Ant-Man and The Wasp is in an interesting place as a sequel: its eponymous new hero was already introduced in the last movie - sort of. Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne played a prominent role in Ant-Man, but her ascent to superheroics as The Wasp was only teased at the very end of the film. Director Peyton Reed told Entertainment Weekly that making good on the Wasp suit reveal is a big part of the sequel.
"The first movie was really about her coming into her own as a hero, even though we didn't see her suit up yet," Reed said. "So we're so excited about now being able to show her fully formed and what she is as a superhero. Her power set, how she fights, and what are the injustices that matter to her that she wants to right. That's part of the really fun thing of the next movie".
That's part of the reason The Wasp won't show up in Captain America: Civil War - with all the superpowered characters running around, there wouldn't be enough time to set her up as a "a complicated character and a rich character". That didn't keep Black Panther or Spider-Man out of Civil War's roster, but I guess they got dibs.
Back to the (literally) smaller scale adventures: part of the fun of Ant-Man was just how different it felt from other Marvel movies, with fewer explosive fistfights, more jokes and goofy sidekicks, and the special bond between a man and his flying insect steed. How will Ant-Man and The Wasp keep entertaining audiences who are already expecting a more eccentric superhero movie?
"The challenge in Ant-Man and the Wasp is just topping everything that comes before," Reed said. "But that’s a challenge I think with every Marvel movie, with every hero movie. You don't want the audience to get bored and feel like, oh man, I saw that in the last movie. You always got to give them something different".
Directed by Peyton Reed and starring Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly,Ant-Man and The Wasp will hit UK cinemas on July 2, 2018 before opening in the US on July 6.
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