How Ant-Man and The Wasp Bridges the Gap Between Civil War & Infinity War

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp, in theaters now.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is different than your typical Marvel movie, and not just because it features a giant ant that plays the drums.

While most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films are released in a linear manner, where the time that takes place in-between movies is the time that actually unfolds in the universe itself, the Ant-Man sequel actually winds the clock back a little. Avengers: Infinity War decimated the very landscape of the entire cosmos, but Ant-Man and the Wasp doesn't pick up those broken pieces. Instead, the sequel takes place before Infinity War, and nearly two years after the events of Captain America: Civil War.

So what has Scott been up to since he fought alongside Captain America's crew against Iron Man and his team of Avengers? Infinity War gave us a subtle tease by confirming that Scott was under house arrest, but it skimmed over the full story. Well, now that Ant-Man and the Wasp is in theaters, we know exactly what went down for Hank, Hope and Scott in-between the two big Marvel films. As one can imagine when Scott Lang is around, there was actually a whole lot of trouble to be found.

Since Scott joined Captain America during the implementation of the Sokovia Accords, the reformed criminal-turned superhero actually broke the law by fighting against the rest of the Avengers. As a result, Scott ended up being locked up in the supermax prison dubbed The Raft. But soon after, Steve Rogers would break his team out, and this is where Captain America: Civil War ended.

However, to protect his daughter, Scott later surrendered to the authorities, and struck a deal with them to never be Ant-Man again, abandon all contact with Hank and Hope Pym, and spend two years under house arrest. When we first see Scott in Ant-Man and the Wasp, we learn that he only has three days left on his 2-year probation, meaning he's almost out of the woods.

But Scott isn't the only one who's being closely watched by the authorities. Since he broke the law and went to Germany as an unlicensed superhero, the government were able to deduce that the Ant-Man was using Pym technology to power his suit. For that reason, the government is now after Hope and Hank Pym as well, both of whom are in possession of unregulated tech. Naturally, this led to the Pyms being furious with Scott, to the point that the two parties haven't spoken to each other in these past two years.

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We come to learn that, before Captain America: Civil War, Scott and Hope had begun training together as a crime-fighting team, and that they had become a couple for a brief period of time. However, Scott running off with the Avengers to Germany without telling Hope or Hank didn't go over well with the Pyms, and it was only made worse by the fact that he got caught and led the authorities to their doorstep. Hope broke things off with Scott, and now she and Hank are on the run, leaving their house behind to live off the grid.

When Hope and Scott are reunited, they take a bit of time to talk about Germany, and the superhero Civil War. Hope insinuates that she may have joined the fight had she been asked but, more than anything, she makes it clear that with her help, Scott never would have gotten caught. This further cements the idea that the two superheroes had become quite close in their training, which is only further demonstrated later when the two prove to be a well-oiled fighting machine.

With Scott's two years of house arrest almost up, this means that the ending of Ant-Man and the Wasp is ready to sync up with the arrival of Avengers: Infinity War. This is made painstakingly clear during the mid-credits scene of the film, where Scott takes a quick trip to the Quantum Realm in the hopes of further helping the Ghost.

However, he isn't able to come back, given the shocking development that sees Hope, Hank and Janet all crumble to ash as a result of Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet-powered finger snap. Now Scott is trapped, all alone in the Quantum Realm, hopeless, but somehow ready to play his part in the untitled Avengers 4.

In theaters now, director Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man and The Wasp stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Hannah John-Kamen, Randall Park and Walton Goggins.