‘Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania’ Clips: Paul Rudd & Company Take On Kang the Conqueror As Marvel Kicks Off Phase Five This Friday

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points, including the ending, of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” currently playing in theaters. One day in early 2020, Jeff Loveness got a call from his agent telling him to go to the Marvel Studios offices in Burbank by 3 p.m. that day, with no further information. It wasn’t until he walked into the meeting room and saw director Peyton Reed — who’d helmed Marvel’s “Ant-Man” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp” — that Loveness understood that he was there to talk about a third movie starring Paul Rudd’s incredible shrinking superhero. But then Loveness was asked a surprising question: “Do you have a take on Kang the Conqueror?”

is not only the third in a trilogy of movies from director Peyton Reed but it also officially kicks off Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film starring Paul Rudd as Scott Lang formally introduces Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror and the film franchise's new big bad after he first made a surprise appearance in the season 1 finale of . Kang's presence is expected to be a major presence in the remaining projects of both Phase Five and Phase Six, with presumably being one of the final chapters in that saga.

Paul Rudd to adopt a dog that supposedly looks like him.The Collierville Animal Shelter in Tennessee, US reached out to the Ant-Man actor on social media in the hope that he would provide a new home to Waffle House, a male Australian Shepherd mix.Believing that Waffle House bares an uncanny resemblance to the actor, the shelter decided to rename the dog Pawl Ruff.Ruff’s official adoption page reads: “Like Mr. Rudd, I’m a gentle, easy-going fella, the kind of guy you want to be your neighbour, best friend, or life long companion.

Paul Rudd is recalling his time on Friends and reflecting on how he felt being on the hit sitcom thinking that he shouldn’t be there.

While reflecting back on his time as Mike Hannigan in TV's "Friends," Paul Rudd admited feeling he "shouldn't be" in the final episode. "It was really fun and they were great," Rudd said of the "Friends" cast while appearing on the "Heart Breakfast" show with JK and Kelly Brook. "The whole thing was a bit surreal … to be a part of that." "I never knew that I was going to be in as many [episodes] that I was," Rudd explained.

Friends.The actor, who played Phoebe’s (Lisa Kudrow) third husband Mike Hannigan, first appeared in the sitcom in 2002 during the third episode of season nine.He had a recurring role throughout the show’s final two seasons, including an appearance in the final episode titled The Last One which aired in 2004.Speaking to Heart Breakfast on Friday (February 17) about his involvement in the sitcom, Rudd said: “The whole thing was a bit surreal I must say to be a part of that. Because I came on near the end… I never knew I was going to be in as many as I was.“But it also felt strange.

An animal shelter in Tennessee is calling on Paul Rudd to adopt a dog who bears an uncanny resemblance the “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” star.

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EXCLUSIVE: We’re hearing from box office sources that Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania zoomed to a $17M-$18M last night in previews from showtimes that started at 3PM. That figure, which could be higher or lower once Disney officially reports later this morning, is where Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2‘s Thursday night was back in 2017, at $17M.

Paul Rudd has some clear thoughts about other characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.During a Thursday night appearance on, the 53-year-old action star played a round of Plead the Fifth, where host Cohen tried to get him to shade his co-stars.«Which of the Marvel superheroes has the lamest powers… and is it Hawkeye?» Cohen quipped, referencing Jeremy Renner's arrow-slinging vigilante.Rudd laughed at the question before agreeing, saying, «Yeah, it's totally [Hawkeye]. I mean, he shoots arrows, come on. And I thought talking to ants was weird.»Despite the Marvel confession, Rudd has nothing but love for actor Renner.

Director Peyton Reed made it clear that leaving Michael Peña out of Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania wasn't a spur of the moment decision. The 58-year-old director, who has helmed all three of the Ant-Man standalone films, said there were 'no versions' of the film with Peña's character Luis in it. 'We obviously have our Lang, van Dyne and Pym family, but then we also introduced Kang, MODOK and all of our Freedom Fighter characters,' he said in an interview with Insider. 'So we had to make decisions early on about what stories we could tell and what stories we couldn’t tell.'He continued on by saying that he loves Peña's character as well as his fellow thieves Kurt (David Dastmalchian) and Dave (T.I.) who support Paul Rudd's Scott Lang, but he saw no way to incorporate them into the film. Peña played Luis in the first two Ant-Man films, serving as both friend to Lang and comic relief at times for the audience.  Not in the new chapter: Director Peyton Reed made it clear that leaving Michael Peña out of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania wasn't a spur of the moment decision (pictured 2015 in Ant-Man) Dastmalchian said that he would not be in the movie early last year saying, 'It doesn’t look like it...

