Jonathan Majors (“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”): “Kang must know the hopes and dreams of heroes”

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ is about to hit theaters and kick off Marvel’s Phase 5. The third chapter of the tiny superhero will be the company’s thirty-first film, which will also narrate some events that will significantly influence the future of the saga. To celebrate the upcoming release, the film crew met at a press conference to detail some aspects of what fans can expect from her and her characters.

“The Ant-Man movies have always really been about family. It’s a generational story about a family of heroes. Scott Lang, who’s not a billionaire or a super scientist or anything like that and gets sucked into this world, and Hope van Dyne, who is the heiress daughter of two superheroes, Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer. We have this generational theme now with young Cassie Lang, who is probably the biggest motivator for Scott, who wants to spend time with his daughter. He wants to be a hero of course. He’s an Avenger, but really it’s about balancing work and personal life, making time with his daughter. Is the most important thing”explains Peyton Reed, the film’s director. “In Quantumania, one of the things we’ve done is expand that story and start talking about the secrets family members keep from each other, the things that aren’t told.”adds the director.

Scott, the hero of the road

The film’s protagonist, Scott Lang, is once again played by Paul Rudd. The famous actor wanted to retrace the path that his superhero had to go through over the years. “He’s grown a lot in the nine or so years we’ve been making these films. I mean, he’s a guy who had a ‘normal’ job when he started. And he was brought into this group of heroes without having any innate super abilities, but he came together and fought Thanos. He’s experienced some things and he’s accepting who he is.”Rudd says.

“What I like most about him is that he’s a normal guy who has his reservations about all of this. He’s just a father. I love that he’s part of this group of cool people and superheroes, but that he’d be the first to say, “What the hell am I doing here? That does not make sense”. He’s a real person. And as an actor you want to play someone you can empathize with and hopefully understand. Someone who understands what he’s going through. I like that. And I like playing the look of the father.”the actor also says. “His human quality is what I like most of all. Unlike his cyborg part, which is the part I don’t like about him”joke. “No, there’s really nothing I don’t like about the character. I like the guy. Yeah. I mean, I’m too biased, I guess, but that’s it.”concludes.

The quantum world and its possibilities

Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios and brains of the entire ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe’, dared at the press conference to explain one of the most complex concepts of the entire saga, the quantum world. “We first saw this in the first ‘Ant-Man’ movie, and I was recently reminded that this was an idea Paul had early on, before we started shooting the first episode”reveals. “Things work very differently on a quantum level and Paul was talking about how much storytelling and imagination and fun we could have there. The first Ant-Man movie was mostly about learning about the characters and their origin story, of course, but we eventually taught, and that’s what led to ‘Avengers: Endgame’. It’s a place on a subatomic level, where space and time act differently, and which allowed us to travel back in time at the suggestion of Scott Lang in ‘Endgame’. It also allowed us to have all of this quantum madness in this movie where we get to a place where only Janet has been before. There’s a whole universe under the surface where we meet all kinds of funny and crazy characters.”sums up Feige.

For his part, Reed confesses how they built it, citing references such as “The Wizard of Oz”, “Flash Gordon” or “Barbarella”. “We looked at everything from electron microscope photography to heavy metal magazines from the 70s and 80s. We wanted to have it all like this”says the director. “We put together a team of artists to say we were creating the Quantum Realm. None of the other Marvel movies really tackled that, and I wanted to create this very vivid world that has its own story and internal logic, the creatures and the people there, like traveling… What are the laws of physics there? All these things needed to be fixed. Together with Will Htay, our production designer, we gathered this crazy group of visual artists and told them to bring only the most fantastic ideas to the table to understand what this could look like. Because we wanted to take these characters that audiences have come to know and send them on a journey through these strange lands and have fun. It was a part of the MCU that we were free to create on our own, and it was very exciting.”enchanted sentence.

