One of the biggest concerns about Peyton Reed's upcoming Ant-Man has been how connected the film will be to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the comics, original Ant-Man Hank Pym was a founding Avenger who created Ultron, who in turn created The Vision, which makes him pretty damned important. But in the altered continuity of the MCU where Paul Rudd's character Scott Lang is Ant-Man...?
Well, Starlog (Hey, remember Starlog from back in the day?), has some pretty interesting rumors about Ant-Man, including its connection to the third Captain America movie, Captain America: Civil War. Claiming that the information "should be taken with a boulder of salt," Starlog cites an anonymous email with some pretty specific details that definitely sound interesting, if nothing else. So with that caveat in mind, here's what they posted...
According to this anonymous party, ANT-MAN will take place alongside the events of AGE OF ULTRON, the fall-out of which will spur on the Superhuman Registration Act. While ANT-MAN is largely self-contained in nature, the references of the MCU will come from Pym’s past as a scientist for S.H.I.E.L.D. in the ’60s, having worked alongside Howard Stark, Arnim Zola and Alexander Pierce. However, in this flashback sequence, Pym will supposedly also have a run-in with a young military hot-head by the name of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, who Marvel fans have last seen in THE INCREDIBLE HULK as played by William Hurt.
The party goes on to say S.H.I.E.L.D.’s downfall in THE WINTER SOLDIER forced Pym into the private sector, which makes him vulnerable and essentially serves as catalyst for the events that follow in ANT-MAN. And according to the party, a shooting draft of ANT-MAN’s post-credit stinger shows the older Ross re-appearing to Pym, claiming he’d been sent by Tony Stark. When asked why, Ross allegedly responds, “Haven’t you seen the news? We’re at war.”
The party also claims Ross will play a supporting role in CAPTAIN AMERICA 3, begrudgingly helping Tony Stark enforce the Superhero Registration Act and giving him military aid as Stark’s hesitant to use his own technology post-ULTRON. The party claims that rumors of Black Widow’s limited involvement in CAPTAIN AMERICA 3 is also true, as her character will be arrested for aiding fugitive superhumans in a power play by Stark (which will give actress Scarlett Johansson a break from the MCU to focus on her family), though the source says a potential Black Widow jailbreak in a future Marvel film may help bring Scott Lang’s Ant-Man into the AVENGERS fold.
Now, John Slattery is scheduled to reprise his role of Howard Stark in Ant-Man, so that part of the rumor, if nothing else, may be true.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron is scheduled to arrive in theaters on May 1, 2015, with Ant-Man arriving on July 17, 2015, and Captain America: Civil War on May 6, 2016.