Kevin Feige Explains How They Planned ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp’ Alongside ‘Infinity War,’ the Disney Streaming Service and More [Interview]

When a Marvel Studios movie is set to hit theaters, we often times get the opportunity to sit down in a room with the man responsible for it all and ask him anything we want about that film and the future of the company. With Ant-Man and The Wasp, it was strangely different than past conversations with Kevin Feige, as the whole Marvel Universe is in flux following the events of Avengers: Infinity War and this Ant-Man sequel is one of the most standalone stories Marvel has created to date. There is a reason Marvel isn’t having a presentation at Comic-Con this year – there isn’t much to reveal at this time as it all hinges on the next couple films.

Our conversation began with us talking about Taika Waititi‘s production office decor of E.T., and continued on through Star Wars rumors, the Quantum Realm, de-aging technology and the idea of using it for prequels, how Marvel planned Ant-Man and the Wasp alongside Infinity War, the possibility of Doctor Strange in Spider-Man: Far From Home, how they plan on marketing the Spider-Man sequel before the release of Avengers 4, how involved with Feige be with the Disney Streaming service, designing sets with theme park adaptations in mind, playing with audiences expectations, and how they shot that after credits scene.

[Note: Peter walks into the room wearing a t-shirt with the above image]

Hey.  How’s it going, Kevin?

Greatest shirt ever.  

Thank you.

You know, Taika has that, has a poster that he carries with him in every production office he goes to.

Really?  I did not know that.

I hadn’t seen it for probably 30 years until he had that.  It was on his office door on Ragnarok.  It was that colored poster.  ‘Cause it came with an album or something.  He did an album.

Yeah, that was where it came out, yeah. It’s cool that you know that.

Before I get to Marvel, I have to ask you one question about rumors.

Sure.

There have been rumors recently that you might be involved in the future of Star Wars.  

No.  Only in my backyard with my action figures.

Okay.  In Ant-Man and the Wasp, we get to see more of the Quantum Realm.  I was kind of under the impression that time does not go by in the same way in the Quantum Realm as it does here, but…

She [Janet Pym] aged.

She aged.  So I was wondering what’s up with that?

Much like quantum mechanics itself, it is all very complicated.  And it is, there are various…if you notice in this film, he talks about she through Scott Lang says meet me in the Wastelands beyond the Void.  There are various levels that we check in on.  So there are many, many different layers to the Quantum Realm.  

So there are layers that time does not pass by?

That’s what they’ve told us.  They’ve told us that it, time and physics and space work very differently down there.  But that was part of a, that was a big question during the development process.  And as usual, you’re the first one to pick on it a little bit, which is… should she have aged or not?  And we felt that new Quantum Realm, we could justify either one.  But that ultimately you wanna have an emotional reunion with Michael Douglas, an emotional reunion with Evangeline Lily and our first instinct had always been specifically now Michelle Pfeiffer from that first movie.  It felt like it should be somebody who’s the right age.  As opposed to Michael Douglas with somebody who has not aged.  Or Evangeline Lily connecting with somebody who’s not aged.  That just adds another layer of sort of sci-fi weirdness.  Yeah.  And we’re not afraid of sci-fi weirdness.  I love it.  But not in that case.

I mean, as evidenced by Guardians and Thor, yeah.

Right.  

That first scene with Michelle de-aged, I mean, all the de-aging that you guys have done looks incredible, but she looks like she stepped out of a movie from 30 years ago.  It looks so good.  And while I was watching it, I was wondering if you guys ever end up doing like a prequel would you guys use the same, like if you were gonna do an Ant-Man prequel with Hank Pym or Black Widow prequel, would it be Scarlett or would it be Douglas de-aged or would it be a new…?

Well, I think having the option is pretty amazing.  And I think having the technology and even without spoiling anything, Sam Jackson is shooting a movie for us right now that takes, where he’s entirely 25 years younger the whole movie [Captain Marvel].  So that’ll certainly be the one–

And Coulson, right?

And Coulson.  So that’ll be the first one where it’s a character for the whole movie, as opposed to a glimpse at a certain period of time.  It’s the whole movie.  So it’s possible, assuming that works.  It’s possible. It’s very good when you are starting by the way with somebody like Michelle Pfeiffer or Michael Douglas or for that matter Sam Jackson or Clark Gregg.  All four of them–

Because you have an abundance of reference material or…?

You have all the reference material and they have aged amazingly.  They’ve not aged like normal humans.  It’s like Paul Rudd.  These are–

Paul Rudd looks like he stepped out of Clueless.  I don’t understand it.

Yeah.  He somehow can do that effect in real life.  

Yeah.  When you were planning this, you were planning it alongside Infinity War.  At what point did you know like this is gonna be a total prequel and we won’t really kind of cross the streams –?

The whole time it was, we knew that we wanted to feel like a standalone movie.  We wanted to tonally do a very different movie from Infinity War.  And as [director Peyton Reed] said on the panel today, that it was more interesting for us to deal with the fallout of Civil War.  To deal with what kind of rift that caused.  ‘Cause they seem to be a good trio at the end of Ant-Man 1.  Hank and Hope and Scott.  But knowing how Hank felt about it, knowing that Wasp was not there in Germany in Civil War, what did that do to the relationship.  And he was in prison and got broken out.  So what, we had to address that.  And it led to this very good notion of the final 48 hours of, final three days of house arrest.  

You just announced Spider-Man: Far From Home, the title.

I didn’t.

Or you didn’t.  The master spoiler himself did.  

Yeah.  It’s a fun gag that’s half fun and half real.  

I’ve heard.  

With him and Ruffalo.

Yeah.

Like ha-ha-ha, what did you do?  

I was wondering since this is gonna take place mostly in London or you’ve insinuated that large–

Shooting in London.  

But there are scenes in London.

Yes.

Peter: And you’ve also said in the past that the plan for these Spider-Man movies is to kind of have another Marvel cameo in each one kind of like you did with Tony Stark.  

I did?

Ha, I thought you did in some older interview.

It’s in the MCU so yeah.  

I’m wondering ’cause London…there is a sanctum there.  Is Doctor Strange gonna be the one in this one?  

No.

No?

I could be coy about it, but no.  

[shocked that he gave a direct response] Okay.

I don’t wanna get people excited. But Benedict and Holland have liked the idea of working together.

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