There’s a lot of excitement around Ant-Man 3, since the Marvel movie is going to explore the Quantum Realm as well as introducing Kang the Conqueror good and proper. However, one thing you shouldn’t expect is a particular Marvel villain from the previous instalment.
Speaking to Legado Da Marvel, Peyton Reed, director of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, says this film’s got a different focus. “You may have to wait a little bit longer,” Reed says when asked about one of the antagonists from Ant-Man and the Wasp. “I love Sonny Burch, I love Walton Goggins, who I cast in the movie. He was definitely working in service of someone, I don’t know that we’ll answer that in this movie.”
He goes on to say that so much of the plot is Quantum Realm-focused, not leaving much room for threads that exist outside that dimension. Which is fair enough, because MCU movies can definitely seem over-stuffed at times, and it’s better to do one a couple of things great than a bunch of things poorly.
Reed encourages fans to have theories about what’s going on. When we saw Sonny, he was trying to swindle the Wasp and Ant-Man in a transaction for some rare parts, before Ghost comes in and disrupts everything.
We haven’t seen him since, and although Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania would’ve made a grand re-entry point, there’s plenty of opportunity in the franchise these days. Marvel series, and specials like Werewolf By Night, offer other ways to indulge MCU characters without having to shoehorn them into the science fiction movies.
Quantumania stars Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly as the titular heroes, with Jonathan Majors as Kang, Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang, and Randall Park returning as Jimmy Woo. MODOK is going to show up too.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is in theatres February 17, 2023. Have a look at our guides to The Marvels, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3, and Marvel’s Phase 5 for what else is coming up.