Paul Rudd & Stephen Hawking Play Quantum Chess for Caltech Thanks to Keanu Reeves

In a video created for a recent Caltech event on quantum mechanics, Marvel Cinematic Universe actor Paul Rudd (whose superhero, Ant-Man, reached the quantum realm in his stand-alone movie) takes on genius physical theorist Stephen Hawking in a game of quantum chess. As if that weren't cool enough, the clip had a very smooth voiceover by The Matrix's Neo himself, Keanu Reeves!

The California Institute of Technology hosted an event named One Entangled Evening, kicking off a conference about the history and future of quantum mechanics. The research university had a few big-time guests, including a clip where Hawking and Rudd play "quantum chess," narrated by Reeves.

Yes, it's exactly as nerdy as it sounds.

Of course, seeing as Rudd would be undertaking the enormous task of playing chess against arguably the biggest genius of our time, the clip reveals that the actor had to take a crash course on quantum mechanics just to be able to face Hawking. The quantum chess game is such a big deal in the clip that celebrities all over the world tweeted it, from leaders Barack Obama and Pope Francis to Hollywood stars like Will Ferrell and Judd Apatow.

The short film, called Anyone Can Quantum, was directed by Alex Winter who you might remember as Bill from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, so you can guess how weird things can get between the theme and its director. Oh, and Reeves is apparently both a 700-year-old immortal and a time traveler from the future.

"Seven hundred years ago," says Reeves from the future in the video, "Paul Rudd changed the course of history by showing the world that anyone could grapple with the concepts of quantum mechanics."

The general implication in the adorably geeky video, as The Verge reports, is that the entire future of mankind depends on the Caltech conference, where history will be changed forever.

With this kind of humor, it's no wonder Caltech is where the characters from The Big Bang Theory work!