man and the Wasp sequel has yet to receive a release date.
Who do you think should be the villain of the upcoming threequel? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments or by tweeting our writer at @AdamBarnhardt!
