The MCU Film Most Connected To Avengers 3 Is Ant-Man 2

Avengers: Infinity War will bring together a myriad of MCU movie plot threads, but the film it most directly connected to is Ant-Man and The Wasp. Tasked to bring together (nearly) all superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for their most dangerous outing yet against Thanos, Joe and Anthony Russo, directors of Avengers 3 and Avengers 4, have had a lot on their plate. With a script penned by Captain America trilogy scribes Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the upcoming centerpieces from Marvel will be the culmination of everything that has unfolded in the successful film series so far. Things will never be the same again.

Curiously, the biggest Marvel movie yet will be followed up by possibly the smallest: Ant-Man and The Wasp. Set to release a little over two months after Earth's Mightiest Heroes take on Thanos, the shrinking comedy will be a noticeable change of pace, perhaps making it a perfect Avengers 3 follow-up. That said, they may be more intricately involved than it at first seems.

Screen Rant spoke with Joe and Anthony during our visit to the set of Infinity War, where they discussed how Avengers 3 slots into the wider narrative. While the two maintained that every film has some form of link to the team-up, they surprisingly said that it's Ant-Man and The Wasp that is the most narratively connected:

Joe Russo: They all lead in in their own way, I think. As far as plot elements that actually drive towards the story, again, I think Marvel does a great job of segmenting the movies so that you can have your own experience in each film. I think from a plot standpoint, if there's any corollary, Ant-Man and the Wasp probably has some elements that stitch in.

Anthony Russo: But we can't talk about that.

While they obviously didn't elaborate, the Russo's claim is very interesting. The first Ant-Man movie was a more contained story compared to other MCU installments. Bar the trip to the Avengers Facility and several references to the Starks and Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the movie mainly revolved around his and the Pyms' issues, without any connections to the bigger story at play. It wasn't until Captain America: Civil War that Scott was introduced to the rest of the heroes, and even then he was small cog (Giant-Man aside). That limited role is expected to continue in Infinity War. Ant-Man hasn't been in the marketing, suggesting his part will be small (although set photos have teased a bigger role in Avengers 4 and its time travel).

Of course, we do know that Ant-Man and The Wasp will have a major impact. Evangeline Lily had previously teased that the expansion of the Quantum Realm will have serious knock-on effects. Could this be linked to how Avengers 3 ends? We'll have a better idea in April when Infinity War releases.

The MCU thrives on interconnectivity and Marvel Studios always did a great job planting seemingly unimportant Easter Eggs and details in their films that eventually have a bigger purpose in future installments (as illustrated by the Black Panther foreshadowing in Iron Man 2). However they plan to pull off Infinity War and Avengers 4, expect the events in these films to have major repercussions on how the famed shared universe will look like past Phase 3.

MORE: The Avengers go to Wakanda – Infinity War Sequence Detailed

Keep with Screen Rant for more from our Avengers: Infinity War set visit over the coming week.