Here's How "Ant-Man And The Wasp" Ties In With "Avengers: Infinity War"

    We needed this movie right now. Warning: Spoilers.

    Jenna Guillaume
    by Jenna Guillaume

    Editor-at-Large, BuzzFeed Australia

    This post contains spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp and Avengers: Infinity War. Do not continue if you don't want to read them.

    Marvel

    Ant-Man and the Wasp is finally here! And it's a hell of a lot of fun.

    Marvel

    It's basically the antithesis of Avengers: Infinity War, making it the exact palate cleanser the Marvel Cinematic Universe needed after that particular emotional rollercoaster.

    Rather than a sprawling cast of dozens of superheroes, we focus on just two of them. And instead of an epic, deranged, world-destroying enemy, our heroes' opponents are, for the most part, actually the good guys (or at least just small-time baddies). In place of universe-altering stakes, the story is almost entirely personal – it's about family, and fighting to be with the ones you love.

    It's absolutely full of laughs and some very, very silly scenes, and I loved every second of it.

    So how did Marvel pull off such a light film after the absolutely gutting ending of Infinity War? Well – mostly by completely ignoring it.

    Marvel / Via toney-starks.tumblr.com

    Ant-Man and the Wasp takes place two years after the events of Captain America: Civil War, and roughly around the same time as Infinity War. You might remember how in Infinity War, Natasha mentions that while most of his Team Cap from Civil War have been on the run, Hawkeye and Ant-Man made deals with the government so that they could stay close to their families. They're on house arrest during Infinity War, which is why they don't show up to fight Thanos.

    When Ant-Man and the Wasp begins, we learn Scott has only a few days left of house arrest. Setting the movie before the final act of Infinity War, with no reference to the battles bubbling up around the world, was a very deliberate choice by the filmmakers.

    Marvel / Via marvelgifs.tumblr.com

    Director Peyton Reed recently told Gizmodo, "I remember conversations really early on about like, 'We're telling our story, are we gonna pass by TV screens in the background with news stories?' And my response to that was 'UGH.' We've seen that before and it felt uninspired. But we knew if you introduce the events of the end of Infinity War in our movie, it would just take over the whole movie. We also knew audiences were going to come into this movie looking looking for clues. So we made a conscious decision not to give them any so that they kind of stop looking and submit to the story."

    Of course, that doesn't mean Infinity War is entirely forgotten about. The mid-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp, which takes place not too long after the main plot of the movie, syncs up with the end of Infinity War.

    Marvel

    That's right, it's the "snap". The scene sees Scott enter the quantum realm, with Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, and Hope Van Dyne on standby in the real world, ready to pull him out. But just as they're about to do so, Scott suddenly loses contact with them – unbeknownst to Scott, all three have been turned to dust.

    Interestingly, this leaves Scott stranded in the quantum realm. There's a good chance this will somehow come into play in Avengers 4 – especially with Janet mentioning "time vortexes" to Scott before she disappears.

    Could a time vortex in the quantum realm be the key to reversing Thanos' snap, and bringing all our faves back to life? If so, the fate of the universe is in the hands of this guy.

    Marvel

    I, for one, am ready for it.