Hope remains that an absent ‘Ant-Man’ icon will surprise everyone by showing up after all

As a Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel that both ignites Phase Five and serves as the official first step towards Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is packed to bursting point with returning favorites, new faces, and no doubt a surprise guest or two.

Franchise stalwarts Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, and Michelle Pfeiffer are joined by Kathryn Newton as the recast Cassie Lang, while Jonathan Majors officially introduces us to Kang the Conqueror after debuting as He Who Remains in the Loki finale.

In addition, William Jackson Harper of The Good Place fame has joined Bill Murray among the newcomers, and that’s without mentioning the long-awaited introduction of MODOK. That’s all well and good, but one Ant-Man veteran who wasn’t announced for the ensemble, wasn’t spotted in any set photos, hasn’t been featured in any promotional material, and isn’t even listed on IMDb has been stirring up feelings that exist somewhere between hope, fury, and anguish in a since-deleted Reddit thread. Obviously, you know exactly who we’re referring to.

Michael Peña has refused to be drawn on his Quantumania status, but it’s not particularly encouraging that one of the undoubted highlights of the first two installments doesn’t appear to be anywhere in the threequel. We’re hoping that he’ll at least get a cameo or credits scene appearance to tell one of his signature stories, because no amount of multiversal mayhem will be able to placate an army of furious fans who’ll be forced against their will to sit through an entire Ant-Man blockbuster with no sign of Luis.