Ant-Man and The Wasp is shaping up to be a hit based on early tracking data and those screening reactions but there's still an awful lot we don't know about the sequel. That's no bad thing, of course, but some new character bios have now been released which shed some light on Ghost's motivations, Bill Foster's history with Hank Pym, who exactly Sonny Burch is, and a whole lot more besides.
There's fresh intel on the rest of the characters set to appear in the sequel too and while some of this is a little spoilery, there's nothing here which will ruin the movie for you, so don't worry about that!
These all make for interesting reading and include comments from the likes of Paul Rudd, Kevin Feige, Peyton Reed, and many more. So, to check these out, simply click on the "View List" button below.
Scott Lang/Ant-Man
After his exploits with the Avengers in “Captain America: Civil War,” Scott Lang, the good-hearted ex-con, finds himself under house arrest. But when he faces the decision to once again don the Ant-Man suit, Scott is conflicted, as he is struggling to find a way to get his life back on track and be the best possible father to Cassie that he can be.
When it came to stepping back into the shoes of the reluctant Super Hero facing the unimaginable, Paul Rudd says he took on a singular approach. "One of the things that I really like about playing this character is that Scott is thrown into these extraordinary circumstances of shrinking and flying around on ants and dealing with life-threatening situations," he explains. "I’ve always tried to sustain his way of dealing with everything with a sense of humor and a carefree attitude. I think it gives an audience a fun ride to see somebody like Scott Lang take in all of this craziness. So, for me, that’s fun to play."
Hope Van Dyne/The Wasp
Now a fugitive with her father, Hank, the brilliant scientist has used her time in hiding to master her new role as The Wasp, but she isn’t quite ready to team up with Scott for their most important mission ever. But reuniting her family depends on it, so she is forced to seek his help.
"The relationship between Hope and Scott in ‘Ant-Man’ was really straightforward, and as an actress I always knew very clearly where things stood," Evangeline Lilly explains. "Hope couldn’t stand him for the majority of the film and then eventually realized he’s okay. ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp’ is a bit complicated, and a lot more challenging to know how exactly to hit the tone of their relationship. Hope just lives to be The Wasp but definitely harbors feelings of anger, hurt and resentment when Scott made the choice to go to Berlin without her. That’s the hardest thing for her to swallow, but she’s got this mission and she’s really focused on her mother, so the stakes are so high."
Dr. Hank Pym
As the original tiny Super Hero, inventor of the Pym Particle and founder of Pym Technologies, Hank Pym, now a fugitive with Hope, faces his most important mission ever as he confronts the repercussions of his past while trying to protect the future of his family.
"Hank and Hope have grown a lot closer since the first film," explains Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. "The adventure they went on, the catharsis that they experienced, has them in a much better place. Hope now wears The Wasp suit and is a hero in her own right. Hank has that joy of fatherhood seeing his daughter become this amazing hero. But at the same time, he now believes that he can find his wife in the Quantum Realm and has become obsessed with that and begins to invent new tech to try to contact her in the Quantum Realm."
Janet Van Dyne
Janet van Dyne is the original Wasp to Hank’s Ant-Man. An accomplished scientist in her own right, she saved millions of lives by disarming a missile bound for the United States. But in the process, she became lost in the Quantum Realm—a subatomic world beyond our own. Now her family believes they just might be able to bring her home.
Michelle Pfeiffer was drawn to the strong character and the opportunity to play a Marvel Super Hero in Ant-Man and The Wasp, and says: "I wasn’t familiar with Janet van Dyne before this and I loved that she’s such a seminal character in the Marvel comic-book world and that she was one of the founding members of the Avengers." She adds, "I love that at this phase in my life I’m playing a superhero. I think it’s incredible. And the message that it sends to women of all ages and all demographics is that we’re strong and we’re independent and we’re capable, and vital parts of society. I love sending that message out in the universe."