The stars of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania are taking over London!

Fans checking out Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in theaters this weekend might be surprised to see that franchise star Michael Pena is not in the movie.

It’s a wonder that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (★★★☆☆) should work as well as it does, or feel half as transporting as it does, when, by the looks of it, the actors were planted inside a studio for the majority of the action, and it shows. For the size-shifting superhero’s third solo MCU outing, director Peyton Reed — also at the helm for Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp — filmed much of this journey to the sub-atomic fantasia known as the Quantum Realm using technology that surrounds the actors in an immersive digital environment. Rather than emoting towards blank green and blue screens, Paul Rudd, as thief-turned-Avenger Ant-Man a.k.a. Scott Lang, can gaze across a virtual Quantum Realm and perform face-to-face opposite whatever outlandish creatures the filmmakers might imagine.

Hannah John-Kamen's Ghost is not a character that appears in, director Peyton Reed couldn't be more excited that he'll get to see her in the MCU again soon.The character, whose real name is Ava Starr, was introduced as the antagonist of 2018's, which Reed also directed. Ultimately, it was revealed near the end of the film that she wasn't really a villain at all -- Ava had a painful condition that made her molecularly unstable and her battles with Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) were merely just her efforts to stay alive.John-Kamen is set to reprise the character in Marvel's upcoming, which will team her up with Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent and Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster. «I love it,» Reed said of the casting.

*Warning: Loki season 1 spoilers*New Marvel supervillain actor Jonathan Majors has revealed he ‘built’ his character of Kang the Conqueror from the ground up for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, even though he made his MCU debut back in 2021.The latest Marvel blockbuster release sees hero Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) stuck in the Quantum Realm alongside his family, including daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), partner Hope Van Dyne/Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), and her parents, Dr Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer).Janet was rescued in the previous movie after being trapped there for 30 years, and Quantumania sheds light on what she was up to during that time – and who she met.In the role of Kang, Majors is being set up for a Phase Five story arc that will also include him in the next two Avengers movies as the latest big bad.However, with things as wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey as they already are thanks to the Marvel Multiverse, Majors previously appeared as Kang variant He Who Remains on the TV show Loki with Tom Hiddleston back in 2021.Asked if he took anything from his approach to his character to Loki over to Quantumania, the actor revealed it was all different.Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk at the UK gala screening, he said: ‘The thing is that for the missions of the Kangdom it’s important to build all the guys separately, build everything separately, and let them have their own life and their own understanding.

Evangeline Lilly stole the spotlight at the U.K. premiere of On Thursday, the 43-year-old actress was all smiles as she hit the red carpet at BFI IMAX Waterloo in London, England, wearing a fun silver sequin gown with plenty of tassels. The look was a perfect match for her gray hair and new buzz cut.At the premiere, Lilly twirled her tassel-adorned dress for photographers and posed with her  co-stars -- including Paul Rudd, Jonathan Majors, Michael Douglas and Kathryn Newton -- as well as the film's director, Peyton Reed. Lilly seemed to first show off her new buzz cut earlier this week on Instagram.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is set to become the next blockbuster Marvel, and is set to be the longest in the Ant-Man series to date.The long-awaited start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s fifth phase is released in the UK from Friday (February 17), and is expected to be one of the biggest films at the box office this year.How long is Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania?The original Ant-Man, released in 2015, had a run-time just shy of two hours – clocking in at one hour and 58 minutes. The second film to star Paul Rudd as the size-changing superhero, Ant-Man and The Wasp, ran at exactly the same time.However, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, is due to exceed its predecessors, and will clock in a run of two hours and five minutes – making it the longest Ant-Man film stand-alone film to date.NME‘s review hailed Quantumania as the perfect vehicle for the arrival of “a major new Marvel villain” in the form of Jonathan Major’s Kang the Conqueror.