ANT-MAN
AND THE WASP.

A SEQUEL ANNOUNCED IN 2015

HOW THE SEQUEL CAME TOGETHER

Marvel confirmed a sequel in October 2015, titled Ant-Man and the Wasp and dated 6 July 2018, and Peyton Reed announced his return the following month with Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly. Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers wrote the screenplay with Rudd, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. Principal photography began on 1 August 2017 at Pinewood Atlanta Studios, under the working title Cherry Blue, with further shooting in San Francisco, Savannah and Hawaii. It wrapped on 19 November 2017.

HOPE BECOMES THE WASP

WHAT IT MEANT TO PUT THE WASP IN THE TITLE

On 21 April 2018 Lilly described how it felt to be the first woman with her name in the title of a Marvel Studios film:

“It means a lot to me.”

Evangeline Lilly, 21 April 2018

She also described the story’s emotional engine: her character is “hell-bent on finding a way to get into the Quantum Realm” to bring her mother back. Reed said it was interesting to bring Michelle Pfeiffer in and get her up to speed. He said on 3 July 2018 that Rudd and Randall Park, who plays Jimmy Woo, “just click.”

PFEIFFER, FISHBURNE AND A NEW VILLAIN

WHO JOINED THE CAST AND HOW IT LOOKED

Hannah John-Kamen was cast as Ava Starr, known as Ghost, in June 2017, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne and Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster were announced at San Diego Comic-Con that July, with Michael Douglas returning as Hank Pym. Pfeiffer, Douglas and Fishburne were digitally de-aged for flashback scenes, with Lola VFX doing the work, and Christophe Beck returned to compose, writing a new theme for the Wasp.

A THIRD MORE THAN THE FIRST FILM

HOW THE FILM OPENED

The film premiered on 25 June 2018 at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood and opened in 4,206 US theatres on 6 July. Its opening weekend of $75,812,205 comfortably beat the first film’s $57.2 million, and it went on to earn about $622.7 million worldwide. Budget estimates range from $130 million to $195 million.

There are two credits scenes: a mid-credits scene in which Pym, Hope and Janet are caught in the Blip from Avengers: Infinity War, and a post-credits scene featuring the ant that doubled for Scott Lang.

THE REWATCH

AN 87% CRITICS SCORE AND A LIGHTER MCU ENTRY

Rotten Tomatoes lists an 87% critics’ score from 446 reviews and a 78% audience score, and its consensus calls the film “a much-needed MCU palate cleanser.” Metacritic gives it 70 from 56 critics, and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an “A-.”

In the Marvel Marathon it sits in the MCU release order and MCU movies in order guides between Avengers: Infinity War and Captain Marvel, and in the Marvel movies in release order guide between Deadpool 2 and Venom. In the MCU timeline guide it follows Jessica Jones Season 3 and comes before Avengers: Infinity War.