We’ve been told for a while now that Ant-Man and the Wasp would pick up directly from where Captain America: Civil War left the astonishing shrinking hero. Fans might’ve assumed that this tight linking between the two movies was a deliberate plan by the minds of the MCU, but director Peyton Reed has now revealed that he only got the idea to use Civil War as a jumping-on point after seeing the film.
Reed was speaking to The Verge when he said that he was amazed after watching the threequel for the first time as it gave he and his team on Ant-Man 2 so much new material to work with – from Scott Lang developing his Giant-Man powers to his status as a fugitive vigilante by the end of the movie.
“I remember going to see an early screening of Civil War and talking to [directors Anthony and Joe Russo] and to [screenwriters Christopher] Markus and [Stephen] McFeely — who I don’t know had completely thought this through or really even cared,”
“But it was like, ‘Wow, this is amazing! Scott Lang went off, took the suit, fought with the Avengers, exposed the technology to Tony Stark, got put in prison, and the suit was confiscated!’ It gave us such fertile ground in terms of where to start our movie.”
It wasn’t just Scott’s story that was informed by Civil War, either. The after-effects of his involvement with Team Cap and the implementation of the Sokovia Accords also gave Ant-Man and the Wasp lots to explore in how it all affected Hank and Hope Pym. Thanks to this new status quo served up by the Russo Brothers’ big crossover epic, Reed admitted that work was able to proceed on the sequel faster than it otherwise would have.
“And it made sense that Scott’s going to be on house arrest, and Hank and Hope are going to be pissed at Scott Lang, and also pissed off because the enforcers of the Sokovia Accord are now onto them. So it gave us a really organic jumping-off point. I don’t know that we would’ve come to it as quickly and clearly if Scott had not been in Civil War.”
Reed’s excitement to link his movies into previous installments proves why he was the perfect choice of director for the Ant-Man series after Edgar Wright bowed out of the position back in 2015. It’s generally assumed that the filmmaker didn’t like having to bend his style to fit with the overarching tone and narrative of the MCU, which is quite the opposite of the approach Reed clearly takes to the material.
And it’s an approach that’s worked pretty well, too, as Ant-Man and the Wasp has been received warmly by fans and critics alike. That said, it’s up to the box office takings to confirm whether an Ant-Man 3 is on the cards. If it does get the greenlight, though, we wouldn’t be surprised if it follows on from Avengers 4.
