2018 will see yet more miniaturised adventure for Paul Rudd (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues) as he will be returning to the Marvel cinematic universe in Ant-Man And The Wasp. As the title of the film gives away pretty clearly, he won’t be going it alone quite so much this time around as he will also have Evangeline Lily (The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies) donning the prototype wasp suit that was teased at the end of the first film.
Peyton Reed will be returning to the director’s chair following the success of 2015’s Ant-Man, which was a massive departure for him from his previous ridiculous comedy back catalogue of Down With Love, The Breakup and Yes Man. There is no trailer as of yet for the sequel, but there is a very unenlightening, but slightly witty teaser, which you can watch below. Just don’t expect it to feature anything significant from the film.
Release date
Ant-Man And The Wasp has been slated for a UK release date of the 29th June 2018, which should see it going up against Sicario sequel Soldado at the box office, which is due out on the same weekend in the UK. It’s schedule to arrive in cinemas in the US on the 6th July 2018, so as things stand it’ll be out in the UK a week earlier.
2018 is going to be a pretty busy year for Rudd as he will also be taking on the intergalactic might of Thanos in Avengers: Infinity Wars, due out in the UK on the 27th April.
Story
The plot for the film will pick up with Scott Lang following his Giant Man exploits in Captain America: Civil War. Now a part of the Avengers, he will need to travel to juggle his life as a superhero and a father with the latter being pretty time intensive all by itself.
However, things get get even more intense when Dr. Hank Pym approaches him with a brand-new mission working alongside his girlfriend Hope van Dyne, who will be starting her own superhero life as the Wasp. The mission involves secrets from their past, so there should be a couple of cut scenes to Hank’s time as Ant-Man, as well as another training montage as Scott and Hope get to grips with being a double team.
The big question for the plot is whether or not Janet van Dyne will be getting a full return to size or if she’s just going to feature in cut scenes to the past. Hank’s missing wife, and previous Wasp, got trapped in the Atomic Realm on a mission years ago and the end of Ant-Man laid the groundwork for her return, so it’s possible that Hope might be getting a bit more parental guidance in the next mission.
Cast
Paul Rudd leads the cast as Scott Lang / Ant-Man and he’ll star alongside Evangeline Lily, who takes joint title credits with him as Hope van Dyne / The Wasp. Michael Douglas (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) will be back as Dr. Hank Pym, alongside Judy Greer (War For The Planet Of The Apes), who will reprise her role as Scott’s ex-wife Maggie.
Bobby Cannovale (Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle) returns as Maggie’s new partner Paxton and Abby Ryder Fortson Scott’s daughter Cassie. The unconventional superhero support team will also be getting in on the action once again with Michael Peña (John Wick Chapter 2) as Luis, Tip “T.I.” Harris (Get Hard) as Dave and David Dastmalchian (Blade Runner 2049) as Kurt.
New additions to the Ant-Man And The Wasp cast include Michelle Pfeiffer (Mother) as Hank’s missing wife Janet van Dyne, as well as Laurence Fishburne (John Wick Chaper 2), Hannah John-Kamen (Ready Player One), Walton Goggins (Tomb Raider), and Randall Park (The Interview).
Production
Peyton Reed is directing the film from a screenplay by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari and Paul Rudd. It’ll be the 20th Marvel Cinematic Studios production with Disney distributing the film worldwide. You can see more on the production with the Marvel Studios Twitter page and the Ant-Man Facebook page.
First impressions
Ant-Man And The Wasp has already got a lot going for it despite the fact that there is no trailer as of yet. The original cast and production team under Peyton Reed did a very good job with the first film (read our Ant-Man review for more details), so were expecting even more from the sequel. The new additions to the cast sound promising and the film should make for a nice back to earth return from Marvel Studios following the massive adventure that will be Avengers: Infinity War which has a slightly earlier release date in 2018.
