Ant-Man and The Wasp Trailer #2 Analysis

If the events of Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War still weigh heavily on fans, the consider the new trailer for Ant-Man and The Wasp as the perfect antidote, offers lots of action, humor, visual gags and ... an enormous ant playing the drums. That beats out an Infinity Gauntlet, any day.

That's not to suggest there isn't a lot to unpack from the new footage, which reveals more about the film's antagonist The Ghost, returns to the Quantum Realm, and properly introduces audiences to Laurence Fishburne's Dr. Bill Foster, who just may end up in a good-natured rivalry with Paul Rudd's Scott Lang.

We break down the trailer's highlights, and biggest questions, below.

'How Long Have You Been Ant-Man Again?'

This opening exchange between Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) does more than set up the visual gag with the giant-size hero "messing up" and his new partnership with The Wasp. It emphasizes the conflict at the core of Scott's "career" as Ant-Man -- does the ex-con choose family over helping others? -- reaffirms that he did hang up the suit for a while following the events of Captain America: Civil War, and just may foreshadow a development in 2019's Avengers 4.

In the scene, young Cassie tells her father, "I wish I could fight bad guys like you." If a recent report is to be believed, she may get her chance. Emma Fuhrmann (Blended) reportedly has been cast as an older Cassie Lang in the Infinity War sequel, which suggests either time travel or a time jump. In the comics, a teenage Cassie has assumed the costumed identities of both Stature and Stinger.

Now THAT's a Scooter

As with the teaser trailer, we see director Peyton Reed and the film's writers (which include Paul Rudd) embrace scale, creating fantastic visual moments, like an enormous salt shaker or Pez dispenser, and here, where Rudd as Giant-Man employs a flatbed truck as a scooter in a high-speed chase.

Of course, Scott Lang being Scott Lang, what starts out well enough -- he flicks a gun out of a thief's hand, and then kicks their vehicle off of the street -- goes comically awry, as he quickly discovers he's picked up so much moment that he can't stop his "scooter."

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Sonny Burch, Meet Giant-Man

That's Walton Goggins (Justified) as Sonny Burch, who in the film has been characterized as a low-level criminal (in comics, he's actually a minor Iron Man villain who worked for Cross Technological Enterprises). He's holding in his lap Hank Pym's entire lab, which we saw miniaturized for easy transport in the teaser.

In this new footage, it's a bit of a hot potato, also shown in the possession of Michael Peña's Luis and, dramatically, returning to its full size in the middle of a street.

Hank Pym's Hour of Need

Luis brings everyone up to speed in one brief scene, much to the chagrin of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas): The scientist succeeded in accessing the Quantum Realm in search of his long-lost wife Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), which somehow enabled The Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) to steal his technology. Now, she apparently wants to take over the world, "or whatever." That brings Pym to Luis and his colleagues for help in his "hour of need." Oh, brother.

Back Into the Quantum Realm

Scott Lang's journey into, and back out of, the subatomic Quantum Realm in 2015's Ant-Man demonstrated to Hank that there is a way to access that microverse. He retired as a superhero decades ago to dedicate his life to rescuing his wife Janet van Dyne, who sacrificed herself to disarm a Soviet missile, and became trapped there, presumably for eternity.

Michelle Pfeiffer's role in the sequel presumably isn't limited to flashbacks, so we can expect that Hank (with help from Scott and Hope) is successful, but possibly only after he reclaims his stolen technology from The Ghost.

'Follow My Lead'

As we might expect, considering both Ant-Man and the teaser for the sequel, Hope van Dyne isn't only better equipped than Scott Lang but better suited to be a superhero. Oh, sure, he gets an "A" for effort (and for Ant-Man), but whereas much of his success owes to imagination and dumb luck, Hope is a highly trained combatant, and very possibly a born leader. That dynamic will no doubt be central to the drama, and the comedy, of their fledgling partnership.

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It's a Giant Drumming Ant, Because ... of Course

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is chock-full of dinosaurs, sure, but what summer movie other than Ant-Man and The Wasp will give audiences a giant ant playing the drums? None.

While Scott Lang, and fans, undoubtedly still mourn the passing of the passing of the carpenter ant Antony in the 2015 film, Marvel Studios is doing its darnedest to make us fall in love with ... let's call him Ringo, for now. Ringo, the giant, drumming ant.

What Does The Ghost Really Want?

Contrary to Luis' claim that she "wants to take over the world, or whatever," it seems unlikely The Ghost has global conquest on her mind. Instead, it's more probable that she poses a much more personal threat, to Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne. It's a safe bet that some of the technology she stole is essential to either returning to the Quantum Realm or safely retrieving Janet van Dyne.

The question is whether The Ghost has some other connection to the Quantum Realm. Did she merely steal Pym's tech, enabling her to phase through objects and turn invisible, or does she somehow come from the microverse?

Wait, What's That Streak?

That brings us to this brief sequence, within the Quantum Realm, which raises a couple of questions: 1.) Is that Hank Pym or Scott Lang wearing the Ant-Man costume; and 2.) Who is that fast-moving streak?

There are two likely answers to the second -- that it's Janet van Dyne, perhaps psychologically affected by her decades-long imprisonment, or that it's The Ghost, who does indeed originate from that alternate dimension.

Size DOES Matter

At last we get a proper introduction to Laurence Fishburne as Dr. Bill Foster, who not only teases the potential for another Marvel hero with a reference to the Goliath project, but plays a role in one of the funnier exchanges of the trailer as he and Scott Lang compare ... sizes. That is, how tall they've grown using the Pym Particles. If it matters, Scott wins, with 65 feet versus Bill's 21 feet (originally, Bill Foster only grew to 15 feet in the comics).

Up From the Depths ...

The exchange between Scott and Bill is punctuated by an extended version of a sequence seen in the teaser trailer, as a giant-size Ant-Man emerges out of San Francisco Bay, and looms over a passing ferry. This is presumably when Scott reaches his full 65 feet, but the best part of this scene is his booming laugh, which no doubt translate more as "terrifying" than "amusing" to the ferry's passengers.

Opening July 6, director Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man and the Wasp stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne, Judy Greer as Maggie, Bobby Canavale as Paxton, Michael Peña as Luis, T.I. as Dave, David Dastmalchian as Kurt, Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, and Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster.