The MCU’s Ant-Man movies have so far largely remained in their own little corner of the shared universe, with Scott Lang tending not to get involved with the sort of intergalactic conflict or situations that potentially determine the fate of the entire world that the majority of his Avengers teammates frequently find themselves caught up in.
With much smaller stakes and a narrower focus though, Ant-Man hasn’t brought in the kind of box office numbers usually associated with Marvel Studios, with the first two installments the lowest-grossing entries in the franchise since before the Avengers were first assembled at the end of Phase One.
However, after Scott played a pivotal role in the events of Avengers: Endgame, it looks like he could have a much bigger part to play in the MCU going forward, especially when you consider the constant rumors that following the five-year time jump, his daughter Cassie could serve as the catalyst to introduce the Young Avengers into the mix.
Paul Rudd may have recently admitted that even he doesn’t know when Ant-Man 3 is going to happen, and he’s the leading man and co-writer of the movies, but a new report claims that Peyton Reed’s threequel is set to start production next June. As per Murphy’s Multiverse, the continued effects of the Coronavirus that have already caused havoc with the entirety of Phase Four have seen the proposed schedule pushed back, and the script itself is currently being hammered out with Marvel keen not to rush it into production just for the sake of it.
The continued speculation surrounding both the future of female lead Evangeline Lilly and the potential debut of the Young Avengers sets Ant-Man 3 up as the biggest outing yet for the MCU’s smallest hero in more ways than one, and it looks to factor into the mythology in much more important ways than the previous two installments did. And should shooting kick off next June as planned, a smart guess is that Ant-Man 3 wouldn’t hit theaters until July 28th, 2023, with Marvel having already staked out that date and both previous movies having been released in the same month.
