The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been on a roll with Phase Three, and Avengers: Infinity War seemingly changed the entire shared universe as we know it. While the fans are still reeling from the devastating results of The Russo Brothers' blockbuster, there's a new MCU installment coming in a matter of weeks. Ant-Man and The Wasp will bring Paul Rudd's Scott Lang back into the narrative, while also allowing Evangeline Lilly's Hope to become a bonafide superhero herself. There's also a few newcomers in the sequel, including Laurence Fishburne's Bill Foster. Foster's been teased as Hank Pym's former colleague, but it looks like their relationship might actually be strained. CinemaBlend's Eric Eisenberg visited the Ant-Man an the Wasp set in Atlanta, where director Peyton Reed explained the complicated dynamic between Hank and Bill.
Bill's a former colleague, you know, who really was involved early on with Pym in a thing called Project Goliath. Their lives have taken these kind of divergent paths, and when we find Bill Foster in this movie, he is teaching quantum physics at Berkeley. I also liked the idea of grounding -- because the movie takes place in San Francisco and it's not just for stunts and scenery. Like, Berkeley, that's an important thing in the movie. Is that one guy has gone this, you know, they were both involved with S.H.I.E.L.D at some point, but one guy's sort of stepped away and taken a more academic approach. I liked the idea from the beginning, especially having Michael and Laurence Fishburne, [as] these guys who are sort of scientific rivals. That's really the rivalry. We always talked about sort of a Steve Jobs/Bill Gates kind of thing. Two scientists who are both geniuses in quantum physics and quantum mechanics. But maybe have a Mac/PC rivalry about what the approach to delving into the quantum realm might be. I also like the idea of with those two actors, especially with Fishburne, like, someone who's gonna actually go toe-to-toe with Michael in terms of who's the smart, who's the smartest guy in the room? That struck me as something really fun, to give Hank Pym a foil in this movie in that way.
While Bill Foster and Hank Pym are both geniuses in their own wright, it appears that they might not have the same opinion about their shared work. Hank has risked life, limb, and family in order to continue his work with subatomic physics and size-shifting technology. Meanwhile, Bill Foster has managed to settle down and live a life under the radar.
Peyton Reed's comments are sure to excite the many MCU fans who appreciated Michael Douglas' Hank Pym in Ant-Man. Overall, it seems that supporting character will have even more to do in the upcoming sequel. Aside from their daring operations and the development of Hope's high tech weaponry, Hank will presumably be dealing with a myriad of personal issues. One of these will come from Laurence Fishburne's Bill Foster, and their shared past with S.H.I.E.L.D..
The arrival of Michelle Pfeiffer's Janet van Dyne will also presumably give Hank Pym time to shine. He'll have to reflect on their failed mission, which resulted in Janet being lost in the Quantum Realm for decades. With all this Hank-focused storyline, I'm starting to worry that tragedy might strike Michael Douglas' MCU character before the runtime ends. But that's all theorizing at this point, as we know very little about Ant-Man and the Wasp.
All that will change when Ant-Man and The Wasp arrives in theaters on July 6th. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
