In news that should shock no one who saw Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — or really, anyone who saw the trailer, or the promotional materials, or the posters — it’s recently come out that Bill Murray’s cameo appearance was much longer. Yes, Marvel has just unveiled the original plans for Murray’s Krylar, and he was intended to be a much bigger character than he ended up being.
Over at Marvel Studios Japan’s Twitter, a new behind-the-scenes video featured actress Katy O’Brien, who played Jentorra in the film (in case you forgot, Jentorra’s the leader of the Quantum Realm rebellion). According to O’Brien, Murray actually filmed scenes in which he did a “whole space pursuit… and then wound up with Kang and got arrested or something.”
In the final cut, Murray does not appear much beyond the mid-point of the film, but another scene shown in the video also demonstrates Murray’s presence during the filming of scenes much later in the movie. In fact, M.O.D.O.K. (Corey Stoll) and Kang (Jonathan Majors) can be seen standing by Murray — in the actual release, the three never share the same screen.
It’s currently unknown why Murray’s scenes were ultimately cut, but fans have been wondering if his role was reduced since Quantumania premiered. The character of Krylar is set up to be an important figure in Janet van Dyne’s (Michelle Pfeiffer) past. In fact, there’s a strong undercurrent that the two were lovers for some time. While Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) doesn’t seem to mind that Janet tried to move on over the years, there is a sense of tension between Pym and Krylar that isn’t really explored.
All of these factors point toward some sort of creative re-shuffling in the production process. The possibility exists that Murray’s controversies — which flared up once more during the marketing of the movie — had something to do with Krylar’s role being cut down.
Until Marvel Studios comments on the matter, however, that’s purely speculation. There’s also the possibility that Krylar was simply extraneous to the story’s overall narrative. The character does exist in the comics, but according to the Marvel Wiki, his appearances — all one of them — aren’t exactly the most well-known storylines out there. He’s also apparently more of a Hulk character and has nothing to do with Ant-Man at all, though he does appear in the Microverse (the name for the Quantum Realm in the comics).