About completing his Ant-Man trilogy

Nobody will call Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania a “pallet cleaner”. That’s always been the joke, after the previous two Ant-Man films immediately followed huge Avengers movies with massive stakes for the future of the MCU, then here would come Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang and his quirky cast of characters that have been quite even remained -contained films. (Self-contained, obviously Scott Lang has appeared in other MCU films. And yes, in the post-credits scene of Ant Man and the Wasp merged into other events.)

But now, Peyton Reeds Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is tasked with setting up a whole new phase of Marvel movies. (For those who count, this is the fifth.) Reed, who directed all three ant man Guess – only the second MCU director to do so, alongside Spider-Man’s Jon Watts; James Gunn is about to join the club – tasked with introducing the world to Kang (Jonathan Majors), who will be the biggest villain for the considerable future. When Scott, Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) are all sucked into the Quantum Realm where Kang awaits, that’s a lot bigger situation role for Pfeiffer who has been down there for 30 years and knows her stuff inside out. But that meant we had to say goodbye to the quirky people who surround Scott, like Michael Peñas Luis, who doesn’t appear in this third film.

Beforehand, Peyton Reed walks us through what it was like to go from the “palette cleaner” to a full-fledged MCU film that will set up and impact the next series of films. He also explains how he finally managed to bring MODOK into an MCU film.

You’re only the second Marvel MCU director, I believe, to complete your trilogy. You directed all three.

Yes, I have. It is exciting. Who would have thought that when we started the first one ant manwhen we started filming in 2014 that there would be a third one? I’m thrilled because, like you, I certainly grew up with the original war of stars trilogy and Indiana Jones, which was then a trilogy, and Back to the Future trilogy and such. And it’s great to be able to develop those characters and then get to the third film. Part of the thing, when you get to the third film, we have to make that different and interesting and not do the same thing – and mix it up and try to make the third film so radically different while keeping the same characters that we know and are like to see.

Speaking of which, of all the reactions, no one calls this a “palate cleanser.”

[Laughs] Well, then my job is done. I think it came about because we’ve always been following a huge Avengers movie, right? And I jokingly said, well, maybe not so jokingly, said at one point, it’s like, I don’t want to be a palate cleanser. I want to be the Big Avengers movie. And by that, I just meant that Ant-Man deserved this massive adventure. And we have this thing – especially afterwards Ant Man and the Wasp — we have this big, unanswered question that we owe the audience an answer to, which is: What the heck did Janet van Dyne do in the Quantum Realm for 30 years? She hasn’t walked a cane through a psychedelic void for 30 years. She had a whole life down there. And what if that were our introduction to this big new villain, Kang the Conqueror? What if there was a previous relationship that took place down there? But also inventing and creating this whole subatomic world seemed exciting to me.

Speaking of. I wouldn’t say the whole movie, but to be honest, Michelle Pfeiffer is the main character for three quarters of the movie, which is great.

Yes, we had to agree with Janet van Dyne. She was basically saved at the end of the last movie. We intentionally introduce her in this film serving pizza at the dinner table, like the most domestic content imaginable. It’s like, oh wow, I think that’s what Janet is doing on Earth now. She serves pizza to the family which is great. But as they are sucked into the Quantum Realm, you begin to see that desperation reigns and a mission is at hand, but you see her come back to life and see how alive she was as a heroine in the Quantum Realm. And they start peeling off the layers. And you can see all the things she didn’t tell her family about. We liked the idea of ​​exploring family secrets in the film.

You mentioned Kang and Jonathan Majors. We all know he’s a good actor. But on his first day as Kang, what were you thinking? It’s crazy what he’s doing.

Jonathan and I had a lot of Zoom calls early on, right when I cast him. And we’ve been talking about if this is a guy who rules over time and somehow doesn’t live in a straight line… And there’s a line in the movie that Jeff Loveness wrote: “You’re an avenger. Have I killed you before?” He’s had all these experiences, he can’t even keep it to himself. How about being in the presence of that person? And we talked about this economy of movement and this economy of language. He is very deliberate when he speaks, and when he speaks like that, you listen.

And then we talked about trauma. We talked about people experiencing trauma in their linear lives. What if this guy had experienced multiple traumas? There’s something very broken about Kang the Conqueror, right? And we liked the idea that when you live so many lifetimes, what does it mean to form bonds? Is there a bond he ever developed? And we liked the idea of ​​peeling away that backstory, in which his bond with Janet van Dyne is perhaps as close as he’s ever come to an actual relationship with anyone…

And then she betrays him, at least in his mind.

In his opinion, he is betrayed by her. In her mind she is betrayed by him. And we love this idea. And also that a superhero trilogy is about family and those bonds. That’s something Kang doesn’t really have and we liked that juxtaposition.

MODOK is in this movie because I feel like at least two other previous MCU movies have talked about it and it hasn’t happened. And you’ve finally cracked the code, but you’re also worried about die-hard MODOK fans: “It’s not like that in the comics.” I don’t know them, but I suspect they’re out there.

Yes, I suppose there are hardcore MODOK proponents out there. I don’t know who these people are…

I bet you will soon.

Yes I know. I will hear from you. That’s the thing about Marvel Comics, everyone as a comic book fan has a past relationship with these characters. So you have limited choices to make when bringing these characters to the screen, and some people will like them, some won’t. But at the end of the day, he’s still a bizarre, grotesque character that’s a giant floating head. And it’s also a mechanized organism designed only to kill.

But when we talked about how to integrate it, it seemed like the perfect film to introduce it to. And we liked the idea of ​​its plot feature. And we also like the idea that there are consequences for Cassie Lang when we reveal who MODOK is in this movie. It’s actually kind of a trigger for Cassie, as she mentions early in the film that someone walked into her bedroom when she was six and tried to kill her! And for a six-year-old, that leaves a mark. So all these things kind of came together, okay, we have an attitude towards him that I think could be a little bit scary and a little bit dramatic. And ultimately, he has his own arc in this film, which we were blown away by.

I always found MODOK funny. But seeing him in a live-action movie is kind of terrifying.

Oh yeah. no he needs be frightening. He’s down there for a reason. It has a function, and conceptually it’s one of the weirdest things the Marvel Comics people have ever created.

As I said, Michelle Pfeiffer is the center of attention. This time also Michael Douglas. But it seems we have to say goodbye to characters like Michael Peña, who was so great in the last two films. And Scott Lang’s whole quirky cast of characters. i missed her I understand that they cannot all go to the quantum realm.

I think it’s just that we had done it for two films. And I love these characters. Like you, I really, truly love her. But there was so much to tell about this thing, and it’s one of those things. As you begin to formulate what this third film will be, there are certain things you just don’t have room for. You may have to make those tough decisions, and this really was one of them.

I Do to have something. There is one personal lucky charm for me, and you can’t make an Ant-Man movie without David Dastmalchian. David plays a very different role in this film. But yeah it was definitely a decision, like with the Ant-Man family and then Kang the Conqueror and MODOK and the introduction of all the Freedom Fighters, there’s only a certain amount of real estate in the film.

It’s funny you mentioned him because I’m originally from Kansas City and along with David and Paul Rudd you have two Chiefs fans to worry about this week while doing the press.

[Laughs] Absolutely man. And yes, there is NO bigger Chiefs fan than Paul Rudd.

No I am.

[Laughs] OK, you will you need to talk to him about that!

I know.

Someone asked him a question about being able to time travel, what he would go back and relive in his life. And it was the Chiefs who won the Super Bowl and were at the game with his son.

I was at that game too, and you know what? I would take that too. He’s right about that.

I love it.

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