Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman in 1992’s Batman Returns did some very weird things to my young mind. Honestly, I was just hoping to watch a fun Dark Knight movie, but what I got was a whip-crackin’, live-bird munching Pfieffer in full skin-tight latex and stiletto heels assaulting the Caped Crusader with sexually loaded puns. Ever since then, I’ve always had a soft spot for the legendary actress, who’s become a real top tier talent and turned many heads recently in Darren Aronofsky’s excellent Mother!
So, with all that in mind, I’m obviously hugely excited to see her show up in Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man and The Wasp, which is set to crawl into theaters next month. She’ll be playing Janet van Dyne in the film, former Wasp and mother of Evangeline Lilly’s Hope van Dyne. As far as the characters know, she was last seen sacrificing her life to save millions, losing herself to the infinite and almost inescapable Quantum Realm. Now, however, she’s back, and thanks to some new character posters, we finally have a look at her.
Seen in the gallery below, Marvel’s dropped some fresh one-sheets for Reed’s sequel which place the spotlight on all the major players. Scott, Hope, Ghost, Hank…they’re all here and accounted for. But perhaps the most interesting poster is the one featuring Janet, as it’s our first real look at how she’ll appear in Ant-Man and the Wasp and teases the costume that she’ll be sporting.
We don’t yet know for sure if there are plans for more of Janet in future MCU movies beyond this one – she is a hugely important member of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the comics, though – but we’d like to think there are. After all, Sebastian Stan has already let slip that we can probably expect to see her appear in Avengers 4.
Regardless, we’re definitely excited to find out how she factors into next month’s sequel. From what we know so far about the plot, much of the film will have the titular heroes plunging into the murky depths of the Quantum Realm as part of a last-ditch attempt to retrieve Janet van Dyne (AKA the original Wasp) before it’s too late.
Doing so won’t be easy, mind you, given the Quantum Realm renders all concepts of time and space irrelevant, but Scott Lang is nothing if not determined. And we’ll see just how determined he is when Ant-Man and the Wasp glides into cinemas on July 6th (or August 3rd, if you’re in the UK).