The X-Con Security Crew
Michael Peña (Luis)
David Dastmalchian (Kurt)
"The Three Wombats," as Hank inelegantly dubbed the trio of petty criminals who are Scott Lang’s friends, provided some of the more hilarious and memorable moments in Ant-Man, but their escapades with Ant-Man left an indelible impression, showing them they too could be heroes. Even with the cards stacked against them, this story finds the career criminals continuing to find their footing as upright, law-abiding citizens of the world. "In the course of the Pym tech heist in the first movie, these guys have started to learn what it feels like to be heroes," notes director Peyton Reed. "And what does that mean for them now? So a big part of the movie is what these guys are doing, and what their lives look like now as they’re living on the up and up. They’re still a part of Scott’s life."
Scott Lang's Family
Judy Greer (Maggie)
Bobby Cannavale (Jim Paxton)
Abby Ryder Fortson (Cassie)
For Scott’s immediate family, his relationship with his daughter, Cassie, is flourishing despite the house arrest. The tension with his ex-wife, Maggie, and her husband, Paxton, has mellowed since “Ant-Man.” The revelation that he is in fact a Super Hero has mitigated the resentment and distrust, and despite being homebound, Scott makes a tremendous effort to be a good father to Cassie. But, as always, circumstances force Scott, and even Cassie, to hide secrets, which provide more lovable comedic moments in the film.
Maggie is once again played by the incomparably funny and talented Judy Greer, while the multifaceted Bobby Cannavale returns to the role of Jim Paxton, Maggie’s husband and a police officer, who has newfound respect for Scott. As Rudd explains it, "We have a very highly functioning family within all of this dysfunction. Maggie and Paxton provide some great comic relief in the film. There’s really a wacky, unconventional family dynamic that is interesting to me, and it’s something that you don’t see much in superhero movies. I think that the fun that Bobby, Judy and I have on set translates onto the screen."
Ava/Ghost
This elusive foe poses the biggest threat to Hank and Hope as they try to unravel the truth from their past, but when Scott joins inhe, too, becomes a target. Her reasons are personal, and Hank’s newest piece of technology is at the heart of it all.
Describing Ghost’s goal, Feige says, "As Hank continues to develop the technology to find Janet, Ava realizes that those new devices might be able to help her and put her out of this pain and make her tangible once again. That, of course, puts her in direct conflict with Hank, Ant-Man and The Wasp." Producer Stephen Broussard adds: "We have a villain that doesn’t want to take over the world, or get rich or do anything that has these world stakes. It’s literally about survival that makes her a villain, and the complication is that she needs what our heroes need. So suddenly you have heroes and villains after the same thing for very grounded, relatable and emotional reasons."
Bill Foster
Bill Foster is a former colleague of Hank and Janet’s who reluctantly becomes embroiled in Hank’s plan to reunite his family. Old animosities bubble up between the two scientists, whose approaches to their mutual research have led them down different paths.
"What initially excited me about the role of Bill Foster is that he is a scientist in his own right, a contemporary of Hank Pym’s with the same level of smarts and curiosity," explains Laurence Fishburne. "The fact that I’d be playing scenes with Michael Douglas and be a foil to him was a big factor. I’ve never worked with him before, so who in their right mind would walk away from that?"
Sonny Burch
Sonny Burch is a genteel but menacing gangster who dabbles in black-market tech. He has his sights set on controlling Hank’s newest piece of technology—and the billions of dollars it will bring him.
Walton Goggins joins the cast to play the gangster Sonny Burch. For an actor with the versatility to play comedy, drama and sometimes a hybrid of both, Goggins was looking forward to mixing it up with Reed and the cast. "When Peyton first told me about the role, I was excited about what he had to say since I was such a fan of the first movie," says Goggins. "To me it was a real opportunity to kind of play in the sandbox with a group of people with some extraordinary imaginations."
Jimmy Woo
FBI Agent Jimmy Woo is Scott Lang’s watchful keeper and heads up the team monitoring Scott to make sure he stays within the parameters of his house arrest.
Randall Park, who plays FBI Agent Jimmy Woo, collected comic books when he was growing up, so being part of Ant-Man and The Wasp is not just work for him, it’s fun as well. He recalls, "My favorite comics were the ‘X-Men’ and ‘Wolverine.’ I think that’s kind of what nabbed me, and I got into a lot of the Marvel titles from there on out."