WARNING: Spoilers For Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania follow!
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania reveals that Darren Cross managed to survive the events of 2015's Ant-Man, and in a bizarre flashback sequence, we learn what became of him after he was sent to the Quantum Realm.
With his body hideously crushed and deformed, Darren was "rescued" by Kang the Conqueror and turned into a Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing (M.O.D.O.K.) We actually caught a glimpse of what the former Yellowjacket looked like after he was removed from his old suit, and there's a blink-and-you'd-miss-it shot of the villain's tiny butt.
During a recent interview to promote the threequel, director Peyton Reed shared some insights into that creative decision.
"That visual effects shot where we show it was something that struck us as very funny, this quick version and sort of grotesque," he explains in the video below. "And I remember with every visual effect shot in the movie, you get the shot back from the vendor and you analyze it and give notes."
I'm gonna admit to you here in front of everybody that one of my notes in that shot was like, ‘Oh, that’s really great, but you need to see a little bit more of his butt crack in this,'" Reed adds. "That was an actual note given that everyone agreed with in the room and what you see in the movie is where we landed. So, I appreciate you asking about that."
It was definitely a shot we won't soon forget, though it's a shame M.O.D.O.K. looks set to be a one-and-done villain for the MCU. We're guessing that's down to how goofy he looks, and it is hard to picture him leading A.I.M. out in the real world (though it has been rumoured he once managed to escape the Quantum Realm).
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is currently playing in theaters.