Quantumania

''Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'' is an upcoming American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the characters Scott Lang / Ant-Man and Hope Pym / Wasp. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is intended to be the sequel to ''Ant-Man'' (2015) and ''Ant-Man and the Wasp'' (2018) and the 31st film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Peyton Reed, written by Jeff Loveness, and stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang and Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne alongside Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathryn Newton, Jonathan Majors, David Dastmalchian, and Randall Park. In the film, Lang and van Dyne explore the Quantum Realm along with their family and face Kang the Conqueror (Majors).

Plans for a third ''Ant-Man'' film were confirmed in November 2019, with Reed and Rudd returning. Loveness was hired by April 2020, with development on the film beginning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film's title and new cast members were announced in December 2020. Filming in Turkey began in early February 2021, while additional filming occurred in San Francisco in mid-June, ahead of principal photography starting at the end of July at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire and ending in November.

''Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'' is scheduled to be released in the United States on February 17, 2023, as the first film of Phase Five of the MCU.

Premise

Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne, along with Hope's parents Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne and Lang's daughter Cassie, go on a new adventure exploring the Quantum Realm that pushes their limits and pits them against Kang the Conqueror.

Cast

* Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man:
An Avenger and former petty criminal with a suit that allows him to shrink or grow in scale while increasing in strength. After the events of '' Avengers: Endgame'' (2019), Lang has become a well-known celebrity to the public, as well as the author of an autobiographical book titled ''Look Out for the Little Guy'', which tells a different version of how he helped save the universe from Thanos in ''Endgame''.
* Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne / Wasp:
The daughter of Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne who is handed down a similar suit and the Wasp mantle from her mother. Lilly said the film would explore how the character deals with her "fragilities and her vulnerabilities", continuing from how ''Ant-Man and the Wasp'' (2018) showed how powerful and capable she was.
* Michael Douglas as Hank Pym: A former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, entomologist, and physicist who became the original Ant-Man after creating the suit.
* Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne: Pym's wife, Hope's mother, and the original Wasp, who was lost in the Quantum Realm for 30 years.
* Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang:
Scott Lang's daughter who acquires a suit similar to her father's. She is scientifically inclined, and gains an interest in Pym's old notes and learning more about the science and technology from the Quantum Realm. The character was previously portrayed as a child by Abby Ryder Fortson in the previous ''Ant-Man'' films and as a teenager by Emma Fuhrmann in ''Endgame''. Director Peyton Reed said that he wanted to further develop the relationship between Cassie and Scott, as it was central to the previous ''Ant-Man'' films.
* Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror:
A "time-traveling, multiversal adversary" trapped in the Quantum Realm who is an alternate-timeline variant of the character He Who Remains, the creator of the Time Variance Authority (TVA) introduced in the first season of ''Loki'' (2021). Kang was described by ''Loki'' season one head writer Michael Waldron as the "next big cross-movie villain" for the MCU. Majors said Kang is different from He Who Remains, who is not in ''Quantumania'', with a shifted psychology, portraying Kang differently from He Who Remains due to the different characters surrounding him, and transitioning from a series to a film. He was attracted to Kang's "character and dimensions" and the potential that presented to him as an actor, noting Kang would be a different type of villain to the MCU than Erik Killmonger and Thanos were, as well as the possibility of playing a complex villain about whom everyone has to be careful, akin to Iago in William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Othello'' (1603). Majors added of muscle for the role, focusing on strength and conditioning training. Reed said ''Quantumania'' would show a "different flavor" of Majors' approach to Kang's alternate versions, and explained Kang "has dominion over time", calling him a warrior, strategist, and an "all-timer antagonist" compared to the antagonists of the prior ''Ant-Man'' films as a "force of nature". Given his work with time, Kang does not live a linear life.
* David Dastmalchian as Kurt: A member of Lang's X-Con Security crew.
* Randall Park as Jimmy Woo: An FBI agent who was previously Lang's parole officer.

Additionally, Gregg Turkington reprises his role as Dale, the manager of a Baskin-Robbins store who Lang worked for, from ''Ant-Man'' (2015), while Bill Murray is cast as an undisclosed villain who has a history with Janet van Dyne in the Quantum Realm. Reed believed Murray's character represented a person's past "always find nga way to show up again" and the film's theme of secrets between family members and how they are each effected by them. Ruben Rabasa appears as a coffee shop attendant. William Jackson Harper and Katy O'Brian are cast in undisclosed roles. Also slated to appear in the film is M.O.D.O.K., a mutated, cybernetically enhanced individual with an oversized head.

