About a week ago, Marvel Studios gave us a glimpse of a new superhero movie called Ant-Man with a teaser trailer. Ant-Man might be considered a C-list movie hero by Marvel standards, but in the comics, he was one of the first Avengers and could use some new silver screen time. The Ant-Man film is expected to be a breakout role for this pint-sized superhero, and here is the Ant-Man movie cast, release date, and possibly some spoilers based on what we know of the Marvel comics character.
The film's trailer matches what is seen on the official film synopsis as reported by Fashion Style. It shows a conversation between Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), where Pym informs Lang that he must be the new Ant-Man. It shows that Ant-Man's powers to shrink are in this special suit, and that Lang is not to wild about the name of Ant-Man.
Since this is a Marvel film, it means that it was inspired by some comic-book source material. So how close is it? In the comics, Hank Pym was the original Ant-Man who had the power to shrink and bore a special helmet to control ants as his private helper army. He was often joined by Janet Van Dyne, also known as the Wasp, who had the power to shrink and fly. The two of them joined the original Avengers, and eventually got married.
During his time in the Avengers, Hank Pym became a lot of different costumed aliases like Giant-man, Goliath, and Yellowjacket. Unfortunately, Pym kind of cracked up and quit the hero business for a while, even divorcing Janet. During that time, Scott Lang did take over as the new Ant-Man.
It looks like the film is not going to go that particular direction, but focus more on the "taking up the mantle" motif that was done in The Mask of Zorro. In the film, it is revealed that Pym has a daughter named Hope Van Dyne, and this could easily be a set-up for her character to be the Wasp. She is portrayed by former Lost star Evangeline Lilly, who recently appeared in the last two Hobbit films. The villain of the film will be Darren Cross, aka Yellowjacket, played by Corey Stoll.
So, is there going to be any Marvel surprises, like during the credits? According to the imdb.com site, there are some recognizable Marvel characters like Hayley Atwell, who currently plays Agent Carter on her own ABC show. Also recognizable is John Slattery, the Mad Men actor who has portrayed Tony Stark's father Howard Stark in some movies, such as Iron Man 2. It should also be noted that Scott Lang's daughter Cassie will be in the film as well. Cassie Lang is known in the comics as a teenage hero Stature, who has the power to grow and shrink in size.
Look for Ant-Man in theaters on July 17, 2015. This will be two and a half months after the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron, coming on May 1st. Some Marvel fans might note that it was Hank Pym who originally created Ultron robot in the comics, and the second Avengers movie might be going in a different direction. Of course, it is possible that Ant-Man and the Wasp will join up with the Avengers in the two-part movie storyline Infinity War, but that remains to be seen.
