It looks like Marvel has another hit on its hands with Ant-Man and The Wasp. Okay, it was never a question of whether it was going to be a hit at the box office but rather the scale of how much money it was going to make. Like the first Ant-Man film, Ant-Man and The Wasp had to follow an Avengers film and there was no other blockbuster like this year’s Avengers: Infinity War. It must’ve been a relief for Marvel to see Ant-Man’s second outing taking in a healthy $76 million over the weekend.
While it may not have been a question if Ant-Man and The Wasp was going to be successful, I did walk out of watching the film with a bunch of questions regarding the plot. And, no, I’m not going to talk about the deus ex machina finale involving Ghost and Janet Van Dyne because everyone’s already talked about it and it is rather lazy writing. What I’d like to talk about are the rather unimportant questions that popped into my head while watching Ant-Man and The Wasp. So, without further ado, here are five inconsequential questions I have after watching Ant-Man and The Wasp.
Oh, and since I will be diving straight into the plot of the film, there are going to be SPOILERS galore! Not just for Ant-Man and The Wasp… but for other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! That’s interconnected films for ya! You have been warned!
1. Where was Ghost prior to the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier?
Okay, let’s backtrack through the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s timeline a little bit. Specifically, let’s go revisit the events of Captain Americia: The Winter Solider. In the film, Captain America realizes that something is up with with SHIELD, the agency he’s working for. Through a little investigative work and with the help of Black Widow, Captain America finds out that HYDRA has already infiltrated and taken over SHIELD. The duo and the remaining good guys from SHIELD like Falcon, Nick Fury and Maria Hill manage to foil HYDRA’s plans.
Now, in Ant-Man and The Wasp, it’s revealed that Ghost got her abilities to phase through solid objects thanks to an accident caused by her father, a former SHIELD scientist who worked with Hank Pym and Bill Foster. SHIELD takes her in and, in the plot borrowed from Fant4stic, tell Ghost that they will find a cure for her but she will have to do a little espionage and assassination work for them in trade. Essentially, Ghost becomes a black ops member for SHIELD. This leads us to the events of Captain America: The Winter Solider and, with SHIELD officially disbanded, Bill Foster takes her in and they try to find a cure for her.
So, here’s my question: where was Ghost prior to SHIELD’s disbandment? I mean, why didn’t SHIELD have her join the Avengers and help out when the Chitauri and Loki invaded New York? Why didn’t you send her out to capture Captain America and Black Widow during the events of The Winter Soldier as she would’ve been perfect for the job? I get that they only put her in the Marvel Cinematic Universe during Ant-Man and The Wasp, but telling us that she’s been a SHIELD/HYDRA operative all this time raises so many questions!
Speaking of events that happened in Captain America films…
2. When did Scott Lang make the deal with the government?
From Captain America: The Winter Soldier, let’s jump to its sequel, Captain America: Civil War. After the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron and a botched mission by the Avengers, the Sokovia Accords is passed, which leads to the Avengers becoming regulated by the UN. This divides the team, with Iron Man in favor for this as this will keep them in check while Captain America votes against this as he believes that he will be a better judge of what’s right than a bunch of politicians who have their own agenda.
This leads to Captain America and his team, which includes Ant-Man/Scott Lang to face off against Iron Man’s new Avengers in an airport in Germany in a delicious battle for the ages. In the aftermath of the battle, most of Captain America’s team is captured, including Scott Lang. They’re all imprisoned on The Raft, a prison specially designed for super powered individuals. In the end of Civil War, it’s strongly hinted that Cap managed to infiltrate The Raft and release all of his comrades.
But, apparently, he didn’t. In Infinity War, they do mention that both Scott Lang and Clint Barton/Hawkeye had made deals with the government to be under house arrest instead. We even see Scott Lang enjoying his house arrest at the start of Ant-Man and The Wasp. So, when the heck did they make this deal? I mean, in Infinity War, we see Wanda/Scarlet Witch walking around with Vision in Scotland but it is mentioned that she’s a fugitive. Falcon is also out running with Captain America so they’re on the run as well. So, are you telling me that both Ant-Man and Hawkeye saw that Cap was going to break them out and said, “Nah, we’re cool. We already made a deal with the government”? Or did they escape and then promptly got caught and, instead of being sent back to The Raft, they were sentenced to house arrest… after escaping from a nearly escapable prison? Honestly, this feels more like a retcon than anything else!
