According to Hawkeye writer Tanner Bean, viewers came within an inch of getting a cameo appearance from one of the most iconic vehicles in the MCU: Luis’ van from the Ant-Man franchise.
Fans are already eating up the new Disney Plus series that features the avenging archer, finally in a solo title of his own, and so far the series hasn’t been light on Easter eggs, most notably the black market auction which serves as the inciting incident for the first episode’s greatest action sequences. According to Bean, though, the writers’ room seriously considered making the van’s horn and steering wheel make a lighthearted appearance amongst items such as the sword and suit of Hawkeye’s former alias, Ronin.
Ant-Man devotees will of course remember the van from the series’ first two installments. The 1972 Ford Econoline was used in Luis’ (and occasionally Scott Lang’s) criminal enterprises and later was used in both movies assisting Ant-Man and the Wasp in their heroic efforts. At the end of the second movie, the van was outfitted with a Quantum Tunnel which propelled the hero into the Quantum Realm (more on that, no doubt, in the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania movie).
The vehicle was later destroyed along with the entire Avengers compound at the end of Avengers: Endgame. Bean first conceived of the idea of featuring the horn and wheel during a discussion on what other items recovered from the wreckage might appear at the underworld auction. The appearance may have featured an air of levity that didn’t quite fit into the scene, though, as Bean more or less admits.
“For the black-market auction, I rewatched the final battle of Endgame to find other artifacts that could’ve also been found in the rubble of the #Avengers Compound. My idea: the “La Cucaracha”-playing steering wheel horn from Luis’ van. (Hey, they can’t all be winners.)“
This is not the first time Ant-Man has come close to featuring in Hawkeye in some way or form. Director Rhys Thomas has admitted he was keen on the idea of Paul Rudd reprising his MCU role in the new series, noting the chemistry between Rudd’s Ant-Man and Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye. However, his attempts to field Rudd were apparently unsuccessful.
While Hawkeye fans may not get to see Rudd (or hear Luis’s horn play La Cucaracha again) anytime soon, with four more episodes to go and online speculation ablaze, there’s no telling what fans might get to see next.
