It’s pretty well accepted that Marvel has a huge stranglehold on the Superhero movie market. Arguably ever since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the comic/movie giant has dipped their action films into a fine coating of other genres as well. Winter Soldier was a political thriller/spy movie, Guardians of the Galaxy was a comedy about a ragtag band of not-quite-good-guys, and even Spider-Man: Homecoming had a huge mix of a high school coming-of-age story mixed in between action scenes.
They’ve all done exceptionally well with their mixture of genres, keeping the franchise fresh at the same time. It turns out, they’re doing it again with Ant-Man and the Wasp by mixing it with a romantic comedy vibe.
The first Ant-Man was also a heist movie built on top of a superhero action movie. But at the end of the film, it’s revealed that Angeline Lily’s character, the Wasp, would be teaming up with Ant-Man. But while initial fan reactions may be unsure, the romantic tension throughout the first film sets it up perfectly to combine action and RomCom in the sequel.
This is the first time Marvel has done anything close to a Romantic Comedy. There have been love interests in previous films, but they’ve taken a major backseat in the past. As it turns out, both Evangeline Lilly and Paul Rudd (Ant-Man himself) have RomCom experience, as does the director Peyton Reed (The Break-Up).
Seeing Marvel dip into another genre, while still keeping the superhero vibe as the focus, really shows their ability to stay relevant. They keep the genre fresh, but it also follows comic trends closer than one may think. There’s more to a comic than the action scenes. Many iconic relationships stem from comics: Cyclops and Jean Grey, Gambit and Rogue, and of course, Ant-Man and Wasp.
Ant-Man and the Wasp is set to release on July 6, 2018.
