More than 25 years after first making an impact on the superhero genre as Catwoman in DC’s Batman Returns, Michelle Pfeiffer switched sides for Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp in 2018. Since then, she’s reprised her role as original Wasp Janet Van Dyne for Avengers: Endgame and while at first we weren’t sure when we’d see her in the MCU again, we eventually learned that Ant-Man 3 had gotten the go ahead and is moving forward.
Michael Douglas had previously confirmed that he’ll be part of the production as Hank Pym, so it stood to reason that Pfeiffer would be back as his onscreen wife. And sure enough, the star has finally announced her involvement. Speaking on the Ladies First With Laura Brown podcast for InStyle Magazine, the actress revealed that she’ll be returning as Janet for Ant-Man 3 and that shooting is expected to begin in the “spring of 2021.”
The character’s disappearance and eventual rescue from the Quantum Realm was a major thread through the first two movies, but now that she’s out of the microverse, we’ll actually get to know her properly in the threequel. Remember, Wasp Mark. 1 was revealed to have soaked up some special healing powers during her decades in the Realm, so it’s likely these will be explored more in the next film.
According to recent reports, Ant-Man 3 will also be the movie to introduce a major new villain into the MCU – Kang the Conqueror, who’s believed to be played by Lovecraft Country star Jonathan Majors. The time traveling tyrant could go on to be the next Thanos, which may mean that the third outing in the series will be of huge importance to the unfolding story of Phase 4. We’d also expect some setting up of the Young Avengers, too, thanks to Cassie Lang AKA Stature’s presence.
Following filming kicking off in the next few months, Ant-Man 3 is due to release in 2022.