Besides a few exceptions, MCU films have a tendency to kill off their villains at the end of each film. However, we have recently seen the return of Red Skull from his apparent demise in Avengers: Infinity War and now, thanks to the director of both Ant-Man films, Peyton Reed, there may be a chance for the return of another villain: Yellow Jacket. That’s right, Darren Cross, the evil scientist/businessman who tries to recreate Pym Particles and eventually dons the Yellow Jacket suit, may very well be alive in the Quantum Realm.
During an interview with Screen Junkies, Reed is asked about the seemingly standard Marvel format of disposable villains. His response opened up some interesting doors, though.
“Well, I mean, you guys are making a massive assumption. There’s an assumption here that I’m not quite comfortable with. If you watch his death in the first Ant-Man, the suit is compromised…he shrinks and goes into a thing. I mean, he could be somewhere down there in that quantum realm.”
While his comment doesn’t come out and definitively confirm the return of Yellow Jacket, it is an interesting thing to think about as far as the villain’s future. Just like Red Skull, who was presumed dead after the Tesseract teleported him away, Yellow Jacket could very well be chilling in the Quantum Realm. Now, granted, his implosion into the Quantum Realm seemed far more deadly and painful then the Red Skull’s trip to space, but it is still a never say never kind of ending for the evil doer.
Of the nearly two dozen villains from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, only a handful have survived, and even less have actually remained villains. Bucky, the Winter Soldier, has of course become a hero, Ghost is seemingly now an ally, General Ross is a douche but means well, and Trevor Slaterly (the fake Mandarin) wasn’t really evil to begin with. Only Zemo, Hammer, and Abomination are seemingly still villains, and they’re all in jail of some kind.
Red Skull’s currently “career” has him straddling the lines of morality, so Thanos is the only real villain to survive and not be incarcerated (but we haven’t seen Avengers 4 yet, so who knows…). Yellow Jacket’s return could be one of, if not the, first villain to return and stay on the bad side of things, if all this conjecture comes to fruition. I guess only time (and space) will tell.
Would do you think of Reed’s statement? Could Yellow Jacket still be alive? Let us know in the comments below!