Smothered beneath the huge levels of hype that Marvel are throwing into the promotion of Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, you could easily be forgiven for having forgotten that there are in fact, three Marvel Cinematic Universe movies being released in 2018. Featuring a distinct lack of marauding alien nasties, or enigmatic African royals, Ant-Man and the Wasp was always going to struggle to be heard amidst the noise of the busiest year the MCU has had to date. That being said, the sequel’s first trailer exploded online this week, and hidden behind the shrinking office buildings and expanding Pez dispensers, it provided fans with their first look at the new MCU versions of three huge Marvel characters.
The main discussion point that the trailer threw up amongst commentators and fan forums is the striking visual appearance of Hannah John-Kamen’s big villain, Ghost. The character has had to undergo a gender-swop from it’s original comic book version in order to accommodate the Black Mirror actress, but in reality not much is really known about the Ghost’s origins. An industrial saboteur who acquired/created suit technology that allowed him to phase through solid objects, he was driven slowly insane by his exposure to the tech, and became a major thorn in the side of Tony Stark.
The Ghost isn’t the only villain in the movie though, as Walton Goggins is also attached to the project, playing the ambitiously inept Sonny Burch. Goggins can briefly be glimpsed standing on a rooftop as Scott Lang towers over a crowd of people. Worthy of note is the fact he appears to be tightly clutching onto that building that Hank Pym had previously been seen shrinking. This suggests that he is behind the motorbike gang that have stolen the building, and Scott is in hot pursuit of him.
In the comics, Burch is another one of Tony Stark’s persistent foes, first introduced as an executive member of the board at Cross Industries, before going on to work for Obadiah Stane. Having failed at repeated attempts to acquire and reverse-engineer Stark tech, he eventually gave up and pursued a career in politics, managing to become a Secretary of Defense. It’s a role that’s not a million miles away from the MCU character of Senator Stern, who was previously portrayed in two movies by Gary Shandling prior to his passing.
The bad guys aren’t the only two characters you can see making their MCU debuts though, as the footage also contains a brief shot of a concerned looking Laurence Fishburne, taking time out from his duties as DC’s newest Perry White to play Dr Bill Foster. Foster is an iconic Marvel character, who also adopted the mantle of Giant Man for a time between Pym and Lang. A Stark employee and assistant to Hank, he used Pym-tech to become the Avenger Goliath, and was sadly killed during Civil War by a Thor LMD created by Tony Stark.
With the teaser footage playing heavily on the humorous relationships between Lang, Pym and Hope, it’s clear that the movie is going to replicate the comedic elements that made the original film such a hit with the fans. You’d be naive not to anticipate the next, expanded trailer to come complete with a fast-talking voiceover from Micahel Pena’s motormouth sidekick, Luis.
In the film,
In the aftermath of “Captain America: Civil War,” Scott Lang (Rudd) grapples with the consequences of his choices as both a Super Hero and a father. As he struggles to rebalance his home life with his responsibilities as Ant-Man, he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne (Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas) with an urgent new mission. Scott must once again put on the suit and learn to fight alongside The Wasp as the team works together to uncover secrets from their past.
Ant-Man and the Wasp will be released August 3, 2018.
What do you make of this? Are you excited for Ant-Man and the Wasp? Be sure to tell us your thoughts in the comments!