It seems strange to be talking about Marvel’s plans beyond its Phase Four film slate. Thanks to COVID-19, the studio has yet to release its first 2020 offering with Black Widow. Regardless, the wheels are still turning on several other movies currently in pre-production. One of these projects is Ant-Man 3, which still doesn’t an official title. But in a new interview with Yahoo!, director Peyton Reed confirmed that Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly will co-headline the upcoming sequel.
When it opened in 2018, Ant-Man and the Wasp became the first Marvel Studios movie to include a female superhero’s name in its title. Marvel continued its push toward a more diverse cinematic landscape with last year’s Captain Marvel, with even more female heroes making their big-screen debuts in the years to come. Now, Reed appears to be suggesting that Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne’s next adventure will also have Ant-Man and the Wasp in its name, followed by a subtitle of some kind.
“They’re a partnership, and she’s a very, very important part of that,” said Reed. “And that was a very gratifying thing, I guess technically we were the first Marvel movie with a female hero in the title of the movie. Finding that balance in that movie, that’s very important to me because that’s very much a men’s playing field, historically. But that’s really, really changing now in a great way.”
RELATED: Marvel Hires Jeff Loveness to Write Ant-Man 3
Most recently, Marvel hired Rick and Morty writer Jeff Loveness to pen Ant-Man 3’s script back in April. Reed inked his own deal to return to the director’s chair last fall. And according to him, things are coming along nicely on the next installment.
“We have [cracked the story],” added Reed. “Nothing is official yet, but we’re quietly working. We’re working through the pandemic.”
Yahoo! also notes that Ant-Man 3 is “currently planned for a 2022 release,” which could make it part of Marvel’s Phase Four. However, the studio has yet to make a formal announcement about when it might hit theaters.
Are you happy to hear that Rudd and Lilly’s characters will once again share top billing for the sequel? Let us know in the comments down below!
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