Oh, and speaking of being on the run…
3. Are Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne still fugitives?
Once again, let’s talk about Civil War. Thanks to Ant-Man’s participation in the awesome airport battle, both Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne are labeled as wanted as co-conspirators. This is because the father and daughter team are responsible for the size-changing suit that Scott Lang possesses. In the end of Ant-Man and The Wasp, Scott Lang manages to dupe Agent Woo into believing he’s been at dutifully serving out his sentence at home and is finally free at the end.
So, Ant-Man is a free man again. But what about Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne? I can’t really see why they would be exonerated or anything like that in the film because all they were doing was working in a building so that they can track down Janet Van Dyne in the Quantum Realm. Heck, in the end, they all escape. Yet, they all seem very relaxed during the closing moments of the film.
We see Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne settling down in a beachfront home. We also see Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne, along with Scott’s daughter, just watching a movie. Granted, they’re watching them are tiny people but this does mean that Scott and Hope had to be in the same place and I would assume the FBI would still have Scott under surveillance. In fact, in the end of the film, you see Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, Hope Van Dyne and Scott Lang all in one place in the first after-credits scene before the first three people mentioned got snapped out of existence due to Thanos snapping his fingers in Infinity War! They seem pretty confident that they won’t get caught if they’re still fugitives from the law, huh?
Speaking of the building Hank and Hope were working in…
4. How the heck are they keeping the lights on in that place?
In the end of the first Ant-Man, Hank Pym realizes that there is a chance that his wife, Janet, may still be alive in the Quantum Realm since Scott managed to survive and return. Although they are in hiding, it’s easy to evade the law since they do have the technology to shrink stuff. That still doesn’t stop me from asking Question #3, by the way! Anyway, the tech to shrink and enlarge stuff comes in handy as their laboratory where they house the machine that will enable them to enter the Quantum Realm is technically portable and can made regular size almost instantaneously.
Talk about a mobile home!
That’s incredible handy and cool but how the heck do they power it? Remember, they have a lab in there that must suck up a good amount of juice, yet I don’t see them hooking it up to any power cables any time they enlarge it. I guess they could have something like Iron Man’s arc reactor build in it but I don’t think that’s something Hank Pym would do, considering his disdain for the Stark family. So, how the heck do they keep the lights on? Do they use something like regular AA batteries but become gigantic enough that it can power a building? Also, is everything inside still powered up even when it’s small? Isn’t that a waste of energy?
Speaking of the end of the first Ant-Man movie…
5. What happened to the “messed up looking dog” in the first film?
This may be a really minor thing to be asking but it has some potentially heartbreaking ramifications. During the final battle in Ant-Man, Ant-Man and Yellowjacket accidentally enlarge one of the ants that were in the battle with a really funny result…
Thankfully, the ant survived until the very end. In fact, Cassie, Scott Lang’s daughter apparently has taken a liking to the “messed up looking dog” as you can clearly see her feeding it during the closing moments of the film. It was a pretty feel good moment, in my opinion.
In the trailers for Ant-Man and The Wasp, it seemed as if we would see the “messed up looking dog” once again as there is a scene with a giant ant playing the drums. But, when I saw it, I thought something was strange with it. For one, the color is all wrong as the trailer had a red ant instead of a black ant. Also, the size was off. Since they did mistake the ant for a dog, then I’m assuming the ant in the first Ant-Man film was dog-sized. The ant in the Ant-Man and The Wasp trailer was much larger as it was big enough to play human sized drums.
Play that funky music, ant boy!
After watching the movie, my fears were confirmed. This was a totally different ant. The ant in Ant-Man and The Wasp was trained to mimic Scott Lang’s daily patterns so Hank and Hope can get him out of the house. It is not the same ant from the first Ant-Man film. So, what happened to the “messed up looking dog” from the first film? Don’t tell me he’s in that great anthill in the sky? *sniff*
BONUS: Why is Judy Greer hot?
Look, she’s in the movie as Scott Lang’s ex-wife. She hardly had anything to do. They can try to hide it all they like but I know the truth: Judy Greer is hot.
I know Evangeline Lilly’s pretty as well, but don’t sleep on Judy Greer’s hotness! Just sayin’.
Have you any questions after watching Ant-Man and The Wasp? What are they? Let me know in the comments section below!
3rd World Geeks 