Ant-Man & the Wasp Features Marvel's Biggest Practical Set

While Ant-Man & the Wasp is still a blockbuster packed full of CGI, the director says it also has Marvel's biggest practical set to date. As visual effects have continued to evolve, more and more genre films have used them to bring fantastical visions to life. But in some cases, the CGI can end up being a crutch. Both Marvel and DC have faced criticism for an over-reliance on CGI, even while the Star Wars universe has moved back to its roots with more practical effects. Marvel even has a CGI crash course for the indie directors they bring up to the big leagues.

Luckily, Marvel has gotten better and better at crafting realistic creations when it comes to their villains and worlds. Part of Avengers: Infinity War's massive success was thanks to how fully realized Thanos was, helping to make the CG character just as relatable as any other actor in the film. With the Quantum Realm involved in Ant-Man 2, the film will naturally feature plenty of visual effects. But the team behind the movie helped to counteract that with a massive, real-life set.

During Screen Rant's set visit to Ant-Man & the Wasp, we got a look at one of the biggest set pieces in the film: Hank Pym's new lab. Three stories tall, the room is almost completely practical. And for director Peyton Reed, the feat of creating Marvel's largest practical set was essential to the film.

"I think that’s another thing that I’m really psyched about with this movie, that a lot of times with these movies in the digital age, it’s actors acting against a green screen and I was insistent because I still feel from the first movie and even more so in this movie that there’s a really tactile quality to the Ant-Man and Wasp universe. That you want to feel that stuff, so the set... I think is really the biggest set that’s ever been constructed for a Marvel movie in terms of just being a tactile set."

Scott and Janet fight Ghost in Ant-Man and the Wasp

Ant-Man certainly had a more lived-in feel thanks to the older suit and the secure room Hank Pym had. Now, the new lab will help fill that space both in the movie and out. Not only does the look of the lab fit more in line with the DIY, low-budget aesthetic of Pym, but the actual set was a boon for the actors, as the director elaborated:

"There’s some green screen extensions that we’re doing top and bottom and whatever, but it’s already for me...it pays big dividends when you have the actors in there and they can react to something physical, and sort of the first time we bought Paul, Evangeline, and Michael onto the set, we hadn’t showed them anything. We brought them on with the thing finished and to see their reactions and see the joy of like, here’s a set that we can really move around in and you’re limited, we’ve designed it, obviously, to shoot, but you’re still limited by physical space and the camera can do certain things and they have to move around things and it lends this whole air of reality to it. I’m a big believer in -- these movies just by their nature have a lot of visual effects, but the more you could have tactile stuff."

The Ant-Man & the Wasp trailer showed what Hank's lab looked like on the outside, but we've really only seen glimpses of it within. Luckily, a good part of the film will take place within the new location and give audiences a chance to take in all the hard work of the crew. And with any luck, the benefit to the actors will also shine through when Ant-Man & the Wasp hits theaters.