Michael Douglas is officially returning as Dr. Hank Pym for Marvel's "Ant-Man" sequel, called "Ant-Man and the Wasp." Paul Rudd (Scott Lang/Ant-Man) and Evangeline Lilly (Hope van Dyne) are on board as the title characters, with Michael Pena also set to return as Luis.

Douglas was expected/hoped to be back, but he confirmed the news today on Facebook, and also revealed they'd start filming this July 2017 for the July 2018 release date:

Peyton Reed directed the 2015 Marvel film, and he's back to direct "Ant-Man 2." Moviefone talked to Reed late last year, as he was about to head into pre-production on "Ant-Man and the Wasp." Here's a section of that Q&A:

Lastly, what do you want to do with the Wasp now that we're in this great moment for female superheroes and you're going to have an opportunity to do something fun and cool with one of the premiere Marvel superheroines -- one of the very first. What are you excited about in collaborating with Evangeline, to carry the Wasp forward?

Well, I'm just personally excited to get to introduce yet another character into the Marvel Universe. After Ant-Man, now we get to see Wasp, so really designing her look, the way she moves, the power set, and figuring out, sort of, who Hope van Dyne is as a hero -- because we know her in a certain context in the first movie, but now she's going to have her coming out party -- that's exciting!

Evangeline Lilly's The Wasp is also expected to be in "Avengers 4," the 2019 movie coming after next year's "Avengers: Infinity War."

"Ant-Man and the Wasp" is scheduled for release on July 6, 2018.

[via: Collider]

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