Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is coming out early next year, and the promotional train for it is leaving the station! Director Peyton Reed recently gave an interview that shed some light on what the film is all about (spoiler: it will be a “big Avengers movie”), what kind of character Bill Murray is playing, and some details about Kang (Jonathan Majors).
In a discussion with Entertainment Weekly, Reed dished about his third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the first two were the other Ant-Man movies), including that having Kang the Conqueror as the villain of the film was something he asked Marvel’s Chief Creative Officer, Kevin Feige, for.
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The MCU’s Kang, however, will be different from the Kang of the comics. “In the comics, Kang has dominion over time, he’s a time traveler,” explained Peyton. “His situation is a little bit different in this movie, which I won’t spoil for you, but he’s someone who, [while] we live very linear lives, from childhood to death, Kang doesn’t exist that way. It struck me as interesting to take the tiniest Avengers — in some people’s minds maybe the least powerful Avengers — and put them up against the most powerful force in the multiverse.”
Quantumania will also see some new actors enter the MCU, including William Jackson Harper, Kathryn Newton, and Bill Murray. Reed told EW that Murray plays a character from Janet van Dyne’s (Michelle Pfeiffer) past. “It’s a crucial role,” he continued. “A big theme in this movie is the things that parents and kids don’t say to each other, the secrets that they keep in families. In the last movie, when Hank and Hope rescue Janet, Evangeline Lilly’s character had this idea of: ‘Oh, I’m going to be reunited with my mom, this is going to be great, we’re going to talk about everything.’ But what happens if the other person, in this case Janet, puts up a wall and maybe is not comfortable talking about certain things and doesn’t reveal certain things about her past? As we know from great stories, you can put the past behind you, but the past will always find a way to show up again. Bill’s character represents that in this movie.”
Intriguing! We can see Murray’s character in action along with Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), his grown-up daughter Cassie Lang (Newton), Janet (Pfeiffer), her daughter Hope van Dyne/The Wasp (Lilly), as well as patriarch Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) when Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania premieres in theaters on February 17, 2023.
