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| photo courtesy of time.com |
THE BASICS
Wait, so what is an
Ant-Man?
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| Scott learns how to handle the Ant-Man suit. photo courtesy of amazon.com |
Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), the original
Ant-Man, is a brilliant scientist. Back in the day, he created the Pym
Particle, a substance that makes it possible to shrink—or expand—the size of an
object. Harnessing the technology within a superhero suit, he went on secret
missions with his wife, Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), who was called the Wasp.
In recent days, Hank passed
his technology and suit to Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), a professional thief. The mantle of the
Wasp went to Hank’s daughter, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), but Hank is still very protective
of the technology. He knows what could happen if someone with sinister
intentions were to exploit it.
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| photo courtesy of npr.com |
When it comes to
powers, Ant-Man and the Wasp are pretty formidable. Ant-Man can shrink small or
grow large, and he also uses fancy technology to communicate with an army of
ants. The Wasp, on the other hand, can fly, and uses blasters on her wrists for
an added advantage. In tiny form, Ant-Man and the Wasp have super-strength, but
if one of them were to shrink too small, (s)he would enter into the
unpredictable Quantum Realm, where the rules of time and space don’t apply.
WHERE WE LEFT THEM
The Avengers are busy
dealing with Thanos, but where have Ant-Man and the Wasp been this whole time?
ANT-MAN/SCOTT LANG
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| photo courtesy of movieweb.com |
Before he became the
Ant-Man, Scott was a professional thief for hire. His talent caught the eye of
Hank Pym, who recruited Scott and helped him master the abilities of the
Ant-Man suit. In the original Ant-Man
movie, Scott carried out his first major mission: to stop Darren Cross/the
Yellowjacket from replicating and misusing Hank’s Ant-Man technology. He also
took the first steps toward a relationship with Hank’s daughter, Hope.
Later, Ant-Man suited
up to help Captain America during the events of Captain America: Civil War. Because he was operating as an
unregistered superhero, his efforts landed him in the Raft (superhero prison),
alongside the other heroes on Cap’s team. When we last saw him, Scott was being
rescued from the prison by Captain America, but in Avengers: Infinity War, we overheard that Scott had struck a deal for
house arrest. That’s probably where we can expect to find him when Ant-Man and the Wasp begins.
THE WASP/HOPE VAN DYNE
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| photo courtesy of digitalspy.com |
Hope van Dyne had a troubled
relationship with her father for years. After Hank lost his wife Janet (who disappeared
in 1987 when she used her Wasp suit to enter the Quantum Realm), Hank lied to
Hope about what happened. He also became overprotective, refusing to allow Hope
to live up to her superhero-sized potential. Things changed in Ant-Man, when Hank finally admitted the
truth and their relationship began to heal. Hope helped Scott defeat Yellowjacket
from the sidelines, and in Ant-Man’s
post-credit scene, she inherited the new, prototype Wasp armor. Plus, she started
going steady with Scott.
HANK PYM
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| photo courtesy of marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com |
We last saw Hank after
his team’s victory in Ant-Man. He,
Scott, and Hope defeated Yellowjacket and prevented most of the technology—except
for one vial of Pym particles—from getting into the wrong hands. Having made
amends with Hope, he gave her the new Wasp suit. And having learned of Scott’s
successful voyage back from the Quantum Realm, Hank now holds out hope that
Janet can be rescued.
LUIS AND THE GANG
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| photo courtesy of latimes.com |
Luis (Michael Peña) is one of Scott’s
old friends/a fellow thief. Together with his friends Dave (T.I.) and Kurt (Dave Dastmalchian), he was
recruited by Scott and Hank to help them infiltrate Yellowjacket’s lab. At the
end of Ant-Man, Luis used his
connections to help Scott get in touch with Falcon, which paved the way for
Scott to be on team Cap in Captain
America: Civil War. That’s the last we’ve seen of him.
CASSIE AND THE FAMILY
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| photo courtesy of digitalspy.com |
Scott’s daughter,
Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson), was one of the main reasons Scott decided to leave the criminal life
behind. We haven’t seen Cassie recently, but we know that by the time Ant-Man was over, Scott’s superheroics
had helped him rebuild his relationship with Cassie and his ex-wife, Maggie (Judy Greer).
Things were even looking up with Maggie’s new love interest, a cop named Jim Paxton (Bobby Cannavale).
FRESH FACES
Who are the newcomers?
GHOST
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| photo courtesy of gamespot.com |
We don’t know much
about Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), the villain in Ant-Man and
the Wasp; Marvel is wisely keeping most of the details under wraps. What we
do know is that she has phasing
powers: she can make herself (and potentially other things?) phase through matter.
It seems like a good bet that she derives this ability, in some way, from the
Quantum Realm.
JANET VAN DYNE
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| Janet van Dyne, shortly before entering the Quantum Realm. photo courtesy of marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com |
Janet van Dyne, the
original Wasp, will be making her official debut in Ant-Man and the Wasp. She’s been in the mysterious Quantum Realm since
1987, and now that Scott has proven it’s possible to go there and come back, we
can expect Hank to make some kind of rescue attempt.
BILL FOSTER
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| photo courtesy of appocalypse.co |
Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne) has a
love/hate relationship with Hank Pym. The two were colleagues and rivals back
in the day, when they worked on developing the Ant-Man technology. In the
comics, Bill was a giant-sized superhero named Goliath, which probably means he’ll
be up to something significant when he runs into Hank, Scott, and Hope during Ant-Man and the Wasp.
LOOKING FORWARD
Does Ant-Man and the Wasp tie in to anything
important?
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| photo courtesy of digitalspy.com |
After the many
crossovers of Avengers: Infinity War,
Ant-Man and the Wasp looks like it
will tell a fairly self-contained story. But because the movie takes place
before (or perhaps concurrently with) the events of Infinity War, it’s a good bet that the two movies feature some
cross-pollination. We might get a clue as to what Ant-Man and the Wasp are up
to when the rest of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are taking on Thanos.
Alternatively, we might get to see how Thanos’s victory at the end of Infinity War impacts these characters
(as in, does anyone get vaporized?). At the very least, we know that Ant-Man
and the Wasp will be bringing their experiences from this movie when they join
the rest of the crew for Avengers 4
next summer.
TRAILER
Watch the trailer here.
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| photo courtesy of reddit.com |
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