How Ant-Man Saves the Universe

Ant-Man doesn't have the strength of Thor or the cunning of Black Widow or even the fighting skill of almost any Avenger. However, what he does have is heart and a smart tech genius like Hank Pym helping him out every step of the way. That is why, with Hank's help, Ant-Man will save the universe.

CAUTION: Before I go further, there will be SPOILERS to the Avengers: Infinity War film in this blog post, so if you haven't seen it yet, may want to avoid this one. 

Saving the world can be a dirty job...for an ant...man.

EVENTS OF INFINITY WAR:

As many of you may remember, Thanos snapped his bling fingers and eviscerated half of all life as we know it. Thanos, now the hero of his own story, is gone and the gauntlet destroyed with all the infinity stones missing. It really is a mystery what happens next. 

There are a lot of gaps, leaving many people to speculate what will happen next, but I have a good idea what may happen. The heroes who dematerialized at the end of the movie are clearly not dead. How do I know this? Contracts and comic books!

Pretty much everyone who disappeared (Black Panther, Spiderman, the Guardians of the Galaxy, to name a few) all have another movie coming out in Marvel's Phase 2 schedule. I know, kind of lame way to know that, but it makes the most sense to me. Also, if you read some of the Infinity War comics, or any comics, you know death is pretty short-lived.

This means someone has to save them.

Ant-Man and Hawkeye were the two most noticeable no-shows in Infinity War, only mentioned by name (even though I think Ant-Man was doing some miniature spy work that we couldn't see, but I'll get to that later). 

Ant-Man is going to make a huge impact on the story moving forward, along with another character teased at the end of the movie: Captain Marvel.

Reader: "So, how does Ant-Man save the world? Tell me or I'm leaving!"

Fine, I'll tell you, just giving everyone some quick background. Geez!

HOW ANT-MAN SAVES THE UNIVERSE:

If you have watched the any of the Ant-Man and Wasp trailers recently, you know that they are facing off against a villain who seems to have a firm control of time and reality. Luis, in one of the trailers, hints at the villain stealing Hank's technology that allows the wielder to access the quantum realm.

Now, if you really have been paying attention to all the movies, you know that the quantum realm has been hinted at a few times. 

In the first Ant-Man, Scott Lang is trapped in the quantum realm after his battle with Cross and barely escapes. In Doctor Strange, Stephen flies through the quantum realm for a short period of time. 

I believe this will be a major part of the next movie because I think the quantum realm is where everyone went after the Thanos-led Armageddon. They're all trapped there, and Ant-Man will need to bust them out! 

Ant-Man, who I believe was monitoring every move Thanos made during Infinity War, stayed in a miniature state and was waiting for the best opportunity to stop him. But, when he arrived on Vormir, Ant-Man stayed behind to find the best location to enter the quantum realm with the least amount of problems. 

Before Ant-Man even goes to Vormir, the hard work was already done. Hank refines the technology to handle the conditions, maybe with the help of Tony Stark, and Captain Marvel will assist in some capacity when retrieving them. Maybe she has knowledge of the quantum realm from her alien interactions or can travel there due to her Kree-infused DNA.

In broad terms, that is how Ant-Man saves the universe: By going into the quantum realm with Captain Marvel, where all time is irrelevant, and traveling back through time to save them and preventing Thanos from getting the stones in the first place. 

I am aware I'm not the only one with this theory, there are others who thought of this as well. ScreenRant also has a theory that's nearly identical to mine with more industry-related knowledge. Definitely check it out.

Anyways, that is my theory. There may be many like it, but this one is mine. Let me know your theories in the comments or feel free to tweet or email at me. Now it's time to sit back, relax, and hope my theory pans out. July 6th can't come soon enough!

-J.J.

Avengers: Infinity War - The BIGGEST Movie Of The Year

Marvel is going all out for this movie and it will be the biggest movie of the year. Not much of a statement if you are a fan of the Marvel movies or have been semi-conscious in the comic book world. The movie was literally the biggest when they first announced the cast.

CAST:

If anyone remembers those Expendable movie trailers where they just list action star after action star, it's like that, except triple the size. All of the characters from the last 10 years are returning from Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man to Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther. Along with the returning characters will get to see new heroes and villains as well (I won't say who in case you'll like surprises). Knowing there is these many actors in one movie, many of them award winners, it's bound to be cameo bonanza. 

If you are interested in a list of the cast, you can click the button below.

So, the cast size is massive. But, what about the run-time?

