It’s a testament to the Marvel brand that a character like Ant-Man not only received his own successful film franchise, but also played what is arguably the most important role in the highest-grossing movie of all time. Had fate not intervened and Scott Lang remained stuck in the Quantum Realm, it’s likely that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes never would have been able to defeat Thanos and beloved characters like Spider-Man and Black Panther would’ve remained dead.
So, how does Marvel plan on repaying such a pivotal hero? Apparently, by shelving him for a while.
Sources – the same ones who confirmed Taskmaster as the villain of Black Widow months ago, among many other scoops – have told We Got This Covered that Marvel won’t be moving forward with an Ant-Man 3 anytime in the near future, nor is Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) or Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) likely to pop up at all until the next Avengers film, whenever that may be.
We know that an Avengers 5 – likely to be called New Avengers – is happening, but Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has said it’ll be a much different version of the team than what we’ve seen before. Since the entire fourth phase was revealed earlier this month at San Diego Comic-Con, it’s entirely possible that a fifth Avengers won’t happen until the end of Phase 5. When it does, though, it’s expected that Scott and Hope will be part of the New Avengers line-up, alongside Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Shang-Chi, Blade and more.
While the Ant-Man films aren’t exactly the most bankable movies in the MCU, they’re not even close to flops – as if a Marvel pic could even flop at this point. Rudd has revealed though that fans who want to see another solo Scott Lang flick would need to start their own social media campaign, because Disney isn’t really in any rush to knock another one out.
Until we know for sure what the character’s prospects holds, Ant-Man fans will just have to settle for his extended role in Avengers: Endgame, available now for digital download and coming to Blu-ray shelves on August 13th.