Production

Development

Ahead of the release of ''Ant-Man and the Wasp'' (2018), director Peyton Reed said there were elements of that film that leave "a lot to play with" in a potential third film in the franchise. He highlighted the Quantum Realm, which was introduced in ''Ant-Man'' (2015) and explored further in ''Ant-Man and the Wasp''; Reed said they were "just dipping our toes into it" for the previous films. Reed added that he and Marvel Studios were hopeful about a third film and had discussed potential story points for such a sequel. In February 2019, Hank Pym actor Michael Douglas confirmed that informal discussions regarding a sequel to ''Ant-Man and the Wasp'' had taken place, though by that time Evangeline Lilly had not heard of any plans for her character Hope van Dyne / Wasp following her role in '' Avengers: Endgame'' (2019). Lilly stated that "Hope is mid-journey. I don't see her journey as being over by any stretch." That October, Michelle Pfeiffer expressed interest in reprising her role of Janet van Dyne in a sequel, while Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was asked about the future of Paul Rudd's Scott Lang / Ant-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) following ''Endgame'', and responded that "the chess pieces were arranged very purposefully" at the end of that film, with some taken "off the board" and others, like Ant-Man, "still on he board, soyou never know". Rudd was asked whether he would be returning to the role, either in a third ''Ant-Man'' film or as part of another hero's MCU franchise, and said that both of those options had been discussed.

Reed officially signed on to direct a third ''Ant-Man'' film at the start of November 2019. Rudd was set to star as Lang, with Lilly and Douglas also returning. Filming was scheduled to begin in January 2021 for a likely release date in 2022. Reed was hired again, despite Marvel's interest in new filmmakers bringing different takes to their heroes for each film, because executives felt he had "a real grasp on the ''Ant-Man'' universe and want dto see him return to wrap up his trilogy". Jeff Loveness was hired to write the script for the film during "the early days of Hollywood's shutdown" due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and he had begun working on the screenplay by April 2020. At that point, it was no longer clear when production would begin on the film due to the effects of the pandemic on all film productions. In August 2020, Reed confirmed that development on the film was continuing during the pandemic. He said that Lilly would continue to get equal billing in the film alongside Rudd as she is "a very, very important part" of the partnership between Ant-Man and the Wasp, despite rumors that her role would be reduced following controversial comments about the pandemic. Reed added that the story for the film had been "cracked", though "nothing asofficial yet", and said the third film would be a "bigger, more sprawling movie than the first two itha very different visual template". Reed stated they wanted to further explore the Quantum Realm in the film as a "massive world-building undertaking", and compared its design to electron microscope photography, the '' Heavy Metal'' magazine issues of the 1970s and 1980s, and his favorite science fiction cover artists such as Jean Giraud for fantastical realism. Marvel Studios producer Brian Gay said the film would "feel like a real departure" from the first two ''Ant-Man'' films and be a big adventure. Fellow Marvel Studios executive Stephen Broussard was producing the film alongside Feige.

Pre-production

In September 2020, Jonathan Majors was cast in a "lead role" for the film, which was reported to be Kang the Conqueror. Because the actor cast as Kang would first portray an alternate version of the character, named He Who Remains, in the Disney+ series ''Loki'', Kate Herron and Michael Waldron—the director and head writer of ''Loki'' first season, respectively—were involved in casting Majors in addition to Reed and executives at Marvel Studios; Majors was approached for the role without an audition, and later noted he had been involved in the film "since the beginning" before joining ''Loki''. Reed was interested in having Ant-Man and the Wasp go up against a formidable foe in the film, believing Kang to be one of Marvel Comics' "all-timers" like Loki and Doctor Doom. In November, filming was expected to start in 2021. In December, Pfeiffer confirmed her involvement and that filming would begin in mid-2021. Shortly after at Disney's Investor Day, Feige revealed the film's title as ''Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'', confirmed the return of Rudd, Lilly, Douglas and Pfeiffer, alongside Majors as Kang, and revealed that Kathryn Newton had joined the film as Cassie Lang. Emma Fuhrmann, who played the character as a teenager in ''Avengers: Endgame'', was saddened by the announcement of Newton taking over the role, and hoped to be involved in the MCU in the future. Later that month, Loveness revealed that he had turned in the first draft of the script, and said Marvel had used the COVID-19 pandemic break to "do something new and weird" with the film. Pfeiffer and Douglas both indicated that the film would be released in 2022. Reed planned to feature comedian Tom Scharpling again in the film, after his cameos in the previous two films were ultimately cut from the theatrical releases; however, the scene in which he would have been featured was cut before it was filmed.

Filming

On February 4, 2021, Turkey's Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Ersoy announced that shooting for the film had begun in the country's region of Cappadocia, with the production also set to film in other parts of Turkey. At the beginning of March, Tip "T.I." Harris was revealed to not be returning as his character Dave from the first two ''Ant-Man'' films. This news came after sexual abuse allegations against Harris and his wife Tameka Cottle arose at the end of February, but ''Variety'' reported that this was unrelated and Harris was never set to return for the sequel. In early May 2021, Marvel Studios announced that the film would be released on February 17, 2023. In mid-June, Rudd and Douglas headed to England to prepare for filming. Shooting to capture exterior shots and background plates took place at the San Francisco Police Department Central Station in North Beach, San Francisco on June 19 and 20, with filming of the station's interior, the outward view of the building, and downtown San Francisco. In July, Joanna Robinson of '' Vanity Fair'' reported that Corey Stoll would reprise his role as Darren Cross / Yellowjacket from ''Ant-Man'' in "some shape" for ''Quantumania''.

