Amidst the hype for “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Avengers: Infinity War,” Marvel Studios announced at its Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con that Michelle Pfeiffer will swap out Catwoman’s whip for some shrinking technology and play Janet Van Dyne, the long-lost wife of Hank Pym and the original Wasp in next summer’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp.”
In the first “Ant-Man,” Van Dyne was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who fought alongside Pym using the Ant-Man and Wasp suits they developed together. The two worked extremely well together, but in 1987, their partnership — and marriage — came to a tragic end when they were tasked with stopping a Soviet missile from killing millions of innocent people.
With no other option, Van Dyne sacrificed herself by shrinking past the point of no return to disarm the bomb, becoming lost in the Quantum Realm in the process. The loss of Van Dyne caused Pym to retire from S.H.I.E.L.D. and hang up his Ant-Man suit for good… until Scott Lang dragged him and his daughter, Hope, back into the world of superheroes by stealing the Ant-Man suit during the first movie. Serving as a mentor to Lang convinced Pym to move on from losing his wife and fellow superhero, and he chose to give Hope a new version of the Wasp suit to follow in the footsteps of her mother.
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Before she jumps into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pfeiffer will star alongside Jennifer Lawrence, Ed Harris and Javier Bardem in Darren Aronofsky’s “Mother!”, which will be in theaters Sept. 15. She will also be in the ensemble cast of the upcoming adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” which comes out in November.
Pfeiffer will be joined in the sequel by returning “Ant-Man” stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas, with Peyton Reed returning to direct. “Ant-Man and the Wasp” premieres July 6, 2018.