Surprise Character Confirmed for ANT-MAN

With Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man released next month, producer Kevin Feige has revealed that a surprise character will be appearing in the Paul Rudd-starrer.

Safe to say, this constitutes a SPOILER of sorts for Ant-Man, so if you don’t want to know any further details then we’d suggest that you turn away now (although we’re also guessing that if you’ve clicked on this post then you’re already fine with this particular spoiler). Either way, you’ve been warned.

SPOILER

Many presumed that the character will appear in Ant-Man, but Kevin Feige has now gone on record to confirm that, yes, The Wasp will be appearing in the film. Now many of us have predicted that Evangeline Lilly’s Hope van Dyne would end up taking on the Wasp mantle at some point, and that may still be the case, but Feige has revealed that we will get to see Janet van Dyne as The Wasp during the movie.

Speaking to MTV, Feige said that The Wasp “factors in a number of spoiler-ish ways” and that “we will see Janet van Dyne in action in this film, and sort of what happened to her.” Given how we already know Janet and Hank Pym were a couple, it makes sense that her time as The Wasp will be part of the flashback moments where we get to see Pym as Ant-Man.

For those unfamiliar with the character of Wasp, in the comic book world she was actually a founding member of The Avengers, as was Hank Pym. Obviously things are different in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though. Additionally, Wasp also has the power to shrink as well as the ability to fly.

No details are known on who will be playing Janet van Dyne in Ant-Man, but there have been plenty of plans for the character over the last few years. At one point, Janet was actually supposed to be a part of the original MCU Avengers line-up, although her place seemingly went to Black Widow when all was said and done. Then there were a whole host of rumours to say that Janet van Dyne was going to be in Iron Man 3. Again, that didn’t happen.

From what we’ve been led to believe, Ant-Man will see Hope van Dyne have a strained relationship with father Hank Pym, and it’s believed that Pym and Janet van Dyne have long been separated and that Janet could very well actually be dead.

For us here, whilst we’re looking forward to Ant-Man, it still seems like a massively wasted opportunity to go forward with the Scott Lang version of Ant-Man rather than the Hank Pym version. With Pym, there’s so many interesting stories that could be told as he’s one of the most fascinating, emotional, unstable and dark hero characters in the Marvel world. And key to a lot of Pym’s most engaging stories is Janet van Dyne, with one massively memorable comic book image being of Hank slapping Janet across the chops. Whilst we’ll get to see some Hank Pym in his prime through flashback moments, Ant-Man will be heading forward with the Scott Lang version of the hero.

Ant-Man is made up of Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne, Corey Stoll as Darren Cross/Yellowjacket and roles for Judy Greer, Michael Pena, Bobby Cannavale, David Dastmalchian, Wood Harris, Tip Harris and Jordi Molla.

To be directed by Peyton Reed, Ant-Man is released on July 17th.

SHARE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW OR ON TWITTER @STARBURST_MAG

Find your local STARBURST stockist HERE, or buy direct from us HERE. For our digital edition (available to read on your iOS, Android, Amazon, Windows 8, Samsung and/or Huawei device – all for just £1.99), visit MAGZTER DIGITAL NEWSSTAND.