Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicks off the MCU’s Phase 5. During the press conference, the cast discusses where we find the characters in this film, bringing in newcomers, and of course — Kang the Conqueror.

Participating Talent:

  • Paul Rudd (“Scott Lang/Ant-Man”)
  • Evangeline Lilly (“Hope Van Dyne/Wasp”)
  • Jonathan Majors “(Kang the Conqueror”)
  • Kathryn Newton (“Cassie Lang”)
  • Michelle Pfeiffer (“Janet Van Dyne/Wasp”)
  • Moderator: Randall Park

How Is Scott Feeling About Being A Superhero?

The first Ant-Man film was in 2015, and Scott Lang seemed to be thrust into the world of superheroes. He has been through a lot since then, and actor Paul Rudd explains how he is feeling about it now.

Rudd says that Scott’s main focus is being a dad, after losing so much of his time with Cassie. “He always had kind of a love-hate relationship with [being a superhero], but now I feel as if he’s accepted it. He is happy that all of that seems to be in the rearview mirror, and now we get to have kind of a normal life, have some time together. It doesn’t last, obviously, as long as maybe he thought it would.”

He talks about how Scott has grown a lot over the course of these last nine years. “He’s experienced a thing or two, and he’s accepted who he is. When we start this movie, it’s kind of present day. The events of Endgame, everything has already transpired. I wouldn’t say he’s taking a victory lap, but others might say that. And he’s written a book, a memoir – Look Out For The Little Guy — and he’s explained everything that’s been going on in life and his experiences with the Avengers, but now he is ready to have some time to be a normal dad.”

How Has Hope Van Dyne Changed?

Evangeline Lilly shines a light on how she thinks that her character, Hope van Dyne, has evolved since audiences first met her. “Hope started the first Ant-Man film a very cold, detached, very isolated woman. She had a lot of broken relationships in her life, and over the course of these three films, I’ve had this incredible arc to be able to play where she has, in that time, repaired her relationship with her father. She’s reunited with her long-lost mother. She’s fallen madly in love with Scott, and she’s become a stepmom to Cassie. And so her life is just full of relationship, and it’s full of love, and she is really like a blossomed version of the woman that we met, and you see that in the work that she’s doing in the world.”

Lilly goes on to say that Hope is thriving and taking that love and spreading it around the world by trying to do right and fix issues like global warming and the housing crises. “She’s doing it with success. And there’s this little hiccup. There’s this little missing piece, which is that she had always fantasized about her mom coming home one day. And I think ‘cause that fantasy started when she was 8 years old, it was, like, we’re gonna be best friends, and she’s gonna tell me everything, and we’re just gonna be so close. And then she really keeps Hope on the outside, and that’s a wound that is festering at the beginning of the film.”

Where Is Janet In All Of This?

Michelle Pfeiffer’s character Janet van Dyne, has only recently returned from the Quantum Realm. She was trapped their for 30 years before her family saved her, but she is cautious about sharing her experiences down there with them.

Pfeiffer explains where she is at this time in her life, and in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. “After finally being rescued from the Quantum Realm after 30 years and reunited with her lovely husband Hank and daughter Hope, she is just savoring this time together and quite, decidedly so, secretive about her time down there. Not really wanting to get into that until, of course, we all find ourselves down in the parallel universe and parallel world. And she is forced to come forth with the truth and in a place where she had hoped she would never see again. 30 years is a long time. People have needs. And let’s not be judgmental. And so, I think there are a lot of surprises for the family.”

She laughs as she says that some of her choices were questionable, but at least she has a very forgiving family. “Her story is very much a part of the whole family secrets theme that runs through the film.”

Jonathan Majors On Kang The Conqueror

Kang the Conqueror is just one of the many variants of the character that Jonathan Majors plays. Fans will recall we first saw him in Loki as He Who Remains. So what is it like to play so many different versions of the same person, and how does Majors approach playing them?

Majors asks the question, “Who is Kang?” before answering it himself, “I think the quick answer to that is Kang is a time-traveling supervillain. Who is also a nexus being. Which leads to this idea of variants. There’s multiple versions of Kang. Versions being variants. They occupy different universes, multi-verses, they have different intentions. They are all different beings, and yet something that we’re still and I’m still working on and continue to refine and refine and refine to something as a throughline between them. And that, to me, is the Kang gene.”

Specific to Kang the Conqueror, Majors says he has some issues with some of the other variants, and he’s not happy about it. When he was in the Quantum Realm, he met Janet, and for the rest of the story, you will have to watch Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

In regards to finding the right approach to playing Kang and his variants, Majors explains that it feels like joining the Shakespearean troops back in the day. “The culture of the play and the story is all there, but it’s really changing. And so, for that, you really have to be very clear about what it is you’re doing and who your character is, the spine of the character, what he’s about, what she’s about, what they’re going after. So, you built that. And the rest of it, you just play hard. At least that was my take. Play hard, and if we turn left, you turn it left.”

Majors confesses that prepping for the role came with a lot of studying. “In Loki, I’m dealing with Tom. He Who Remains and Tom. This opportunity came to me in lockdown. And so I studied Tom Hiddleston for hours a day. And then when that was done, I went, ‘Okay, Paul Rudd, you’re up.’ And I studied him, and I studied him, and I studied all his hero colleagues and co-patriots.” He adds that it is also important to talk to the director and producers to learn what they are looking for. “That’s the approach. Same as all the other pieces of the people I’m blessed enough to play. Kang is just different in so far that he lives in a very different world.”

Kathryn Newton On Playing Cassie

Kathryn Newton plays Cassie Lang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Fans will get to see her suit up and kick some butt, and when asked what it was like to join the MCU, she references a conversation she recently had with Victoria Alonso, President of Physical, Post Production, VFX and Animation at Marvel Studios.

After she was asked what the first Marvel movie she saw was by Alonso, Newton answered, “Iron Man. I was probably like eight. So since then, since the first time, I saw a Marvel movie, I have always wanted to be a Marvel superhero, and anyone who knows me from high school, it was probably like my superlative in the yearbook. I really wanted to be part of this, because it made me dream. I went with my dad to the theaters, and I just wanted to be a superhero. And it’s funny, because I told myself that I always wanted to be the biggest Marvel superhero of all time. And I think it’s ironic that Cassie Lang grows 40 feet. So I’m proof that your dreams come true, ’cause mine did.”

Check out the cast in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania when it hits theaters on February 17th.

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Tessa Smith

Tessa Smith AKA Mama's Geeky, is a journalist that covers geek and Disney culture on her own website, as well as freelances for other sites such as What's On Disney Plus and Screen Rant. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Marketing and loves all things geeky. She is a Disney Vacation Club member and a Founders Circle Member of Disney+. She is also an approved critic for Rotten Tomatoes and a member of the Critics Choice Association. Tessa lives in Upstate New York with her husband, two daughters, and two dogs named Sansa and Khaleesi.

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