Michelle Pfeiffer and Laurence Fishburne have joined the cast of Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man And The Wasp. Pfeiffer will be playing the role of Janet Van Dyne. Previously, Sharon Stone had been rumored for the role. Fisburne will be playing Dr. Bill Foster, a scientist who has replicated Ant-Man’s ability to shrink and grow and who has been on both sides of the law.
The comics, Van Dyne is the superheroine the Wasp. One time a partner, both in heroics and romantically, with Hank Pym, aka Ant-Man, and the creator of the shrinking technology that both heroes use.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) created the Ant-Man technology in the 1980s when he was a scientist and agent for the spy organization SHIELD. Janet joined him on several missions until she went missing when she shrunk down too small and entered what Pym called “the Quantum Realm,” never to escape. Pym quit SHIELD shortly afterwards.
All of this was backstory to the film’s main plot of Scott Lang (Scott Rudd) acquiring the Pym’s Ant-Man suit and becoming the new iteration of the hero. Hank and Janet’s daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly), was strongly hinted at becoming the new Wasp at the end of the film.
In Ant-Man‘s climax, Scott also shrunk down to the Quantum Realm, but managed to escape. This has lead to fan speculation that part of the new film will focus on rescuing Janet from the Quantum Realm. Conversely, Pfeiffer could be appearing only in further flashbacks to when she was a hero alongside her husband.
