Fans of the MCU are excited to see more of the Quantum Realm come to life Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania. Since a first glimpse into the Quantum Realm (QR) in 2015 Ant-Man, fans have anxiously awaited a full look at this mystical, magical, wacky world below Earth 616. It’s no surprise that the visual design of the QR looks and feels somewhat familiar while also entirely foreign.
In the recent press interviews for Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania, MCU President Kevin Feige and Director Peyton Reed talked about the inspiration behind the design of the Quantum Realm.
(L-R): Kathryn Newton as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2022 MARVEL.
INTERVIEW Kevin Feige and Peyton Reed Talk Designing the Quantum Realm
After the events of Avengers: Endgame, Scott Lang has penned a memoir, “Look Out For The Little Guy,” (a real book, by the way), while continuing to explore life as a Super Hero couple with Hope Van Dyne.
Hope is championing humanitarian causes, and their family—Hope’s parents, Janet Van Dyne and Hank Pym, and Scott’s daughter, Cassie—are finally part of their day-to-day lives. Scott wants nothing more than to have a “normal” life for his daughter and to make up for lost time.
(L-R): Michael Douglas/Hank Pym, Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne, and Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2022 MARVEL.
However, it turns out Cassie shares an affinity for science with her new family, especially with regard to the Quantum Realm (QR). Janet tries to warn them about the QR when she learns what they have been working on, but the warning comes too late as Cassie has inadvertently built a one-way ticket to the subatomic world of the QR. The world, filled with strange new creatures and inhabitants, is also ruled by the powerful multiversal Kang the Conqueror, and time is of the essence if the Lang-VanDyne-Pym family wants to make their way home.
Kicking off Phase 5 of the MCU, Quantumania is the fast-paced, big-screen adventure MCU fans want with all of the heart and humor they expect. It also features the wildest set design we’ve seen in the MCU to date.
Peyton Reed fans know that he spent some time in the Star Wars universe while directing and episode of The Mandalorian on Disney+. While some of the outfits and creatures seem to have some Star Wars/Dune inspiration, Reed and Feige dive deeper into what was the inspiration for the Quantum Realm.
Even before Ant-Man was being filmed in 2015, Feige and reed had ideas of how this world might play out and come to life on the big screen.
“I was sort of reminded recently that this was an idea that Paul [Rudd] had early on, before we started filming the first Ant-Man film. What if we explore this, you know, quantum mechanics,” Feige explained.
“Things act very differently at the quantum level and Paul was talking about the amount of storytelling and imagination and fun that you could have there. The first Ant-Man movie was mainly about meeting the characters, but at the very end of that, we got a taste of it. And that is what led to where we took it in Endgame. It is a place that is on the subatomic level, where space and time act differently. That allowed us to time travel, at Scott Lang’s suggestion in Endgame, and it allowed us to have this entire manic quantumness in this film, where we go to a point where only Janet had ever seen before. There is an entire universe below the surface where we meet all sorts of fun, crazy characters.”
Nods to the Wizard of Oz
One might wonder what Dorothy, Toto, and crew could have in common with the Pym-Lang-VanDyne family of superheroes. Feige explains it well.
“We talked about parallels to the Wizard of Oz a lot in terms of meeting a family down there,” Feige revealed. “But the visuals, which have been in the works for a very long time, was all Peyton’s team.”
It tracks; both crews of characters travel to an unknown world discovering a family within a whole new universe of inhabitants.
(L-R): Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp; Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne/Wasp in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
Sci-Fi and Actual Science Inform the Design of the Quantum Realm
Years in the making, Reed and the team looked at everything they could imagine to inform the visuals for this world.
“We looked at everything from electron microscopic photography to things like heavy metal magazines in the 70s, and 80s,” Reed said. “We wanted to bring in all these elements, a little sword and sorcery element and there’s a real Möbius element to it.”
Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
As Reed continued to discuss the creative information process for developing the QR, he included references to some old-school sci-fi works.
“Flash Gordon, Barbarella…the covers of old science fiction paperbacks, from the 60s and 70s, and into the 80s. There are a lot of great artists who would paint the covers for these things and that cover had to grab you. I looked at a lot of those artists and heavy metal magazines…art from all over the world and there’s some just striking imagery in all of that stuff.”
Possibly the most interesting design information for the Quantum Realm? Actual reality. The real world is filled with inspiration for designing a subatomic science fiction world.
“You print (electron microphotography) out and they look like landscapes,” Reed explained. “It sets your mind thinking—all of this movie is taking place in this subatomic world…Janet van Dyne describes it at one point, as worlds within worlds and this sort of idea that there’s this infinite world and worlds down there, that are inhabited by creatures and beings.”
“We just wanted to assemble a team of artists and say, ‘We’re creating the quantum realm and we want to create this very vivid world that has its own internal history and internal logic. Who are the creatures there? Who are the people there? And how do you travel? What are the laws of physics? All these things needed to be figured out.’ So we assembled this insane group of visual artists and we said just bring some of your most fantastic ideas to the table, and let’s figure out what it can be because we want to take these characters that the audience has come to know and send them on this journey, and traverse these very strange lands and just have fun with it. It was a part of the MCU that we were free to create on our own.”
(L-R): Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man and Kathryn Newton as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
ABOUT ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA
Super Heroes Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and The Wasp. Together, with Hope’s parents Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), and Scott’s daughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought possible. Directed by Peyton Reed and produced by Kevin Feige and Stephen Broussard, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania also stars Jonathan Majors as Kang, David Dastmalchian as Veb, Katy O’Brian as Jentorra, William Jackson Harper as Quaz and Bill Murray as Lord Krylar. The sci-fi adventure opens in theaters on Feb. 17, 2023.
Runtime: 125 mins
Rating: PG-13
Director: Peyton Reed
Producers: Kevin Feige, Stephen Broussard
Executive Producers: Victoria Alonso, Louis D’Esposito, Kevin de la Noy
Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas, Kathryn Newton, David Dastmalchian, Katy O’Brian, William Jackson Harper, Bill Murray
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is in theatres February 17, 2023
- Red One Review - November 13, 2024
- Transformers One Review - October 20, 2024
- Smile 2 Review – A Sequel that Slays the First - October 16, 2024
Leave a Reply