The movies of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have played around with the timeline in recent years, and we’re not talking about Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s weird timing malfunction. Films like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Black Panther have taken place earlier on in the Marvel story than when they were released. The latest to do this is Ant-Man and the Wasp, which won’t follow the events of Avengers: Infinity War but will pick up Scott Lang’s tale after what happens to him in Captain America: Civil War.
It’s all a little bit confusing, but an exec producer on the movie cleared up exactly where Ant-Man 2 falls in the MCU timeline when they spoke with Collider during a recent set visit. EP Stephen Broussard explained that Paul Rudd’s shrinking hero will be suffering from the consequences of siding with Team Cap’s band of rogue heroes during the conflict over the Sokovia Accords, which has left him in trouble with the law – again!
“Ant-Man and the Wasp, the last time we saw Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) was in Civil War. He had gotten wrapped up in his adventure with Captain America, and where that film left off, you might recall he was put in a secret underwater prison and the film indicated that he had been broken out at the end. So our film would sort of pick up after that.
And the sort of in-between story that we’re telling, the backstory that would assume when this movie starts would be that Scott, being a family man, well established in the first film, and sort of feeling like he got in over his head in this adventure during Civil War, basically said, ‘Not for me. No thanks, I don’t want to go on this adventure,’ went and sort of plead down a plea bargain out of this misunderstanding he got himself in. And as a part of the terms of that, was basically put under house arrest.”
This gels with a brief line said by Black Widow in Infinity War which explained that Hawkeye and Ant-Man weren’t around to help as they were still under house arrest. Broussard went on to say that this is where we find Scott when Ant-Man and the Wasp begins. Apparently, he’s got just a few hours to sit still and then he’ll have his freedom back. However, trouble soon rears its head and complicates things…
“He has an ankle bracelet, he can’t leave his apartment, he’s living with Luis (Michael Peña) and he’s just trying to stay on the straight and narrow for these last few hours and then it’s all, he’ll be a free man, right? Free to live his life, to be a father to his daughter but of course, you wouldn’t have a movie if something didn’t come crashing down, and this adventure sort of coming barreling into it … And it just kind of feels like, it started so simple, but then it kind of just goes up and up and up and you have a character trying to race to put it all back in the box before they get caught kind of thing. The circumstances of that house arrest gave us a great framework for that.”
Where did Civil War leave Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne, though? Broussard revealed that they were affected by the Sokovia Accords, too, as government officials requested that Pym give up his valuable shrinking tech. Not wanting to do that – having once left S.H.I.E.L.D. for that very reason – Hank and his daughter go on the run.
“And in fact that whole building, because Hank and Hope, part of their backstory in this is that they’re on the run as well. Like post Sokovia Accords, someone knocked on their door and was like, ‘You’ve got to sign this contract, you’ve got to be under the Accords because you’re currently in violation of this thing we put in place in Captain America: Civil War.’ Hank Pym being Hank Pym, who never wanted Stark to have his technology said, ‘Thanks but no thanks,’ and sort of had to go underground a little bit.”
Lastly, Collider recorded the response Broussard gave when someone outright asked him to confirm if Ant-Man 2 was set during a single day and whether it will lead into Infinity War. The producer stated that the movie’s timeframe lasts longer than 24 hours and teased that the sequel will play with what happens in Joe and Anthony Russo’s film a little.
“It’s a little bit more than one day. But it’s kind of influenced by that. It’s a finite period of time, you know? Where it falls in the timeline, I kind of don’t want to say too much yet because it’s – I don’t know, just kind of like – I’d rather the movies be sequenced as they come out kind of thing. But we play with that a little bit.”
Ant-Man and the Wasp flies into theaters on July 6th.