RUN-TIME:

The movie currently clocks in at a Lord of the Rings level TWO HOURS AND 40 MINUTES! Yes, I yelled when I heard about it. Why? Because it's the longest Marvel movie in the collective Marvel Universe and if the Russo Brothers are telling the truth, Avengers 4 will be even longer.

To give it a bit more perspective, here are a few movies that can claim to be that long:

1. Watchmen (2hrs 43min)
2. Troy (2hrs 43min)
3. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2hrs 41min)
4. Avatar (2hrs 40min)
5. Dark Knight Rises (2hrs 45min)
6. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2hrs 41min)
7. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2hrs 32min)

*NOTE: The Lord of Rings and Hobbit movies are all longer.

The run-time of this movie is setting Avengers: Infinity War up to become a true epic. Now we have a large cast size and a long run-time. Outside of those visible factors, what makes this movie the biggest movie of the year? One word: Anticipation

The press tours, the trailers, the overall hype of seeing every after-credit sequence finally coming together is mind boggling. To think, 10 years ago, there was going to be this expanded universe that would get to this boiling point of epic action is incredible. 

The only other movie franchise that can garner this amount of attention is probably Star Wars and Star Wars took arguably longer to reach the same heights as Marvel is at today. This movie has the potential to create what movie theaters have been desperately lacking to bring people in as well. Marvel is making this movie not just a movie, but an event. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to create enough anticipation for fans and non-fans to be interested in anything. However, the level of anticipation built up over the years will make this movie a grand event for fans and catapult the film to the prestigious status of biggest movie of the year. Some early positive reactions, like here and here, also help too!

I for one can't wait for Friday to see a both a conclusion of one timeline and the beginning of a new era of superheroes. Movie drops on April 27th, but you should already know that.

-- J.J.

P.S.  Venom trailer just dropped yesterday as well, so check it out below: 

Avengers: Infinity War is Coming!!!

Get hyped because the Avengers are coming to town! Although made pretty clear in their latest trailer, Avengers: Infinity War is coming a little bit early. Premiering April 27 and it's already tracking to be the best selling MCU movie of all time.

I am beyond excited for this film to drop. It feels like this is the movie every fan has been waiting for. A sort of semi conclusion to the old MCU and an opening to the new universe. The event that brings everyone together to fend off the "spiritual journey" of Thanos. 

However, this film is actually quite a bit different than the comic book, The Infinity Wars. 

The Comic

The Infinity Wars comic book is a six-part series made back in 1992 about Adam Warlock and what happens after he is deemed "unworthy" of using and controlling the Infinity Gauntlet. It's a complicated story, but I will try to simplify it.

Magus, the evil incarnation of Adam, was created from the use of the gauntlet and now Magus wants revenge against Adam. Probably blames Adam for keeping him locked up emotionally. For Magus to defeat Adam, he needs help. Magus sets out on a universal conquest to find 5 cosmic cubes in order to create an army of evil superhero doppelgangers and conquer the universe.

Pretty crazy right! I'd say more, but I don't want to ruin it. The story has a fair share of twists and turns. The film is different.

The Film

I stumbled upon a "logline" for the film in an article by Anthony Breznican at Entertainment Weekly: 

"It's the story of a humble rock collector, traveling from afar to fulfill his lifelong dream, only to run afoul of mask-wearing troublemakers."

Pure gold! Humble rock collector gets me every time I read it. He's right though. It's a story about Thanos and his unquenchable thirst for domination and power, which can be achieved through the collection of the infinity stones. 

The Difference

The big difference between the comic book series and the movie are pretty apparent. Thanos in the film is a combination of comic book Thanos and comic book Magus. In the comic, Adam Warlock is an important character. In the film, we are hinted at creation of Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. From my understanding, the Adam Warlock in MCU movie series will more likely follow the Earth X series with Kismet. Although, I don't know if we'll see a Mar-Vell reincarnation. 

There are quite a few more differences, but I feel those would be moving in on spoiler territory, so I won't mention them. You're welcome!

Anyways, I'm excited to see this story unfold on the big screen and bring some closure to lingering questions in the collective series of Marvel films. We'll also get more questions, but that is a discussion for after the film's release. 

Next week, I hope to blog a bit about the Ready Player One movie coming out on March 29th. If not, it means I'm too busy living in a virtual world controlled by Grandmaster and ants with oversized spectacles. Sounds like an Ant-Man meets Guardians of the Galaxy movie that I would totally watch!

- J.J.