Is Marvel Viewing Ant-Man As An Afterthought?
Many a Marvel fan is worried about the upcoming Ant-Man film. The film is already on notice because it arrives after Age of Ultron. No pressure. Furthermore, Ant-Man does not star the original hero, Hank Pym (though he is in the film and featured heavily), it instead follows his replacement, Scott Lang.
When fans heard that Hank Pym was not the creator of Ultron in the MCU, they were not happy. Many saw this as a slap to the face of the character, as this was one of his greatest feats…and nightmares. Add all that together, and you get a film that could be seen as nothing more than an afterthought by Marvel. According to Kevin Feige though (via Slash Film), that’s not the case at all.
“It’s not [an after thought],” Marvel President Kevin Feige said. “The truth is the phases mean a lot to me and some people but…Civil War is the start of Phase Three. It just is. And Ant-Man is a different kind of culmination of Phase Two because it very much is in the MCU.”
He goes on about how it all connects, and why it really is a Phase Two film:
“You meet new characters and you learn about Hank Pym and his lineage with the MCU over the years,” Feige explained. “But at the same time, it also picks up the thread of Age of Ultron in terms of heroes – major heroes, Avengers – coming from unexpected places. Whether it’s prison in the case of Scott Lang or being a very disgruntled Sokovian Twins as Wanda and Pietro are in Age of Ultron. And in that way it connects a lot. Also, Hank Pym’s attitude towards Avengers, towards S.H.I.E.L.D, and kind of the cinematic universe in general, is much more informed after the events of Age of Ultron, and in a certain way, before the events of Civil War.”