Why Isn’t Michael Peña’s ‘Luis’ in New ‘Ant-Man’ Sequel?!

Michael Peña’s fan-favorite character “Luis” from the first two movies of Marvel’s Ant-Man franchise, is notably missing from the latest sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and there are plenty of people online who aren’t happy with his absence.

Luis is a former cellmate of Paul Rudd’s title character and a member of his crew that initially discovers the Ant-Man superhero suit in a vault. In the original 2015 film Ant-Man and the 2016 sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp, Luis provided some of the most memorable comedic moments with his detailed and delightful panache for storytelling.

So, why would screenwriter Jeff Loveness (Ricky and Morty) and filmmaker Peyton Reed, who directed the first two Ant-Man movies, leave Luis out of the adventure this time? To be fair, Luis wasn’t the only character from the franchise that didn’t get screen time in Quantumania. The movie doesn’t include Bobby Cannavale’s character Jim, David Dastmalchian’s Kurt, or others.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Reed said Luis didn’t make the cut this time because the sequel was already stacked with many characters and storylines.

“We had to make decisions early on about what stories we could tell and what stories we couldn’t tell,” Reed said. “I love those characters. They were really, really fun and part of the Lang family, but as we got further and further into [development] and knew we wanted to bring the family into the Quantum Realm pretty early in the movie, it just didn’t make sense [to include Luis and others].”

We’ve argued in the past that Peña’s character should be expanded in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only is he a fan favorite, but some people consider him in the upper echelon of Marvel characters.

Many Marvel fans online were disappointed when they learned Luis was left out of the new movie.

In fact, leaving Luis and some of the other characters out is a deal breaker for some.

Someone call the police. A crime has been committed, and it’s called snubbing Luis.

If there is an Ant-Man 4, Luis’ role will hopefully be reprised.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania premieres in theaters on February 17, 2023.