The Ant-Man And The Wasp Scenes You Didn't Get To See
Is it too punny to call the Ant-Man movies the smallest-feeling movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Regardless of the main characters' radical size-changing abilities, the movies do come off that way.
While the rest of the MCU is busying itself with Aethers and Soul Stones and other world-ending whatzits, the Ant-Man films are more or less all about family. Whether it's Scott trying to keep his hard-won connection to his family, Hank, Janet, and Hope trying to reunite across realms, or Ghost trying to find some peace after a tragic past, every player in the movie is just trying to secure their little nests — not save (or destroy) the world.
But even in this small-scale story, some scenes were shot that hit the cutting room floor, proving unsuitable for the finished product for some reason or another. Some of these scenes even made it into the movie's marketing, perhaps attracting you to the movie to see something that didn't end up happening. We know that the production shot scenes it didn't use. But what were they, and what do they mean? Let's dig in to the Ant-Man and the Wasp scenes we know about that you didn't get to see.
Director's cut
In an interview with Collider released shortly after Ant-Man and the Wasp hit theaters, series director Peyton Reed broke down just how many minutes' worth of scenes got cut out of the final movie. Based on what the filmmaker said, the cut scenes from the Ant-Man sequel mostly fall into two categories — scenes that take place in the Quantum Realm, and scenes that focus on Walton Goggins' kind-of-mean, mostly-just-selfish weapons trader Sonny Burch.
According to Reed, whose original director's cut for Ant-Man and the Wasp was some two hours and 16 minutes, there are about five to ten minutes' worth of full deleted scenes that ended up excised from the finished film. For what it's worth, he says we'll likely get to see these on the Blu-Ray.
Apparently, not all of the scenes that didn't make it to the movie are particularly revelatory, with some moments being dropped for the sake of avoiding too-similar scenes and redundancy. "There's stuff that you do that's, y'know, ”Oh, this scene is good, but it's a repeated beat of this other thing, and this thing that's in the movie is way better,'" Reed said. "So, no one needs to see that version."
Microexplorations
Did the quantum realm in Ant-Man and the Wasp come off as curiously underexplored to you? You're not the only one who thinks so.
The first Ant-Man opened up a whole new universe to explore in the MCU. Doctor Strange referred to an untold multitude of entirely different dimensions, the Guardians of the Galaxy movies expanded the scope to outer space, and the Thor movies explored enchanting planes of existence that feel like something in between. The Quantum Realm seemed poised to be another alternate world to explore — possibly a whole society rendered extra-small in a place where the rules of physics don't apply.
But Ant-Man and the Wasp didn't quite deliver on all of that potential. While the sequel goes beyond the silent and forbidding dead zone seen in the first movie that's referred to as "The Void," it doesn't explore all that much of the brightly-colored, ever-mutating world that lies beyond.
According to Reed, some of the deleted scenes from the movie specifically take place in the Quantum Realm, with the director referring to "really fun stuff" in the microverse that didn't make it to the final movie. Could it be more of Hank's exploration of this place he's dreaded for decades? Or it could it be scenes of Janet's time spent in the Realm, living 30 years of life as a tiny castaway? Either way, with all of the visual effects that go into making the Quantum Realm, it's pretty expensive stuff to cut.
Janet in combat
One of the most intriguing, blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments from the movie's marketing is one we were most disappointed not to see more fully explored in the final film.
During the second trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp, you can catch a glimpse of Ant-Man and the Wasp working together in tandem to take down an enemy, with Wasp dramatically changing sizes as she finishes off a flying kick to some dude's face. But we're not talking about Scott and Hope, here. Rather, this tag-team appears to be the husband-wife duo of a young Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne, with both of them wearing old school suits as they fight.
In all likelihood, this scene was probably part of the extended flashback scene that opens the movie — a redubbed version of the moment Janet sacrificed herself to the Quantum Realm that we first saw in the original Ant-Man. In the finished sequel, we see the two arriving too late to stop some missiles from taking off, with no reason given as to why they couldn't make it there on time.
In the deleted clip, it looks like Wasp and Ant-Man had to fight their way into the facility, dealing with a goon squad before they could get their job done. Was it essential to the movie? Probably not. But man, it would've been fun to see the original Wasp in action. As things stand now, she's barely even begun to fight.
Sonny days and nights
The closest thing that Ant-Man and the Wasp has to a real villain isn't the imposing, awesomely-designed, matter-phasing Ghost, but rather Walton Goggins' Sonny Burch, a decidedly basic bad guy whose only motivation is simply his own greed.
