New 'Ant-Man and the Wasp' trailer is light on 'Infinity War' references, heavy on laughs

Ethan Alter
·Senior Writer, Yahoo Entertainment

Like the song says, it’s gonna take two to make things go right in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after the carnage wrought by Avengers: Infinity War. An all-new trailer for the next Marvel Studios joint, Ant-Man and the Wasp, premiered today, and it’s outta sight. Scored to the vintage 1988 track “It Takes Two,” the two-minute spot is light on references to the the record-setting Avengers movie but heavy on odd-couple comedy that naturally flows from partnering small-time screw-up Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) with stone-cold badass Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly). They also get an assist from Michael Peña, reprising his scene-stealing role from 2015’s Ant-Man as the loquacious Luis — a guy who never met a story he couldn’t tell in the most convoluted way possible.

Returning director Peyton Reed — who famously took over directing duties on the previous film from Edgar Wright — cheekily leaves it up to Luis to break down the story of the sequel. Basically, Hope’s father, and O.G. Ant-Man, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), has devoted his time to exploring the Quantum Realm where his wife, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), vanished many years ago while adventuring as the previous Wasp. All that subatomic sailing left him vulnerable to a high-tech attack by new villain Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), who can phase through solid objects like a phantom. Meanwhile, after a Civil War-enforced break from Ant-Man-related activities, Scott has donned his costume again and is in the midst of tangling with a second-string bad guy (Walton Goggins) when Hope flies back into his life and grudgingly agrees to take him on as a partner.

Chronologically, Ant-Man and the Wasp takes place before the events of Infinity War, which is why these San Francisco-based heroes don’t pause in the middle of the action to watch some Infinity Stone-hunting aliens invade New York. It’s safe to assume that the film itself will connect the dots between the two movies, whether it’s getting a location update on Hawkeye (who took the same deal Scott did to avoid jail time away from his family) or adding to Thanos’s body count … or shedding more light on the Quantum Realm and how that might affect future events. Besides Pfeiffer’s Janet, the film will introduce a new (old) hero into the MCU. Laurence Fishburne pops up at the end of the trailer as the previous Giant Man, Bill Foster, aka Goliath, and indulges in a little size-measuring with Scott. That means there will potentially be two giants going toe-to-toe with the purple Titan in the concluding Avengers adventure.

The film’s lighter tone was definitely noted and appreciated on Twitter:

On the other hand, some tears were shed over the fact that filmmakers are still holding back on revealing Pfeiffer in her Wasp duds. (Though the former Catwoman does appear on the film’s latest poster.)

And while superhero fans were super glad to see Luis featured so prominently, Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s scene-stealer award seems destined to go to this drum-playing giant ant. Bring it on, indeed, Mr. Reed.

Ant-Man and the Wasp buzzes into theaters on July 6.

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