The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Peyton Reed will return as director for
Ant-Man 3, which will make him the third Marvel Studios director - after James Gunn (
Guardians of the Galaxy) and Jon Watts (
Spider-Man) - to be afforded the opportunity to complete their original trilogy.
Plot details are currently under wraps, but barring any unforeseen circumstances, both Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly are expected to reprise their roles as Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne. It also seems likely the pair will be joined by Emma Fuhrmann, who made her debut as teenage Cassie Lang in
Avengers: Endgame.
Production is expected to commence at the tail end of 2020, possibly the beginning of 2021, with Marvel Studios reportedly eyeing a 2022 release date. Also, filming will only begin after both Scott Derrickson's
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (05/07/21) and Taika Waititi's
Thor: Love and Thunder (11/05/21) have wrapped.
Ant-Man 3 is now the second Phase 5 film to have been confirmed, joining Ryan Coogler's
Black Panther II, and with that film opening on May 6, 2022; it seems increasingly likely the currently untitled
Ant-Man sequel will open on the latter of the two dates Marvel already has booked for that calendar year: July 29, 2022. This lines up with the release windows of the previous two films.