Edgar Wright's Ant-Man has been in development since 2006, but we will finally see his vision of Marvel's size changing hero when the movie acts as the opening shot of Marvel Studio's Phase Three on July 31st 2015. Unsurprisingly, details have been very scarce, with the only solid information revealed being Paul Rudd will play the hero, but with two characters holding the mantle of Ant-Man through the years (in actuality three, but Marvel have stated Eric O'Grady, star of the short lived series The Irredeemable Ant-Man, will not be making an appearance) there has been no word on which version of Ant-Man he will be playing. In fact, Marvel have been quite thorough in only referring to Rudd as Ant-Man so far.
O.k., a short history lesson: Hank Pym was a scientist who created the size changing Pym Particles, using them and a specially built helmet used to communicate with insects to fight crime as Ant-Man. After many years operating as the hero, a new Ant-Man, Scott Lang, was introduced in the classic story To Steal an Ant-Man, where he took up the mantle after stealing Pym's equipment in an attempt to save his dying daughter. On the announcement of the Ant-Man movie, Wright held the issue Marvel Premiere the story appeared in high, citing it as inspiration for the script he co-wrote with Joe Cornish.
Wright has further teased this story's importance, posting the above picture (featuring Lang stealing the Ant-Man helmet) on his blog of the cartoon adaptation, from the rather quite good The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes series, of the story, with just one word:
Homework. This further fuels speculation on who Rudd will be playing, but personally I think he will be Scott Lang. Lang's origin, turning to crime to save his daughter only to realise his true heroic potential, is much more movie friendly than Pym's becoming a hero just for the hell of it, and from all of Wright's talk about the project, a lighter approach to the character is what he is going for, which is better fit for Lang as opposed to Pym, whose character went down some dark paths in his history, including developing a split personality that is a huge part of his back story. But that is not to say Pym won't appear. To Steal an Ant-Man featured both characters, and it is not too much of a stretch of the the imagination to assume that the movie would go the same, with Pym maybe playing a secondary role. But these are only the musings of an old comic book geek, who knows what way Wright and Cornish went with their story.
O.k., a short history lesson: Hank Pym was a scientist who created the size changing Pym Particles, using them and a specially built helmet used to communicate with insects to fight crime as Ant-Man. After many years operating as the hero, a new Ant-Man, Scott Lang, was introduced in the classic story To Steal an Ant-Man, where he took up the mantle after stealing Pym's equipment in an attempt to save his dying daughter. On the announcement of the Ant-Man movie, Wright held the issue Marvel Premiere the story appeared in high, citing it as inspiration for the script he co-wrote with Joe Cornish.
Wright has further teased this story's importance, posting the above picture (featuring Lang stealing the Ant-Man helmet) on his blog of the cartoon adaptation, from the rather quite good The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes series, of the story, with just one word:
Homework. This further fuels speculation on who Rudd will be playing, but personally I think he will be Scott Lang. Lang's origin, turning to crime to save his daughter only to realise his true heroic potential, is much more movie friendly than Pym's becoming a hero just for the hell of it, and from all of Wright's talk about the project, a lighter approach to the character is what he is going for, which is better fit for Lang as opposed to Pym, whose character went down some dark paths in his history, including developing a split personality that is a huge part of his back story. But that is not to say Pym won't appear. To Steal an Ant-Man featured both characters, and it is not too much of a stretch of the the imagination to assume that the movie would go the same, with Pym maybe playing a secondary role. But these are only the musings of an old comic book geek, who knows what way Wright and Cornish went with their story.
