Is the Quantum Realm the future of the MCU?

MANILA, Philippines — Quantum what? Marvel die-hards are in for a treat as the sequel to the 2015 Ant-Man takes the action deeper into the microscopic world first introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in the 2015 origin film and now becomes the setting of the exhilarating action sequences Marvel has ever filmed.

“In the first film, we got a glimpse of it and people liked to do a frame-by-frame,” Marvel president Kevin Feige told our group of journalists last Sunday during the press day for the film. The Quantum Realm is a big story element in Ant-Man and the Wasp but as Mr. Feige teased, “how they pay off in the near-term or the long-term remains to be seen.”

This writer will not spoil anything but consider this a hint: Director Peyton Reed cites the car chase in the streets of San Francisco as one of the most daunting scenes in the film.

“We wanted to do a chase that you simply couldn’t see in any other movie,” Peyton said. “We wanted to make San Francisco a character in the movie. We loved the city and made the chase specific to that city, to the landmarks, things like Lombard Street.” Fans will have to see the chase to understand why many critics and early audiences of the film are singling this out as one of the best things in the film. That and the big OMG! moment.

“I liked being the blade runner! It was pretty cool! The knife gag in the restaurant scene was very, very cool!” gushed Evangeline Lilly who returns in the sequel as the first female Marvel superhero to be billed in the film’s title. As the Wasp, she finally is given wings, so to speak, and fights alongside Ant-Man.

Michael Douglas also returns as Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man who discovered the subatomic particle that makes the transformation possible and the first to travel to the Quantum Realm — just don’t ask him to explain quantum theory as we all discovered after Evangeline playfully threw the task at him after a journalist asked for an explanation of the microscopic world explored in the new film.

“I know it is very, very small! So tiny!” was all the Hollywood legend could tell us although he added that the idea of him and Michelle Pfeiffer gaining back decades of youth in this film thrilled him.

Paul plays the Ant-Man for the third time, while Evangeline as the Wasp, the first female Marvel superhero to be billed in the film’s title

He revealed that he always wanted to work with Michelle and was ecstatic upon learning that the actress was cast in the role of Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp. “I was reading the script and I found out that Michelle Pfeiffer and I are going to be 30 years younger! It was a treat!”

Paul Rudd is back as Ant-Man for the third time. For those not so adept in the MCU, Ant-Man was in Captain America: Civil War where he was in the faction of Iron Man. The events in that film and the aftermath are addressed in this sequel.

The actor is also back as one of the credited writers on the film. He told us that with the characters established, he and the writers had a lot more freedom in crafting the plot for this sequel.

“We had a little bit more freedom to play with humor,” he said highlighting the comedy aspect of the film. “The first time around we were still modulating it and that was one of the very fun parts about it.”

Fans can look forward to a montage featuring the beloved Michael Peña character Luis as he relates how he first met Ant-Man’s alter ego Scott Lang. The hilarious sequence garnered the most laughs at our screening.

There is another sequence where Paul as Scott is channeling another person that will likely elicit huge laughs as well. This writer will not discuss the scene further as it is pivotal in the film only to say that Paul refers to it as his “all of me” scene.

Paul is one of the most down-to-earth Hollywood actors one could ever meet. He has been around since the ‘90s and he has remained as one of the most loved and respected actors in the industry. Evangeline calls him “very lovable knucklehead.”

Two new characters are introduced in the sequel.

Laurence Fishburne plays Bill Foster, an old friend of Hank who was once his assistant on Project Goliath and the surrogate father to Ghost, another character being introduced for the first time in the MCU.

The Oscar-nominated actor confessed that he did not know his character before he was approached for the part although this is not the first time that he was asked to join the MCU.

British actress Hannah John-Kamen, who played Ornela in the HBO series Game of Thrones, portrays Ghost, a criminal who has the ability to phase through objects.

The character of Ghost is interesting in the film. Hannah doesn’t think she’s a villain, “she has to make mistakes but she has a clear objective in the movie.”

The villains in the Marvel universe are not your cookie-cutter typical villains of old. In Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger was acting not for personal vengeance but to avenge the injustice against his race. The role could be the first Marvel character to receive an Oscar nomination and (this writer is calling it) a win!

Evangeline explained the evolving concept of a movie villain. “It’s not black and white. I think villains are very redeemable,” she said.

“My son loves violent movies and I always feel the responsibility to clarify something for him,” she added. “You know there are no such things as bad guys, right? There are only good guys who have made so many bad choices that they have forgotten how to make good choices and a true hero’s job is to remind them of their goodness, not to annihilate them, to kill them but to help them redeem themselves.”

“If you encounter somebody that might have a different opinion, that doesn’t mean they’re a villain. If they have a different objective, you should try to understand them.”

Ant-Man and the Wasp opens nationwide on July 4.