Two things are immediately apparent when watching Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: First, as the film leaves San Francisco, the original location of the earlier Ant-Man adventures, quite swiftly for an extended journey into the Quantum Realm; and second, the main cast of characters has solidified into nothing less than a true family of superheroes.
The Fantastic Four, who have been billed as such since the 1960s, have found their way into the Ant-Man films, especially Quantumania, which are two years away. According to Reed, some of his Ant-Man ideas for the Fantastic Four, including the bickering family unit and the adventures in psychedelic cosmic realms, have no bearing on the movie.
“I got Fantastic Four back in, I think, 2002 or 2003, long before the MCU,” Reed adds. “I found myself directing the Ant-Man family, and there are similarities. They are sort of a dysfunctional family of superheroes in the Marvel Universe,” says Reed.
Reed's abandoned Fantastic Four film would have been set in the 1960s and followed the cast in their everyday lives, but his intention was discarded by then-Fox CEO Tom Rothman in favor of a more traditional origin story set in the present day. It was followed by Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2007 and a disastrous reboot in 2015 before Marvel regained the rights.
Matt Shakman (WandaVision) has been chosen to direct the new Fantastic Four story in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Reed believes that his work on the Ant-Man films has fulfilled his vision for the First Family's long-ago incarnation.
Reed adds that "I really did scratch that itch with these [Ant-Man] films." "With this movie, in particular, it gave me a chance to get to know what would have been called the more cosmic side of the Marvel Comics universe. For me, the Quantum Realm is akin to bringing them into the Ant-Man world."
Stephen Broussard, who plays Ant-Man, believes that the development of the family feel in the Ant-Man films will provide a roadmap for the Marvel Universe's version of the Four. It's no secret. It's absolutely there.
“What’s so relatable about that, I think, is that it’s dysfunctional,” Broussard adds. “We all have our own difficulties that we're dealing with with our family and we still love each other.”
Quantumania, Ant-Man and the Wasp, is in cinemas on Friday, February 17.