Peyton Reed is in rare company at Marvel Studios. With the release of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, Reed joined Jon Watts (Spider-Man) as the only directors to complete a trilogy of films for one franchise. They’ll be joined by James Gunn when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hits theaters in May and while Gunn’s future won’t include more Marvel Studios projects, Reed’s very well may. It’s already been made clear that ideas for a fourth Ant-Man film have been hatched and discussed with Kevin Feige so it seems just a matter of time before Ant-Man 4 gets the green light. But would Reed want to return for another round?
That’s a lot more complicated answer than you might believe as Reed revealed in an interview with Collider. The short answer is definitely yes, but the director has some pretty interesting thoughts about what coming back would mean.
It’s interesting because, you know, I’m superstitious about this stuff, right? I mean, when we were doing the first Ant-Man there was certainly no guarantee we were going to get to make a second one. And even after the second one, there was no guarantee. When we finally announced that, “Okay, we’re gonna make Quantumania, we’re gonna get to do this,” it was marshaling all the forces onto that because we knew if we’re gonna get to do a third one, it’s gotta be something altogether different. We gotta show the audience something different.
For me, it was the Quantum Realm, of being able to create that whole world, worlds within worlds, and answer those questions. What the hell was Janet Van Dyne doing down there for 30 years? And also, to kick off Phase 5, to introduce Kang the Conqueror with Jonathan.
Peyton Reed
Reed’s interest in returning seems to be tied to making sure whatever comes next looks and feels different than what came before. Quantumania certainly accomplished that even if it wasn’t well-received critically. So what would a fourth film entail? While he doesn’t give a direct answer, inspiration might be found in the pages of Fantastic Four comics.
So I was focused on that thing. Now that the trilogy is done, who knows? Again, years ago – you and I have talked about this before – I developed Fantastic Four like 20 years ago. I channeled a lot of my Fantastic Four love into the Ant-Man world, and specifically into Quantumania. You know, it’s no mistake that both are kind of dysfunctional families of superheroes, and in Fantastic Four they may go into the Negative Zone, we went to the Quantum Realm. I really scratched that itch with these movies.
Peyton Reed
With so many great Fantastic Four stories to be told and only so many films in which to tell them, it’s possible that Reed could continue to turn to them for inspiration for the Ant-Man franchise should things head in that direction. However, there are some other Marvel properties in the works that Reed might be interested in working on as well, should the opportunity present itself. “I want to play in a lot of different sandboxes,” said Reed of the idea of working outside of Marvel before adding, “I would never say no to a future doing stuff at Marvel. I mean, I’ve loved my time at Marvel, I love the people in Marvel, and I love what they’ve been able to do.“
What other “stuff” at Marvel might have caught his eye? “I would do a Nova movie,” said Reed. “I love [The Man Called Nova]. That seems cool.” With a Nova project currently in development at Marvel Studios, Reed may just have his chance.
Source: Collider
