Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania Looked To Jurassic Park For Inspiration [Exclusive]

"Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" is set to begin Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe next week. This time around, Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) are sucked into the quantum realm and have to battle Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) to find their way home. 

We've seen the quantum realm in the MCU before, but we're getting a much better look at the denizens of the world beneath ours and the dangers that come along with the place other than Kang. The film has a very different feel than the first two based around the size-changing superhero. /Film's own Jeremy Mathai recently spoke to "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" producer Stephen Broussard about how Marvel balanced the story with the worldbuilding. Broussard said that the production took inspiration from "Jurassic Park" and "The Wizard of Oz," and the idea of being a stranger in a strange land. 

Broussard called the first two "Ant-Man" films "smaller," "grounded," and "real-world" and said they were explorations of the crime genre. Still, they were based on the idea of "this extended family, this found family, this dysfunctional family who had come together." The issue was taking this family that we've gotten to know and having the characters "[dropped] in another type of movie that they're just as surprised as the audience to find themselves in."

The way Marvel balanced it all, according to Broussard, was to "keep it rooted in that perspective. You keep it rooted in the POV of the people that are experiencing this." He explained: 

"They're all strangers in a strange land. They don't know what the Quantum Realm is, except for Janet. They're having to be educated on what's down there, and the weird rules and the unique types of people and species and aliens and all these things they're meeting down there, and they're also catching up on who [Kang] is."

It doesn't help that Janet hasn't been completely honest about her time there. As you can see from the trailers, there are a lot of creatures and groups of people that we haven't met before in the quantum realm. That might be a little much to take in if the main characters weren't taking it in simultaneously. Broussard said that this is a different kind of film for Marvel "because it's about getting pulled into a world." Of the influences for the film, he explained: 

"We talked about 'Jurassic Park,' getting caught in the park. Or 'Wizard of Oz,' obviously, looms large over any conversations like that. That's an interesting 'stranger in a strange land' structure. And I think being with those characters helps balance those different elements, to your point."

"Jurassic Park" is a great one to compare this to. The Ant-family is a group of people who have come together and discovered not only a world they'd only dreamed of but the dangers that are lurking underneath the wonder of it all. 

"Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quatumania" will hit theaters on February 17, 2023.