Kang, the new big bad

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania presents what will be the great villain of the Multiverse Saga, Kang the Conqueror. “Who is Kang? I think that’s a question we’re all going to be trying to answer for a long time. The quick answer is that Kang is a traveling super villain of the traveller. Furthermore, he is also a nexus being, which leads to the idea of ​​variants. There are different versions of Kang, variants, occupying different universes, multiverses and having different intentions. They are different beings, yet something we still are and I’m still working on and continue to refine and refine is that there is a point of unity between them. And that, to me, is the Kang gene.”exposes Jonathan Majors, the actor who gives him life.

“We wanted to start Phase 4 by introducing lots of new characters and new heroes to our world. Now we want to kick off Phase 5 with a third movie of characters who were already loved – because this team is – and use them to talk about family, vulnerability and their ability to react. And who better than this family to take on the greatest villain the MCU has ever faced.”points to Feige when explaining why this was the ideal film to introduce Kang.

And then we learn over the course of the film that Janet has not only dealt with it before, but has dealt with it for decades. ‘original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne We can’t see her face because she’s wearing a mask. It’s always been our dream that one day we could make another movie and have Michelle Pfeiffer play that character. Then we got to savor it a little more, in “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” Now with this movie, there’s a big part of this movie where Peyton and the writers hand the movie over to Michelle, and that’s great. I keep thinking about those early scenes from the first one where this was just a dream and a possibility. So all these characters, these incredible actors, we believed we could use them for audiences to meet someone as complex and terrifying and multiversal as Kang.”also reflects the manufacturer.

Later in the press conference, Majors also revealed how he prepared for such a complex role. “Preparation really boils down to who is my director and who is my hero. Because as villains, we follow our heroes. In this case, I had several to watch and understand, which is the fun part. I look at them and realize that you can’t make enemies of someone if you don’t know who they are, if you don’t know what their opposite is. If you don’t know what their hopes and dreams are. My goal is to do that. To be the antagonist and get what I need to make my life, my dream come true. So, in “Loki”, I dealt with Tom [Hiddleston]. It was great. The Remainer and Tom. I had to watch it for a long time. This opportunity came to me during the lockdown, so I studied Tom Hiddleston many hours a day. And then when I finished, I was like, “Okay, Paul Rudd, it’s your turn.” I studied him and studied him, and I studied all of his heroic colleagues and compatriots of his. Then you talk to your director and even your producers, because there’s a culture to that.”says the interpreter.

“Okay, he’s an ordinary man. There’s a line One Who Remains says that goes like this: ‘I’m just made of flesh and blood.’ Kang has to relate to him as a man first. As a human being. He relates to all of them like a human being. That’s when we can fight, when I can get him to do what I need him to do.”complete Majors, whose work has been highly praised by critics.

secondary luxury

Two of the other great characters in the film are, on the one hand, Hope, and on the other, Cassie. In the case of The Wasp, its actress Evangeline Lilly is totally willing to make the leap to a solo production. “That’s a great question. I think it’s the most important question of the day. And I’m going to delegate this question to the man behind me. Kevin.”the interpreter refers to the CEO of Marvel Studios. “The opportunities within the MCU are endless, just as they are in the multiverse. We’ll have to see what happens in the future.” he answers. “Just for the record, if the opportunity arises, I’m completely up and ready to do it.”clarifies.

As for young Cassie, the character is played by Kathryn Newton, making her franchise debut. “‘Iron Man’ was the first MCU movie I ever saw. I was like eight years old. Ever since I first saw a Marvel movie, I’ve always wanted to be a superhero. And anyone who knows me knows how I was in high school, I was particularly intense. I really wanted to be a part of it, because he made me dream. I went to the movies with my dad and I just wanted to be a superhero. It’s funny because I told myself I was going to be Marvel’s greatest superhero. It’s ironic because Cassie Lang can grow up to 40 feet tall.”says Newton with a laugh.

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantummania’ Preview in theaters February 17.