Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania director Peyton Reed seems to confirm that M.O.D.O.K. is really Corey Stoll's Yellowjacket from the first Ant-Man film.

While speaking with ScreenRant (via YouTube), Reed was asked about M.O.D.O.K.'s role in Quantumania and the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing's connection to the Ant Family. "M.O.D.O.K. has been waiting in the wings for a while," Reed said, sharing that the villain had been considered for other projects beforehand. "We hit an idea of, as we were going to bring our family into the Quantum Realm [and] in contact with Kang [the Conqueror], how could Kang know about the Ant Family? And then it occurred to me, 'What happens to Yellowjacket at the end of the first Ant-Man?'"

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Who Is Yellowjacket in Ant-Man?

To recap who Yellowjacket is, in Ant-Man (2015), the Yellowjacket suit was a weaponized version of Hank Pym's (Michael Douglas) Ant-Man technology, and similarly allowed the wearer to adjust their size to become super small. The suit was developed by Stoll's Darren Cross, a tech mogul who forced Pym out of his own company and made it his mission to uncover the secrets of Ant-Man for profit. While Cross wore the Yellowjacket suit during a final confrontation with Ant-Man Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Cross' regulator was damaged, causing his body to uncontrollably shrink limb by limb until he vanished into nothingness.

Reed recounted pitching a link between M.O.D.O.K. and Yellowjacket to Quantumania producer Stephen Broussard and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, and later speaking to Stoll about the idea. "I remember calling Corey Stoll and talking to him about 'What if this happened?' and him giggling on the other line," Reed shared. Stoll responded, "If you guys do that, I'm in," Reed explaining that the actor "loved" the idea as a "comics nerd" himself.

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Kang the Conqueror and MODOK Are Quantumania’s Big Villains

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe caught their first glimpse at M.O.D.O.K. both masked and unmasked in a trailer for Quantumania. While he is only seen unmasked for a brief moment, M.O.D.O.K.'s face does bear a striking resemblance to Stoll's, but Reed does not explicitly say that M.O.D.O.K. and Yellowjacket are one and the same in the interview. M.O.D.O.K. is another antagonist appearing in Quantumania alongside the film's big bad, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors).

After already playing a variant of Kang in the Disney+ series Loki, Majors makes his full debut as the time-traveling conqueror in Quantumania. Based on trailers and promos for the movie, the Ant Family will be sucked into the Quantum Realm, where Scott will work both with and against Kang over time-related goals. One tagline for Quantumania is "Witness the beginning of a new dynasty," indicating that the film will help set up the next Avengers movie slated for 2025, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania releases in theaters on Feb. 17, 2023.

Source: YouTube