'Ant-Man' Director on That Surprise Avengers Cameo and the Future of Wasp (Spoilers)
Warning: Major Ant-Man spoilers to follow
Master thief Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd) never expected to become a superhero — and he certainly never planned on fighting one of the Avengers. But during one key scene in Ant-Man (opening on Friday), Lang finds himself going head to head with a certain member of Marvel’s premiere superhero squad. Yahoo Movies spoke with Ant-Man director Peyton Reed and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to get the scoop on this surprising crossover — and to find out when a certain female Ant-Man ally will make her big-screen debut.
When it came time to throw some obstacles in Ant-Man’s path, Reed was thrilled to realize his childhood fantasy: a real superhero battle. “The kid in me loved it, because that’s what I loved in the Marvel comics,” he tells Yahoo Movies. “It’s like, okay, this character has these powers, and this one has this, and what happens if they go up against each other?”
Along with screenwriters Adam McKay and Paul Rudd, Reed found the perfect Ant-Man opponent in Falcon (played by Anthony Mackie). Putting the winged hero and the incredible shrinking man together was, says Reed, “a dream come true.”
“Scott is clearly not prepared for what he’s about to come up against, but he really, at the last minute, makes some very smart tactical decisions,” Reed says of the battle. “And that was really fun — sort of, who’s going to get what licks in this fight?”
Not only does Ant-Man bring back some Marvel movie favorites, but it also introduces a potential new heroine. In an end-credits scene, the movie reveals that Evangeline Lily’s character, Hope van Dyne, will take up her late mother’s mantle and become Wasp. So when can fans expect to see the fully realized superheroine on the big screen?
“It’s going to be certainly a part of our Phase 3,” says Feige, referring to the upcoming slate of Marvel films beginning with Captain America: Civil War. “It is going to be a very important moment, and — spoiler alert! — we see that suit for the first time, and her father now is finally giving it to her and realizes that he can’t hold her back from what is essentially her destiny.”
