Getty Images Paul Rudd promoting "Ant-Man and the Wasp" at a screening in China.
As every fan of Marvel movies sits patiently waiting for the release of Black Panther, Marvel Studios casually dropped the trailer for the Ant-Man sequel Tuesday morning. Ant-Man and the Wasp, set to be released on July 6, 2018, picks up after the events of Captain America: Civil War, with Scott Lang/Ant-Man, played by Paul Rudd, on the run after being broken out of jail by Captain America. There’s FBI agents in hot pursuit, buildings that become the size of carry-on luggage, more FBI agents in more pursuit and of course, there is a giant PEZ dispenser flying through the air.
According to IMDb, the film revolves around Scott Lang learning to balance “being both a Super Hero and a father” while “Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym present an urgent new mission that finds the Ant-Man fighting alongside The Wasp to uncover secrets from their past.”
Rudd’s character is once again joined by his mentor Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglass) and Pym’s daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly,) who is now rocking her own special, shrinking suit as The Wasp. The Wasp’s suit also includes wings and blasters, proving that it helps to be the inventor’s daughter. Not featured in this first trailer is Michelle Pfeiffer, who will play Pym’s wife and van Dyne’s mother, Janet van Dyne, who was the original The Wasp.
The first Ant-Man movie was released in July of 2015 and received generally positive reviews. The movie grossed $180 million in the U.S. and over $300 million world-wide. Rudd’s character then appeared in Captain America: Civil War, siding with Captain America in his feud with Iron Man, a choice that ultimately led him to being locked up alongside the rest of Team Cap.
Evangeline Lilly as The Wasp
Ant-Man and the Wasp is directed by Peyton Reed, who directed the first movie and whose background is mostly in comedy in both television and movies. The movie is written by a collection of writers including Chris McKenna, Eric Sommers and Rudd. McKenna has most recently written the screenplay for Spider-Man: Homecoming and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. McKenna worked with Sommers on both of those films.
In addition to Rudd, Lilly, Douglass and Pfeiffer, the cast includes Michael Pena returning to his role of Luis, a member of Ant-Man’s crew who Lang met while in prison. Walton Goggins of Justified plays Sonny Burch, a Marvel villain who originally appeared in Iron Man comics in 2003. Odds are Burch will be Ant-Man and the Wasp’s main villain. The rest of the cast includes Laurence Fishburne playing Dr. Bill Foster/Goliath, a scientist who has the ability to grow in size, as well as Judy Greer playing Maggie Lang, Scott Lang’s ex-wife, Bobby Cannavale playing a cop engaged to Maggie Lang and Randall Park of Fresh Off the Boat playing a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
One can also expect a Stan Lee cameo in the movie.