Principal photography began on July 26, 2021, at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, using the working title ''Dust Bunny''. Industrial Light & Magic provided the same StageCraft virtual production technology Reed used while directing episodes of the Disney+ ''Star Wars'' series ''The Mandalorian''. Principal photography was previously set to begin in January 2021, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was then expected to take place between May 31 and September 24. Will Htay served as production designer. By September 16, over 50 crew members from Pinewood Studios productions, including ''Quantumania'', contracted norovirus following an outbreak at the studio. The main cast was not affected. In October, the film's release was delayed to July 28, 2023. Later that month, Bill Murray revealed he had shot material for a Marvel film with Reed, which was believed to be ''Quantumania''. Murray explained he joined the project as he liked Reed and his work on ''Bring It On'' (2000), despite not being interested in superhero films, before he further indicated his involvement in the film, but said he could not comment on his prior statement; Murray later said he was playing a "bad guy" in the film. Principal photography was completed in November 2021. Filming was also expected to take place in Atlanta, and the production was slated to move to San Francisco in 2022 with the cast.

Post-production

Adam Gerstel and Laura Jennings serve as co-editors on the film. In April 2022, the film was moved back to its February 17, 2023 release date, swapping places with ''The Marvels'' given ''Quantumania'' was further along in production than that film. In September 2022, Randall Park was confirmed to be reprising his role as Jimmy Woo, and Feige called the film "a direct line" into Phase Five and '' Avengers: The Kang Dynasty'' (2025), with Majors reprising his role in ''The Kang Dynasty''. Reed stated that ''Quantumania'' would have a "profound impact" on the MCU, and that the impact of Kang's appearance in this film was discussed with Loveness for ''The Kang Dynasty'', which he was also writing. He also hoped the film would not be viewed as a "palate cleanser" the previous two films had been following ''Avengers'' films, but would instead feel as big as an ''Avengers'' film. Gregg Turkington was also revealed to be reprising his role as Dale, a Baskin-Robbins manager, from ''Ant-Man''. In October 2022, William Jackson Harper was revealed to be appearing in the film in an undisclosed role, and in November, Katy O'Brian was revealed to be appearing in the film alongside David Dastmalchian, reprising his role as Kurt from the first two films, after he previously said he was not involved in ''Quantumania''.

Music

Christophe Beck was revealed to be composing the score by July 2022, after previously working on the previous two ''Ant-Man'' films, as well as the MCU Disney+ series ''WandaVision'' and '' Hawkeye'' (both in 2021).

Marketing

The first footage from the film was shown at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con where Feige, Reed, and the cast promoted the film and discussed the characters. Further footage was shown at D23 in September, which Ryan Leston at ''IGN'' called "an intriguing glimpse" into the film. An official trailer for the film was released on October 24, 2022. It featured "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John. Tom Chapman at ''Den of Geek'' noted the trailer was "darker than ever" compared to the comedic tone of the prior two ''Ant-Man'' films and featured "dramatic pauses and tense musical cues", but felt it was "another MCU teaser trailer that does a little too much teasing" to not reveal key details, such as the absence of the character M.O.D.O.K. who was shown in the D23 footage. Charles Pulliuam-Moore of ''The Verge'' compared the trailer to Disney's then-upcoming film '' Strange World'' (2022) and highlighted the Quantum Realm's appearance as being "beautiful and nonsensical," while ''Empire'' Owen Williams compared the Quantum Realm to Ego's planet from the MCU film ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'' (2017).

Release

''Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'' is scheduled to be released on February 17, 2023. The film was previously set to be released in 2022, before being officially announced as releasing on February 17, 2023, in May 2021. It was delayed to July 28, 2023, in October 2021, and returned to the February 2023 date in April 2022. It will be the first film of Phase Five of the MCU.

Future

In June 2015, Reed proposed a prequel film focused on a younger version of Hank Pym, an idea that Douglas expressed interest in by June 2018.

References

External links

* at Marvel.com
*

{{Portal bar, Film, United States, Speculative fiction, Comics

2020s American films
2020s English-language films
2020s science fiction adventure films
2020s superhero films
2023 adventure films
2023 science fiction action films
American science fiction action films
American science fiction adventure films
American sequel films
Ant-Man (film series)
Films about insects
Films about quantum mechanics
Films about size change
Films directed by Peyton Reed
Films scored by Christophe Beck
Films set in San Francisco
Films shot at Pinewood Studios
Films shot in Atlanta
Films shot in London
Films shot in San Francisco
Films shot in Turkey
Films using motion capture
Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Five films
Productions using StageCraft
Superhero crossover films
Superheroine films
Upcoming sequel films
Works by Jeff Loveness