As far as Marvel films go, Ant-Man wasn’t as weird as Guardians of the Galaxy, though the brief trip to the Quantum Realm gave us a taste of the potential weirdness to come. Director Peyton Reed is returning to helm Ant-Man and the Wasp, and promises that things will definitely get more strange in the sequel, while newly-released concept art from the first film shows early — and very different — designs for the Yellowjacket suit.

Reed was present during a junket for the Ant-Man Blu-ray, where Newsarama reports that the director spoke a bit about the sequel, saying their “goal is to keep what we really liked for the characters in the first one, but to make it a much weirder movie” and to take us to “unexpected places.” He also said he’s been influenced by Stanley Kubrick’s sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey and Ken Russell’s Altered States, as well as Ant-Man comics from the ’60s and ’70s.

As you might expect based on the title, the sequel will explore the personal and professional relationship between Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang / Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Van Dyne / Wasp. Says Reed:

Part of thing that we’re going to explore, as shown in the comics, is how [the Ant-Man and Wasp] are such a great duo and partnership. Part of that, in any partnership, is how they relate to each other as people. Where will their personal relationship be at that point, and what will be their fighting style together?

Speaking of fighting, artist Andy Park revealed some of his early concept designs for the Yellowjacket suit worn by Corey Stoll’s Darren Cross in Ant-Man (via Heroic Hollywood), and they are quite a bit different from what was eventually used:

Andy Park
Andy Park
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Andy Park
Andy Park
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Andy Park
Andy Park
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Ant-Man is currently out on DVD and Blu-ray. Ant-Man and the Wasp hits theaters on July 2, 2018.

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