Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania had its world premiere last night, and the first reactions are calling the film a weird and wild ride. If you’ve ever been sucked into a microscopic universe where you had to fight an unstoppable time-traveling dictator, you’ll identify with Ant-Man.
Apparently, you’ll also identify with him if you’ve ever … aged.
At least, that’s one way in which Paul Rudd identifies with him. On the red carpet at the premiere, Rudd had a funny exchange with interviewers from Marvel.
“Is Scott Lang actually shrinking down and actually going into his midlife crisis?” an interviewer asked, referring to the shots we see in the Quantumania trailer and promos of Scott milking his post-Thanos fame by writing a memoir and enjoying adulation from the people of San Francisco.
“I feel like he’s been doing that slowly but surely over the course of the past decade,” Rudd replied. “I relate to that part just a little too well.”
Underneath their suits, armor, tech, and powers, what makes superheroes compelling and likable is their humanity—and humanity includes aging, as we saw in Hawkeye, when Clint Barton had to reckon with the damage that years of explosions did to his hearing. Scott Lang has the incredible ability to change his size and travel to different times and dimensions, but he’s also just a guy! He’s a guy who thinks the biggest fight of his life is behind him, and just wants to reconnect with his grown daughter. The most relatable aspects of Ant-Man are also the most mundane.
Rudd also shared some quirky travel tips for anyone heading to the Quantum Realm.
“You don’t want to have to carry a big suitcase if you’re heading to the Quantum Realm,” he said. “Certain surfaces are weird. You don’t know if you’re going to be able to wheel it across, and that means carrying it. And if you’ve got a big suitcase, that’s the last thing you want to be dealing with down on the quantum level.”
Cool! Good to know! I’ll keep that in mind next time my midlife crisis takes me subatomic.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania comes out in theaters on Friday, February 17.
(featured image: Marvel Entertainment)
