Marvel Studios has announced it will be swapping out the 2023 release dates for “The Marvels” and “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.”
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” the third in the “Ant-Man” solo movies, will now hit theaters five months earlier on February 17, 2023.
Meanwhile “The Marvels” will debut in the summer slot of July 28, 2023.
Marvel Studios says the reasoning is simply that, while both films are progressing on schedule, the “Ant-Man” sequel is further along in the production process, so the studio decided to swap the release dates.
Director Peyton Reed, who has also directed the first two “Ant-Man” movies, posted to his Twitter last November they had already finished principal photography.
We haven’t heard a peep from “The Marvels” director Nia de Costa, because she deleted her Twitter months ago.
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” features Paul Rudd reprising his role as Ant-Man (Scott Lang), alongside Evangeline Lilly as Wasp (Hope Van Dyne). Joining them are returning cast members Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne as Hope’s parents.
Also joining the cast is Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang, the daughter of Scott Lang. She is the third actress to play the role. Abby Ryder Fortson played Cassie in “Ant-Man” and it’s sequel, “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” but when the 5-year time jump happened in “Avengers: Endgame,” Abby was too young to play the role, so they cast Emma Fuhrmann.
Marvel’s decision to recast Cassie Lang with Kathryn Newton has been seen as confirmation that she’ll become a superhero in the new movie. In the comics, Cassie eventually becomes the superhero known first as Stature and currently as Stinger, wielding the same powers her father had, and was a prominent member of the Young Avengers.
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” will also feature Jonathan Majors, previously seen in Marvel Studios’ “Loki” series as He Who Remains, who will portray Kang the Conqueror, and rumors are Samuel L. Jackson will reprise his Nick Fury role.
Meanwhile, “The Marvels” is a mini-superhero team up featuring Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) – who gained powers in “WandaVision,” and Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), who will be introduced in the upcoming Disney+ series debuting June 8, 2022.
Not much else is known about the movie at this time, but we’ll keep you updated as news comes out.