'Ant-Man and the Wasp' Release Date Announced; Ant-Man 2 Sequel Features Marvel's First Heroine 'The Wasp'

Oct 09, 2015 01:21 PM EDT

Marvel fans are excited about the unveiling of the first Marvel film to be named after its heroine.

But the upcoming movie that has been scheduled to be released by July 6, 2018 is not the much ballyhooed Captain Marvel, but is a sequel to the Ant-Man, and will be co-headlined by his heroine, The Wasp. The movie's title? It's The Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Paul Rudd plays the reformed thief and electronics expert super hero while Evangeline Lilly will reprise her role as Hope.

An official release from Marvel Studios reports that Captain Marvel will not be the immediate release next in line in the Marvel Cinematic Universe line-up, but instead, the Ant-Man sequel will be at the forefront despite unflagging media talk about Carol Danvers zipping up as the iconic superheroine.

Meanwhile, Wired reports that the Ant-Man sequel's new release date will be affecting a few other Marvel films in the pipeline. Marvel's Phase 3 includes Black Panther, which is moved to Feb. 16, 2016 while Captain Marvel will be pushed out even further to March 8, 2019. Wired reports that the new schedules were also influenced by when news that Marvel's deal with Sony to relaunch Spider-Man fell through.

All these changes may or may not disappoint fans who are already totally pumped up from the Captain Marvel talk that has been spreading in social media like wildfire since 2012. After all, many are equally eager to see Scott Lang return alongside Hope Van Dyne on the equally anticipated Ant-Man sequel.

The first Ant-Man film has so far made $178.5 million on domestic runs while it has earned $231.3 million internationally. In fact these figures are still set to soar as the Ant-Man will open its final international run in China on October 16.

Just as successful was Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron, which made a global total of $1.405 million around the world, making it the 6th highest ranking film of all time on a global level.

Will Ant-Man and the Wasp equal or even exceed the success of these films? Time will soon tell.