Marvel newcomer Kathryn Newton will be thrown headfirst into the action in upcoming sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, with the actress teasing a face-off between herself and the all-powerful supervillain Kang the Conqueror. Newton will take over the role of Cassie Lang in the Ant-Man threequel, and while she strives to become a superhero in her own right, the actress reveals to Fandango that Cassie will learn some hard lesson pretty fast.
"She has no idea what she’s doing. Cassie Lang has no idea what she’s doing. She wants to be a hero, and she’s face to face with the biggest supervillain of all time. It’s just — she’s gonna learn some lessons."
The daughter of Scott Lang, Cassie is shown sporting a superhero suit of her own in the recent trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, with the character expected to become a major player in the MCU going forward.
"She’s not ready, but she thinks she is [...] she doesn’t understand what it means to be a hero. She doesn’t understand what it’s like to deal with a villain. Now, she’s face-to-face with Kang and she’s gotten all the people she loves in trouble. She had no idea that was going to happen."
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania officially kicks off Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and finds super-hero partners Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne returning to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope's parents Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible.
Kang is the 'Biggest, Baddest' Villain the MCU Has Ever Seen
Newton is far from the only one to hype the arrival of Kang, with actor Jonathan Majors recently describing the conflict and heartache within the character and describing him as “the biggest, baddest MCU villain that we've had."
Majors has also revealed the inspiration behind Kang the Conqueror, and while name-dropping more expected names such as Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan, the actor named an unexpected someone from the MCU – Tony Stark.
"Uh, the inspirations for Kang? He's a conqueror. You should look at Alexander the Great. Look at Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar starts there," Majors explained. "He's a part of an already established universe. Those are inspirations and then counterpoints, which is also important in creating a character is to figure out how they counter people. 'You're smart, but watch how smart I am'. So you can look at Robert Downey Jr's Iron Man and say okay, if that's the superhero of superhero, etcetera, and I'm to be the supervillain of supervillains. How do I counteract that in the zeitgeist. I can write a book about it at this point, but I'll close there."
Directed by Peyton Reed from a screenplay by Jeff Loveness, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang aka Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne aka Wasp, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne, and Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang, as well as David Dastmalchian, William Jackson Harper, Katy O'Brian, Bill Murray, Randall Park, and Corey Stoll.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is scheduled to be released on February 17, 2023.