Ant-Man And The Wasp’s Connection To Avengers: Infinity War Was Almost Much Darker

The newly released Ant-Man and the Wasp was in the unusual position of having to provide greater context to the grim events of Avengers: Infinity War while staying true to the relatively laid-back spirit of the first film. Naturally, there was much discussion around how best to pull this off, and according to director Peyton Reed, some of the ideas that arose in this period would have resulted in a significantly darker viewing experience.

As it stands, Thanos’ devastating finger snap at the end of Infinity War happened to coincide with the post-credits scene in Ant-Man and the Wasp, which sees Hope, Hank, and Janet turn to dust while Scott remains stuck in the Quantum Realm. But rather than saving this tragedy for after the main story had concluded, Reed claims that the team at one point considered putting the snap in effect part way through the film.

“We talked about it, you know, how we were going to introduce the ramifications of Infinity War in our movie, and along the way, we had a bunch of different ideas,” Reed told GameSpot. “Some were more bleak, and some were things happening in the background of this movie.”

To have such a devastating event from another movie spill over so significantly into this one halfway through the story may well have been an interesting, even rather bold move. Still, for a pic that’s being praised as a refreshingly light-hearted and humor-heavy follow-up to Infinity War, it would’ve been nigh on impossible for Ant-Man and the Wasp to keep its tone and overall identity in tact with people turning to dust left and right during the action. There’s nothing like a bit of mass genocide to dampen all the fun, and Reed would likely agree, seeing how his film ended up taking a very different route.

“We finally landed on this idea, you know, the version that you saw, and structurally, we all got really excited about it, to have the tone of Ant-Man or Ant-Man and the Wasp, and still be able to sort of acknowledge Infinity War in a way.”

That being said, Scott Lang will still have deal with the consequences of the MCU’s grimmest chapter when Avengers 4 comes knocking on May 3rd, 2019. But for now, Ant-Man and the Wasp is in cinemas nationwide, allowing viewers to cherish those bright and innocent pre-snap days for a little while longer.