Ant-Man 3 is the MCU's Star Wars? Director Peyton Reed says Quantum Realm was designed to be different

Is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kind of like the Marvel Cinematic Universe's (MCU) take on Star Wars?

After the trailer for the upcoming Marvel flick was dropped with more sights within the Quantum Realm revealed, it's hard to shake the feeling that we've seen something similar in a galaxy far, far away.

In fact, early reviews have even likened the film to the epic space opera franchise.

However, director Peyton Reed told AsiaOne in an exclusive interview in early February that he had intended for them to be different.

When asked if there's any truth to the comparison and if Star Wars had influenced the film, the 58-year-old said: "I don't think Quantamania was really influenced by Star Wars other than I love the way Star Wars made me feel as a kid."

The approach to creating the Quantum Realm, since it's so varied and diverse, was to draw inspiration from "a bunch of things that thrilled me and influenced me as a kid and as an adult".

"So I think that (Star Wars) is probably one of many. If anything, it was like, how do we make the Quantum Realm different from the Star Wars universe? That was a thing that we really felt like, I wanted to make it different from that. I wanted to make it different from, you know, other environments we've experienced within the MCU."

[[nid:617161]]

Aside from the Star Wars comparisons, Jonathan Majors has also gotten rave reviews from critics for his portrayal of Kang.

Not surprising, considering that he's being touted as the actor of his generation and has received lots of praise for his performances in other film and television projects prior to joining the MCU.

Though there were other contenders for the role of Kang, Peyton admitted that Jonathan was "the only guy for me".

He said: "I first saw him in this movie Hostiles with Christian Bale, and in a small role, he just blew me away. And Da 5 Bloods — the Spike Lee movie — and Last Black Man in San Francisco. He has this incredible body of work but the thing you remember is that he has this incredible range and this presence.

"So I talked to Marvel and Kevin and really pushed hard for Jonathan because he felt like the guy. I needed someone who was physically imposing for Kang, and someone who had some real depth and some real gravitas.

"He was the only guy for me. I was just blown away by Jonathan and I was thrilled that he said yes."

For the full interview with Peyton, including his thoughts on Ant-Man films being a "palate cleanser" and whether he'll go back to directing romantic comedies, check out our latest episode of E-Junkies.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now showing in cinemas.

bryanlim@asiaone.com

No part of this article can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.