According to Reed, more scenes with the actor were filmed, but didn't make it into the movie. Which makes sense — in the film, Burch's backstory doesn't feel entirely fleshed out, and he's ultimately a little extraneous to the movie's overall story. In fact, going by how the climax plays out, he's really just there for the sake of getting more bad guys into some fun chase scenes.
Some commentators have theorized that the cut content may reveal who Burch really works for, and thereby serve as connecting tissue to some of the other weapons dealers of the MCU. There are actually a handful of them to choose from by now, like Justin Hammer's Hammer Industries, Darren Cross' Cross Technologies, or even the slightly less villainous company run by Tony Stark. Whatever the scenes entail, it's likely stuff that doesn't really matter in a story sense — but fans of the Justified actor will probably be happy to see it all the same.
Man-eating Giant-Man
What could have been one of the Ant-Man sequel's biggest reveals — that Ant-Man possesses the ability to go supersized, taking on a form called Giant-Man — was memorably repurposed for the inter-Avengers airport squabble in Captain America: Civil War. It also, according to this movie, got Scott in so much trouble.
So while fans of the MCU went into Ant-Man and the Wasp already knowing Scott could go gigantic, a lot of his size-shifting shenanigans were spoiled in the sequel's marketing — particularly the climactic moment where he goes really big in a public place, emerging from the ocean from beneath a boat like Godzilla himself.
In a version of the scene from one of the TV spots, Ant-Man seems to milk the moment for all its worth, roaring at the helpless boat passengers with a chesty "rahhhr, me eat people!" But of course, Ant-Man does not eat people.
For some reason or another, the jokey sequence is nowhere to be seen in the final movie. Its absence suggests a couple of possibilities — either there's an alternate version of the scene that played out longer and went in a funnier direction, or the gag is a line recorded just for the marketing as part of a crafty bid to get you to buy a ticket. Either way, it's a lil' bit of a ripoff. These movies keep lying to us!
Best Show no-show
Tim Heidecker isn't the only comedian who wheedled his way into a cameo in Ant-Man and the Wasp — but he is the only one whose scene didn't end up getting cut. No such luck for Tom Scharpling and Jon Wurster, two comics who filmed a scene as Sonny Burch's getaway drivers, only to end up getting edited out of the finished movie. For Scharpling, it's the second of two straight betrayals from Marvel Studios.
Together, Scharpling and Wurster are known for their comedy collaborations on The Best Show with Tom Scharpling, a long-running radio show. On the June 27, 2018 episode of his show, Scharpling discussed originally being cast in the first Ant-Man, appearing as a clerk who sold Scott Lang a lottery ticket before being cut out of the movie. For the sequel, Scharpling returned for a scene he was told would be "uncuttable", only to discover, in the weeks before release, that his and his comedy partner's cameo scene was actually extremely cuttable.
During a press conference from weeks before the Ant-Man and the Wasp premiere, Peyton Reed was pointedly (jokingly) asked by an attendee if there were any plans for him to direct a third Ant-Man, and whether or not Scharpling could expect to be cut out of that one as well. A friend of the comedian's, Reed answered, "As for the Scharpling dilemma, I certainly look forward to working with Scharpling in the future and hopefully cutting him out again."
"Wazzuuuuuuuuuup"
Michael Peña's Luis is the only character in Ant-Man and the Wasp that we desperately hope never gets any kind of super suit for himself, because he's completely perfect just the way he is.
The bumbling charmer, he of the neverending stories, keeps showing up in the Ant-Man sequel to help out in situations that he's not necessarily invited to. Scott loves him, but Hank and Hope have trust issues that Luis has trouble overcoming, even when he pulls up with a hearty "wazzzzuuuuup." He's referring, of course, to what he defines in the finished film as a beloved commercial — and as far as quotability is concerned, the beer ad he's referencing is certainly among the best commercials ever.
Anyway, the trailers for Ant-Man and the Wasp had a lot more business with Luis and his hapless greeting, with Hank, Hope and Scott rolling up their window on him as he tries to nail the pronunciation and exact inflection of the popular saying.
As far as a deleted scene goes, it's almost nothing. More likely, it's evidence of the Ant-Man movies' improvisational nature at work. Like with the original Ant-Man (and a number of other MCU features), a lot of the friendly chit-chat that takes place between the movie's fight scenes feels like it comes as a result of lengthy riff sessions, with comedic-minded actors going back and forth around the same lines of dialogue, trying to find the perfect combination. Or, in this case, the right wazzzzahhhhhpp.