Marvel officially announced a sequel to this year’s July release of Ant-Man with the forthcoming title, Ant-Man And The Wasp with actor Paul Rudd and actress Evangeline Lily likely to return for its 2018 release. The studio unveiled its press release with more details this week including new dates for upcoming and titles to-be-announced. See? Fluctuating.
Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Judy Greer, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Pena and John Slattery also star. Catch the footage below!
The Wrap is reporting that actor Patrick Wilson is currently in negotiations for a role in writer/director Edgar Wright’s next film, Ant-Man. If confirmed, the actor whose recent appearances include horror hits like The Conjuring and Insidious 1 and 2 will star alongside actors Paul Rudd and Michael Douglas, with roles currently in the running for actor Michael Peña, as well as actress Evangeline Lily.
Based on multifaceted comic book writer and publisher Stan Lee’s 1962 creation and co-written by Joe Cornish, the film will star Rudd as reformed thief and electronics expert Scott Lang who in years later, adapts the technology to become the titular superhero created conceived by biochemist Hank Pym (Douglas) whose earlier experiments brought him to discover subatomic particles that can allow a person to shrink down to the size of an insect, and also giving its owner the ability to control ants. The film is but one of many films spanning the currently on-going phases of Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Ant-Man scheduled in the third phase for its theatrical release on July 31, 2015.
Accordingly, the film arrives three months after the May 1 release of Joss Whedon’s The Avengers: Age Of Ultron, for which fans can expect to see some teaser footage in a special ABC event on March 18, 2014, following its most recent shoot in South Africa.
Wilson’s next film, director Joe Carnahan’s Stretch will arrive this Summer.
Reports are now circulating that actor Thomas Kretschmann has signed on to play another main villain known as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker in the upcoming film, Marvel’s The Avengers: Age Of Ultron. The report comes just a month after rumors circulated around the internet that the character, a H.Y.D.R.A. leader and former Nazi soldier whose body was augmented to the point of near invincibility and invulnerability would be brought on as a secondary villain with specific ties to the characters Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch, being played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olson, respectively.
The news also comes on the heels of recent updates that the film’s shooting schedule will include London, and locations in South Africa, with word that actor Mark Ruffalo‘s return as The Hulk would also be accompanied a love interest in the new film, with actor Jeremy Renner‘s character, Hawkeye, given a much larger part. Furthermore, recent reports also highlit actor, Iron Man performer Robert Downey Jr.‘s interest in bringing actor Mel Gibson and actress Jodie Foster in on the sequel’s production, whose script, written by director Joss Whedon as part of the film’s second of three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was recently described as “dark” and “dry” with an “amazing one-liner, glass-cutting sense of humor.” in a recent interview with actress Scarlett Johansson who plays Black Widow in the film.
Opening nationwide on May 1, 2015, Kretschmann will star with Taylor-Johnson, Olsen, Ruffalo, Downey Jr. and Johansson returning in Marvel’s The Avengers: Age Of Ultron with actors Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Cobie Smulders and Samuel L. Jackson with and James Spader playing the titular villain. The film opens May 1, 2015 following the April 4, 2014 release of Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with Evans, Johansson and Jackson. Kretschmann will also appear in the forthcoming one week engagement of director Fedor Bondarchuk’s bilingual biographical World War II epic, Stalingrad 3D this February in IMAX 3D.
In other Marvel news, actor and co-star of David Ayer’s upcoming World War II thriller Fury, Michael Peña and actor Clifton Collins Jr. are reported to be officially signed for roles in director Edgar Wright’s July 31, 2015 entry into the MCU for Ant-Man with actors Paul Rudd, and the newly announced Michael Douglas. Meanwhile the recently buzzed rumors of actor Johnny Depp for the role of the otherwise confirmed Dr. Strange movie remain exactly that.
Stay tuned for more info.
H/T: Comic Book Movie
No word yet on who will play Ant-Man since Lone Ranger star Armie Hammer‘s name was dropped in the rumorsphere, or whether or not Fast And Furious actor Vin Diesel will play Mr. Vision, even though he did dropped a few non-hints the other day for MTV.