| Ant-Man | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Tales to Astonish #27 (January 1962) |
| Created by | Stan Lee, Jack Kirby |
| Characters | Henry Pym Scott Lang Eric O'Grady |
Ant-Man is the name of several fictional characters appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Ant-Man was originally the superhero persona of Hank Pym, a brilliant scientist who invented a substance that allowed him to change his size. The character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Tales to Astonish #27.
After Pym retired his Ant-Man identity, successors Scott Lang and Eric O'Grady have used Pym's technology to take on the role of Ant-Man.
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Over the years a variety of characters have assumed the title of Ant-Man, most of whom have been connected with the Avengers.
Biophysicist and nanotechnology expert Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym decided to become a superhero after discovering a chemical substance that would allow the user to alter his size. Armed with a helmet that could control ants, Pym would shrink down to the size of an insect to become the mystery-solving Ant-Man.[1] He soon shared his discovery with his girlfriend, Janet Van Dyne, who became his crime-fighting partner as the Wasp.[2] The duo would become founding members of the Avengers, fighting recurring enemies such as the mad scientist Egghead, the mutant Whirlwind, and Pym's own robotic creation Ultron.[3]
While Pym is the original Ant-Man, he has adopted other aliases over the years including Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket,[2] and the Wasp after Janet's death in Secret Invasion.[4] Leaving his original persona vacant, his successors have taken up the role of Ant-Man while Pym explored these other identities.
Scott Lang was a thief who first became Ant-Man after stealing Hank Pym's Ant-Man suit to save his daughter Cassie from a heart condition.[5] Reforming from his life of crime with, he soon took on a full-time career as Ant-Man with the encouragement of Hank Pym.[6] He became an affiliate of the Fantastic Four,[7] and most recently became a full-time member of the Avengers. For a period of time he dated Jessica Jones.[5] He was later killed by the Scarlet Witch along with Vision and Hawkeye in Avengers Disassembled,[8] but his daughter, Cassie, has taken up his heroic mantle as Stature, in the pages of Young Avengers.
Eric O'Grady is the third character to take up the title of Ant-Man. Eric O'Grady is a low-level agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who stumbled upon the Ant-Man suit in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters.[9] A man of few morals and willing to lie, cheat, steal, and manipulate in order to get ahead in life, Eric stole the armor for his own selfish plans, which included using his status as a "super-hero" to seduce women[10] and humiliate and torment others.[11] He had his own short-lived title before being shuttled off, first to the pages of Avengers: The Initiative and then The Thunderbolts and most currently Secret Avengers.
Edgar Wright plans to direct an action film for Marvel Studios with some humorous elements, insisting that Ant-Man will not be a comedy like Fantastic Four or a spoof.[12] The script has been written by Wright and Joe Cornish, who plan to include Henry Pym and Scott Lang as major characters, with Pym as Ant-Man in the 1960s in Tales to Astonish style, and a flashforward to Lang as Ant-Man's successor in modern day.[13]
On February 9, 2007 Wright said that the project was in "a holding pattern" while the script was revised, with casting yet to begin. The director reported that he would have news about the film in a few months.[14] He has been researching nanotechnology for the film.[15] As of March 2008, Wright told Empire magazine that a second draft of the script is being written. Known for being a comedy writer, the director noted that the film would not be overtly comedic, but that it would be "more of a full-on action adventure sci-fi film but with a comedic element."[16]
On February 9, 2010 Stan Lee, the co-creator of Ant-Man, met with Wright for lunch, and Lee soon recounted the meeting on his Twitter feed: "To make up for my previous grievous error, here's a little item that may have escaped you. Marvel is prepping a movie starring-- Ant Man!" Lee continued in a further tweet, "I had lunch with the cool, young director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) and, as you'd imagine, we had fun discussing the tiny hero."[17]
On February 11, 2010, Edgar Wright told MTV News, "Because that character isn't one of their biggest properties, it’s not like a tentpole deadline. It’s more like me and Kevin Feige saying, 'Let's make a really good script.' We've always agreed on that — 'Let's make a good script that works, that’s all about a great genre film, and that isn’t necessarily relying on anything else.'"[18]
At the San Diego Comic Con in 2010, Wright confirmed that his script is an origin story, and that doesn't work for Marvel's chronology to include Ant-Man in The Avengers.[19] Wright stated in January 2011 that he resumed writing the script for the film.[20] During a Q and A at SXSW for Cornish's movie Attack the Block, Wright and Cornish stated that they had been recently rewriting the script.[21] While attending Kapow-Con in April 2011, Cornish revealed that Wright and he had delivered the second draft to the studio.[22] Then on July 2011 Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish delivered a third draft and some concept art to Marvel Studios.[23]
Kevin Feige confirmed that Henry Pym is referred to in the film Thor as the friend that Dr. Selvig e-mails that had previous "experience" with SHIELD, though his name was cut out of the scene.[24]
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