Ant-Man and the Wasp is a very different film from Marvel's two previous releases this year, serving as a much needed breath of comedic air. Even though the movie
is largely self-contained, it was only natural that the film would address the events at the end of
Avengers: Infinity War, especially since it came out after, but takes place before and during that movie.
In an interview with
Uproxx, director Peyton Reed recalls watching Thanos' gauntlet snap play out on screen for the first time, likening the gut punch to
Saving Private Ryan:
Oh God, when I first saw that moment in Infinity War – in an early cut where the effects weren’t done; I think they were still grayscale effects – it killed me. It was like Saving Private Ryan stuff. It’s like, oh my god, the extended Peter Parker moment was fantastic. I love it.
Following in the footsteps of
Infinity War, it was a question of when in the film and to what extent the "snapture" would affect team Ant-Man. Reed knew that everyone would be going into the movie knowing that the snap could not be ignored and wondering who it would affect:
The thing that really appealed to us, was because it was a thing the whole way through of how are we going to deal with this issue [from] Infinity War, and it occurred to us we were going to do it in an Ant-Man and the Wasp way. Which was to tell our story, make it self-contained, and make the ending of the movie with everything wrapped up in such a neat bow at the end of the movie.
Reed talks about how there was so much going on in the film, from the mission at hand to Scott being under house arrest and trying to spend time with his daughter, to X-Con finally finding success and Janet returning from the Quantum Realm. There is enough keeping the viewer's mind preoccupied, even in the mid-credits sequence, that Reed hoped people would not realize what was about to occur. That way, when the impact of Thanos' snap was shown, it would really function as a gut punch to the audience.
And even in the scene, we introduce all of these elements all at once to the audience. It’s like, oh, this is the first time I’ve seen Janet in street clothes. And they are in a parking lot? And there’s Luis’ van? And Scott in the suit and he’s going to the quantum realm in a shrunken tunnel? So everyone’s mind is on trying to make sense of the stuff at hand, so that hopefully the thing we were ultimately doing wasn’t immediately occurring to them.
With such a focus on incorporating these elements from
Infinity War, it comes as no surprise that the mid-credits scene functioned in the way that Reed hoped it would. In fact, the sequence has received a large amount of praise from fans for how it handled those events and set-up
Avengers 4.
Did you enjoy how
Ant-Man and the Wasp addressed
Avengers: Infinity War in its mid [and post] credits scene? Be sure to share your thoughts below!