Ant-Man 3 casting leak may reveal how the first X-Men joins the MCU
Are you ready to be dazzled?
Ant-Man 3 holds a special place in Marvel’s Phase Four slate. The blockbuster sequel is said to be the first MCU film that will feature Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror — a villain many believe will take over for Thanos as the MCU’s new big bad — and could lay some important groundwork for whatever is to come in Avengers 5.
The casting of Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang also implies that the film will see the character finally become a superhero like her father, which may in turn help set up Marvel’s rumored Young Avengers project. And now, an alleged casting leak from the film suggests that it could feature the MCU debut of yet another notable Marvel comics character.
The Theory — Murphy’s Multiverse reports that Marvel is currently in the process of casting another major role for Ant-Man 3 (officially titled Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), which is set to begin filming in the U.K. this coming July. According to the report, the studio is looking to hire a “young female of any ethnicity” between 9 and 12 years old to play an “unnamed lead character” in Quantumania.
The character will reportedly be 10 years old in the film, and the studio intends to cast an actress with “singing, dancing, and comedic chops.” The report goes on to note that it’s unlikely the character being cast is a younger version of Kathryn Newton’s Cassie Lang since Abby Ryder Fortson (who played Cassie in the first two Ant-Man movies) is still young enough to fill that role.
So who could the mystery character be?
“This city is a symphony. And I'm her speaker.”
A Dazzling Possibility — Until Marvel formally reveals the entire cast of characters in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, it’s hard to know who this supposed mystery character is. That being said, the mention that the chosen actress must have singing, dancing, and comedic skills does hint at one iconic character from the Marvel comics who has yet to appear in the MCU.
We are, of course, talking about Dazzler.
A fan-favorite comics character, Dazzler is a professional singer with the power to manipulate sound into light. She’s capable of creating light shows, holograms, blinding people, and can even shoot bursts of light out of her body. She’s basically what it would look like if a pop star was an actual superhero.
She’s also a mutant in the comics, which is why she hasn’t appeared in the MCU up to this point. Now that Marvel has the ability to use mutants in its films now though, it’s entirely possible that it’ll start planting certain mutant characters in their upcoming projects and Dazzler makes sense for the Ant-Man franchise’s lighter comedic tone.
The character’s minuscule movie history (she only made a brief appearance in X-Men: Dark Phoenix) means the studio doesn’t need to worry about viewers getting used to a new actress in the role either.
The Inverse Analysis — Assuming that this report is correct and there really is a mystery role being cast right now for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, there are a few possibilities of who the character could be.
They could end up being a younger version of Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Van Dyne or Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet, or an entirely new superpowered character. Of those possibilities, Dazzler is still the most exciting, and one of the only characters an actress would logically need dancing and singing skills to play.
So who knows? Maybe Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will give the MCU its first-ever superpowered pop star? And if Marvel was to keep her origin story from the comics, then she’d also be the MCU’s first mutant. Talk about taking out two birds with one stone.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be released in theaters on February 17, 2023.
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