Ant-Man & The Wasp's Villains Reshape The MCU's Future

Warning: This post contains SPOILERS for Ant-Man and The Wasp.

—

The villains of Ant-Man and The Wasp aren't the stars of the show, but they could still have a future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When it comes to the latest offering from Marvel Studios, they rely on their strength of letting the heroes do the heavy lifting. Despite somewhat limited screen time and proper setup, the villains in Ant-Man and The Wasp exit the film with potentially big futures.

The main villain of Ant-Man and The Wasp is Ava aka Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen. She's introduced very early on but has an agenda all her own. As her past is uncovered, there's plenty of wrinkles to explore. One of them is her surrogate father relationship with Bill Foster aka Goliath, played by Laurence Fishburne, as well as a surprising revelation about Ava's true father. There's even Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch who recurs throughout the film to add another level of complexity to the caper.

There isn't a guarantee that any of these characters will return in future movies, though, despite all surviving the events of Ant-Man and The Wasp. If Marvel Studios does have interest in bringing any back (maybe for Ant-Man 3/Ant-Man and The Wasp 2), then there are some fascinating directions to go. And if they don't, there's still some information about them that could change the way other MCU events, characters, or organizations will be seen.

This Page: Bill Foster & Ghost Are Key To Major Marvel Events
Page 2: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Corruption & Egghead Are Exciting New Avenues

Bill Foster Isn't A Hero

One of the early twists Ant-Man and The Wasp's story takes is putting Bill Foster in an antagonistic role. Bill is the former partner to Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) back during their days at S.H.I.E.L.D. The two rarely saw eye-to-eye and led to Hank firing Bill/Bill quitting, depending on who you believe. He may have been an early tester on Project Goliath, but those days are well behind him. He spends his days teaching, then shifts to a caregiver with a morally grey compass outside of the classroom. As Ant-Man and The Wasp ends, Foster is able to make a choice. Despite Ava telling him to leave her, he insists on staying by her side. With the cops hot on their trail, they now find themselves on the run.

What isn't clear, though, is where he'll turn his attention to. He may be on the run, but he surely wants more out of this life than just keeping a watchful eye on Ava. Thanks to his years of research with Hank, Bill is one of the most knowledgeable people when it comes to the Quantum Realm. There's no sense that his anger towards Hank has now disappeared; he could easily continue down a villainous path to become recognized once again. It'd give Marvel another chance to reinvent a character from the source material and maybe even get him to suit up one more time.

Ghost's Future May Lead to Thunderbolts

The other half of Foster's story lies with Ghost. She's squarely the villain for most of the film and her motivations are rather simple. She's dying after years of trying to control her Quantum Realm given abilities. With only a few weeks left to live, she's hell bent on finding Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) to extract the energy from the realm to try and stabilize her body. Her plan doesn't work the way she anticipates, but Janet still heals her nonetheless. Ava appears to have complete control over her intangibility now (or possibly even lost it altogether), which could come in handy as she evades law enforcement with Bill.

Her future, meanwhile, remains a bit more unclear. She's been cured as desired, but what will she do next? In the comics, Ghost is a recurring member on the Thunderbolts roster. John-Kamen already has said she's interested in exploring that side of the character next, so that could be what they're planning. The Thunderbolts are a group of villains turned heroes and a few members have already been introduced. Ghost could still have some anger towards Hank for what he did to her father, but that may not be enough to constitute another villainous turn - especially since they saved her life. If there is a next step for her, trying to right her wrongs with the Thunderbolts could be the way to go.

Page 2 of 2: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Corruption & Egghead Are Exciting New Avenues

S.H.I.E.L.D. Is No Better Than Hydra

At this point, it isn't a secret that S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't the great organization they'd like everyone to believe. Hydra grew within the company for decades prior to them dismantling it from within in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Prior to that time, though, they were involved in some seriously disturbing practices - and Ava is the prime example. When S.H.I.E.L.D. received word of Ava's situation, they both tried to help her, creating a suit that eliminated the pain and gave her control, yet also experimented on a child and turned her into a secret agent.

There have been a few examples of Hydra imploring despicable tactics to get their results (such as the experiments that gave the Maximoff twins their powers), but S.H.I.E.L.D.'s hands aren't any cleaner. They basically turned Ghost into their own Winter Soldier. The question may still remain whether or not this was done under Fury's command though. For all we know, she could've been part of a top secret program that Alexander Pierce was overseeing, essentially making Ghost a sleeper Hydra agent. It does make one wonder who else S.H.I.E.L.D. could secretly have been experimenting on, as well as whether or not this information became public when Natasha Romanoff put all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intel online. If so, it could be even tougher for the organization to resurface with child experimentation and mercenaries on their record.

Does Egghead Have a Future?

The other villain to come out of Ghost's story is that of her father, Elihas Starr; Ant-Man and The Wasp surprisingly revealed that Ava is the daughter of the comic villain known as Egghead. He worked with Hank during his days at S.H.I.E.L.D., but Hank got him fired and discredited in the scientific community. However, Starr still wanted to continue his research with the Quantum Realm and created Quantum Tunnel of his own. The experiment had an unfortunate ending, though, when it exploded, granting Ava her abilities but killing her parents.

What makes this especially interesting is why Marvel would make the choice to introduce Egghead in this capacity. He may just be too obscure of a villain for them to use in a larger capacity, so Marvel simply decided to use him here to provide comic readers with a bit of an Easter egg. The movie shows his body lying in rubble and Ava says he died, but this a comic book movie universe after all; maybe he isn't even really dead. If he is, Egghead could return in a more prominent form.

Douglas has expressed his interest in a young Hank Pym movie, and Egghead could easily fit into such a period piece if Marvel really wanted. He is one of Ant-Man's more recognizable villains too and could tie together the familial themes of the Ant-Man franchise should he and Ghost manage to return.