Paul Rudd Opened Up About How 'Ant-Man And The Wasp' Connects To 'Infinity War'

Now that the buzz surrounding Avengers: Infinity War has finally died down, Marvel fans are gearing up for the next super hero-sized release: Ant-Man and The Wasp, a sequel to the 2015 blockbuster Ant-Man. To promote his new movie, Paul Rudd has been on the PR circuit, and he's been dropping clues left and right about what fans should expect. As excited as I am about these small details, I have a more pressing question: Does Ant-Man and The Wasp connect to Infinity War? If Marvel is going to release two major movies just months apart, they have to be connected, right?

In a recent interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Rudd finally answered that very question. The new Ant-Man movie picks up a few years after the events of Captain America: Civil War, in which Rudd's Ant-Man was arrested for participating in the Avengers fight and put on house arrest. According to Rudd, Scott Lang's ongoing legal issues prevented him from teaming up with the Avengers to fight Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.

"If you remember, at the end of Civil War, all the Avengers are fighting, and I get caught, and I get put under house arrest," Rudd told Seth Meyers. "That is why I'm not in Infinity War." Apparently, the only thing more powerful than Thanos with six infinity stones is the American legal system.

Rudd went on to explain that because he co-wrote the new Ant-Man movie, he knew about the shocking Infinity War ending months before the public. Lucky, huh? But that wasn't even the best part of Rudd's interview: The star later revealed that despite not appearing in the most recent Avengers film, Ant-Man is critical to Infinity War, officially confirming suspicions that the two movies are connected. It's not surprising considering the grand scope of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it's still nice to hear someone say it out loud.

Rudd explained the connection between Ant-Man and The Wasp and Avengers: Infinity War, saying:

I don't know if I'm supposed to say this, but I'll say it: It happens kind of concurrently and it's very important because it doesn't exist in a vacuum. You have to stay through the end because when you see this thing, through those post-credit scenes, there's mind-blowing stuff in there that kind of ties into Infinity War and it's... I think I messed up.

Hey, Paul, you can mess up 24/7 as long as it means fans keep getting MCU spoilers.

Are you really surprised that Marvel is making fans sit through a whole movie before getting to the good stuff? My guess is that the "mind-blowing" post-credits scene includes some sort of Ant-Man version of the snap, which will help Ant-Man reunite with his Avenger friends in Wakanda. Hopefully, there will be lots of jokes about all the stuff Scott missed while he was stuck on house arrest.

In Ant-Man and The Wasp, Scott isn't just separated from the other Avengers: He's also estranged from Hope (the titular Wasp) and Dr. Hank Pym, Hope's father and the creator of the Ant-Man suit. Rudd told Meyers that at the beginning of the new movie, Scott's cooperation with the Avengers — and his subsequent arrest — pushed Hank and Hope away, and now, the former partners haven't spoken in months.

"I'm under house arrest and I've kind of put Hank and Hope... they're not talking to me. We're a little bit at odds," said Rudd. In Ant-Man, Dr. Pim is very clear that he doesn't approve of the Avengers, so it's not surprising that Scott's behavior upset him. The feud sounds pretty bad, but something clearly brings the trio back together in Ant-Man and The Wasp, so luckily, their disagreement isn't permanent. I can't handle another Avengers fight.

Ant-Man and The Wasp hits theaters on Friday, July 6.