Ant-Man and the Wasp Trailer

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Dennis takes a closer look at the world’s smallest superheroes in the trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Among the Marvel movies slated for 2018 is the follow-up to 2015’s Ant-Man: Ant-Man and the Wasp. As with the recent trailers for Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther and last fall’s Thor: Ragnarok, Marvel released a trailer that promises humor, action, amazing special effects and a mysterious villain. Among other things, the Ant-Man and the Wasp trailer provides audiences an opportunity to review what came before and learn a little about what is coming up.

Scott Lang vs. The Law

The trailer wastes no time in establishing the setting. Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is home after his involvement in Captain America: Civil War. In that movie, Falcon recruited Lang, as Ant-Man, for an assist on team Captain America. Of course, Ant-Man was among the heroes captured and detained in a maximum security prison in the middle of the ocean. That is he was detained until Captain America returned and freed all of them and headed to Wakanda. However, this film demonstrates Lang returned to the United States, and he has an ankle bracelet. Furthermore, the authorities are going through his home.

The Wasp and Hank Pym on the Run

Scott Lang isn’t the only one with problems though. Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily) explains that Scott activities required her and her father, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), to go on the run. And, go on the run they do. The trailer is full of examples of Hope and Hank employing the Pym particles to shrink and enlarge objects. Presumably, an office building is particularly important to Hank and rather than leave it behind, he shrinks it and drags it away like a piece of roller luggage. As an aside, this type of creative forethought is one of the things that makes the Ant-Man and now Ant-Man and the Wasp great.

The Ghost

The Ant-Man and the Wasp trailer also offers a glimpse of the Ghost, one of the villains of the movie. Played by Hannah John-Kamen, the Ghost is another technology-based villain. Like Ant-Man, the Ghost wears a technologically enhanced suit that provides stealth capabilities. Unlike Ant-Man or the Wasp, the Ghost is not known for size shifting abilities.

In the realm of comics, the Ghost emerged when a gifted technology engineer created computer chips that could “phase.” After a series of unfortunate events, this same engineer would fashion these chips into a technological suit that gave him the power to phase through solid objects and he sought revenge on his employers for the death of his lover. This character has appeared in issues of Iron Man and Spider-Man.

The trailer doesn’t offer many obvious clues as to this version of the Ghost’s motivations. However, given that Hank Pym has a history of clashing with other technological geniuses, such as Tony Stark, it wouldn’t be surprising if this Ghost has a perceived slight to avenge.

Dr. Bill Foster

This trailer also features an appearance by Dr. Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne). Like the Ghost, Dr. Foster is also imported from the comics. In fact, Foster was a contemporary of Hank Pym’s, and used Pym particles to become a superhero known as Giant-Man and later Goliath. Whether this is the route of Dr. Foster in Ant-Man and the Wasp is unclear from the trailer. His appearances are positioned near those of some sort of experimentation. While he was a biochemist and lab assistant in the comics, his role, like Ghost’s, might be expanded upon or altered as needed by the script as frequently happens in Marvel movies.

A Friendly Rivalry and Partnership

It was clear from Ant-Man that Hope wanted Pym’s shrinking technology and felt slighted when Hank didn’t offer it to her. Of course, that was some of the character growth and story of the film as they overcame the roadblocks in their relationship. Not to mention, Hope helped train Scott in hand-to-hand combat. By the end of the movie, and the post-credit scenes, Hank offered Hope her own Wasp uniform. Complicating all of this is that Hope and Scott appeared to start a romantic relationship at the end of Ant-Man. Now, as the title of the movie suggests, Wasp is ready to fight alongside Scott.

From the trailer, this team-up provides a source of friendly rivalry and comedy between Scott and Hope. For instance, the opening shots depict Ant-Man fighting alongside Captain America and his allies in Civil War. Scott has a voice over in which he asks Hope if she would have joined him if he asked. Her reply: “I’ll guess we’ll never know. But, if you had, you’d have never been caught.” Later, Scott and Hank watch hope fight a villain in her suit on a monitor. Scott notes that Hope’s uniform has wings, and his does not. Hank adds that she has blasters as well, and this is not new technology that was unavailable for Scott’s suit.

In the comics, Wasp always had a stinger and wings she could deploy upon shrinking. This is nothing new. Ant-Man and Wasp were partners and founders of the Avengers, but that was the Hank Pym Ant-Man and the Janet van Dyne Wasp. In the last movie, audiences witnessed how Janet was lost on one of the Ant-Man and the Wasp’s adventures. Although this movie has promised the return of Janet van Dyne (played by Michelle Pfeiffer no less), she does not appear in the trailer.

The Ant-Man and the Wasp Trailer Raises the Hype

Not that there was much doubt, but the trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp inflates the hype and expectations for what many fans were already expecting would be a fun and exciting film. Ant-Man succeeded by combining comedy and unique special effects. Thor: Ragnarok borrowed the comedic element (also apparent in Guardians of the Galaxy) and proved Ant-Man’s success was not a fluke. The special effects of this movie build and expand on the shrinking and enlargement effects of the prior movie with Hope and Scott racing through town while combating villains in a van that both shrinks and enlarges as the circumstances dictate, Wasp racing the edge of a thrown knife while insect size, Scott emerging from a river as a giant, and Hank Pym piloting some sort of vehicle set to shrink. The Ant-Man and the Wasp trailer has set up the movie well. It debuts on July 6, 2018.