All in the superhero family
Paul Rudd & Co. back in ‘Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’
The Marvel universe moves in strange ways. Witness Ant Man’s 9-year journey in three films with Paul Rudd back as Scott Lang, the Baskin-Robbins employee turned tiny but terrific superhero in Friday’s “Ant Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.”
While he first came to Marvel life in 1962 comics, film-wise, Ant Man starred in the 2015 Marvel movie, was featured a year later as an Avenger in “Captain America: Civil War,” and then the 2018 sequel that introduced Evangeline Lilly as Wasp, aka Hope Van Dyne.“Quantumania” again features Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym, the scientist, and Michelle Pfeiffer as his scientist wife Janet Van Dyne, the original Wasp. Their granddaughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) is, of course, Scott’s daughter.
Director Peyton Reed, in a virtual global press conference, explained where the heart of this Marvel series lies.
“The Ant-Man movies have really always been about family. It is a generational story about a family of heroes,” he began. “Scott Lang, who is not a billionaire, super scientist or anything, is getting sucked into this world. Hope is the legacy daughter of two superheroes, Hank (Douglas) and Janet (Pfeiffer).
“So it’s this generational thing. Young Cassie is Scott’s biggest motivating factor” — he wants to have time with his daughter. He wants to be a hero, obviously. He’s an Avenger! But it’s really about work-life balance. Finding time with his daughter is the most important thing.
“Now Cassie Lang is 18,” Reed added, “and in ‘Quantumania’ we really broaden that story to start talking about the secrets the family members keep from each other. The things they don’t tell each other.
“We very quickly find out that Janet hasn’t told the family about her 30 years in the Quantum Realm. Hope and Hank have not told Scott about what they’re working on with Cassie down in the basement. Maybe Cassie hasn’t told her dad about time she might’ve spent in jail? So everyone’s keeping secrets from Scott and suddenly they’re thrust into the Quantum Realm and they have to work out these family dynamics while being in this bizarro, wacked-out world. Really the theme of family is the constant in the movies.”
Added Rudd, “Scott’s grown a lot over the course of the nine years we’ve been doing these. He’s written a memoir, ‘Look Out for the Little Guy’ where he’s explained everything that’s been going on in life and his experiences with the Avengers.
“Now he is ready to be a normal dad. But there are issues. Because he missed out on a lot he wants to recapture those years.”