When it came time to craft the unique tone of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the team behind the film looked to Spider-Man comics and The Lord of the Rings films.

Ant-Man 3 writer Jeff Loveness spoke to SFX magazine about creating the threequel with director Peyton Reed and how they upped the stakes while still keeping the heart of the franchise. "In the beginning, we talked about what tone we wanted. The first two movies are pretty light on their feet, pretty comedic," Loveness said. "Talking about it with Peyton, it was almost a joke at first – 'What if we just made this Return Of The King?' – but we leaned into it. 'What if, all of a sudden, Ant-Man is accidentally in this massive Lord Of The Rings, Avengers-scale movie, basically by himself – though obviously the Wasp and his family are in there too."

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It was the family element that ultimately grounded the action and plot, a throughline from the first Ant-Man film. "There's this deep family story that goes with it, so I also wanted to pay off all the dynamics between Hope and her family, Hank and Janet, Scott and Cassie and Scott and Hope as well," Loveness said. "Luckily, [Paul] Rudd and Evangeline [Lilly] and all those guys, they’ve got such warm personalities that you can lean on their charm. People like the characters and they’re along for the ride."

Ant-Man Meets Lord of the Rings

It wasn't just the third Lord of the Rings film that inspired Loveness. The franchise as a whole, especially the first film, helped guide the upcoming Marvel film. And when it came to comic book source material, Loveness actually pulled a lot from another bug-themed hero known for his heart and humor.

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"I was watching Fellowship Of The Ring the other day and was struck by how quickly the tone shifts from being light-hearted and comedic to intense apocalyptic stakes," he said. "Sometimes we like to peg movies down, so they can only be one thing. But that's the charm of old adventure movies for me. And that was the joy of Marvel Comics as a kid. Spider-Man does that better than anyone. He has such personal problems and such horrible things happening to him, but the basic drumbeat is always upbeat and funny and the character's charming, so you kind of stumble along with him. I used that as a blueprint, to try to embody those Marvel comics I loved as a kid, which were able to balance both."

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters Feb. 17.

Source: SFX