Edgar Wright being kicked off Ant-Man was undoubtedly a huge blow to fans, but I think most can agree that Peyton Reed did a pretty good job with it, delivering a fun, humorous and perfectly enjoyable MCU outing. So, while it’s not exactly top of my list of films to see this year, I’m still paying close attention to what’s happening with Ant-Man and the Wasp. With Avengers: Infinity War releasing just a couple of months prior, the pic is being overshadowed a bit in terms of attention, but now things sound as if they’re finally gearing up.
In fact, to kick off the hype train, just earlier today Disney released a press pack containing a new still from the film, which showed off both Ant-Man and the Wasp’s new costumes, as they stood together in what looked like some sort of lab. It wasn’t much, to be fair, but it did signal that the marketing machine was finally coming alive and understandably, fans are excited.
What isn’t exciting, however, is Michael Peña walking back on his comments from last week. If you’ll recall, the actor all but confirmed that an Ant-Man 3 was happening, saying: “I don’t know if they’ll use me for the third movie, I still really don’t know.” Now, however, he’s changing his tune, claiming that he has no idea if a threequel will move forward or not.
“I read some of those things. And it says I ‘hint at an Ant-Man 3.’ I have no idea. If there is an Ant-Man 3, it would be great to be in it. That’s all I said.”
Continuing on, he made clear that he’s not privy to any information on where the franchise is headed next. Even if he was, though, he wouldn’t say anything.
“I don’t work at Marvel. I’m not part of the studio. And I don’t have the money to fund the movie. I wish I had $150 million around, you know,” says Peña. “It’s like, one of the supporting (Ant-Man) characters would say, ‘Yup, there’s going to be a third (movie).’ Like I have the information, more than Kevin (Feige). That would be really, really funny.”
“It’s like on sequels, we don’t know anything. They keep it under wraps man. They really do. Even if there were discussions, I wouldn’t say anything. That (interview mention) was clearly hypothetical,” Pena adds. “I’d imagine if the second movie is a smash hit, then they would think about having a third one.”
So, is the actor to be believed? Were his comments taken out of context? Or is he just trying throw us off the scent after accidentally slipping up? At this point, we’d say a bit of both.
We imagine that there’s at least been talk of doing a third Ant-Man, but until the second one releases and the box office numbers come in, there’s no guarantee that it’ll move forward. After all, Peyton Reed’s 2015 film wasn’t exactly the MCU’s highest grossing effort, so Marvel are no doubt waiting to see how the sequel performs first before ordering anything else up.
Said to retain the zany humor and spectacular (and miniature!) visuals that ensured the original became a breakout success, Ant-Man and the Wasp has been positioned as Marvel’s follow-up act to Avengers: Infinity War and opens on July 6th, 2018.
