Though the franchise has successfully curbed this issue in recent movies, the MCU’s often been said to have a problem with disposable villains. Those bad guys that are quickly set up as dark mirrors to the hero, don’t make too much of an impression and then are swiftly dealt with by the end credits. Despite Corey Stoll turning in a good performance, Ant-Man‘s Darren Cross AKA Yellowjacket is one such villain.
Director Peyton Reed doesn’t agree with the idea of describing Yellowjacket as “disposable,” though. Mainly because he’s not sure that Cross was actually disposed of. In an Honest Reactions video for Screen Junkies – in which movie directors give a commentary on an Honest Trailer about their work – Reed called out SJ for their criticism of the villain. In the process, he hinted that Yellowjacket might still be alive.
“Well, I mean, you guys are making a massive assumption. There’s an assumption here that I’m not quite comfortable with. If you watch his death in the first Ant-Man, the suit is compromised…he shrinks and goes into a thing. I mean, he could be somewhere down there in that quantum realm.”
Reed’s point makes sense. We’ve seen both Janet Van Dyne and Scott Lang disappear into the Quantum Realm and they both survived the trip. Scott was able to return immediately, but it took 30 years for the original Wasp to make it back to the regular-sized world in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Given that, Cross could just be stranded there, with his suit too damaged to get himself out at the moment.
However, the reveal that the villain is still out there conflicts with what one member of the crew, costume designer Ivo Coveney, said last month when he stated that the corrupt businessman is unlikely to return in a future film. Perhaps Reed had just been keeping a possible return for Yellowjacket up his sleeve until now then, as maybe he has plans to bring him back in Ant-Man 3 if the threequel’s ordered by Marvel? Time will tell, but we’ll keep you posted either way.