SDCC 2014: Marvel Reveals Ant-Man Characters, Story

[MovieBob]

SDCC 2014: Marvel Reveals Ant-Man Characters, Story

Marvel puts its most potentially-awkward conversation-piece right up front at SDCC.

Marvel Studios opened their SDCC panel by bringing the cast and crew of Ant-Man onstage to debut previously-unconfirmed character and story details before rolling out a brief teaser.

Among the confirmations: Paul Rudd is indeed playing Scott Lang, being trained by Michael Douglas' older Hank Pym to take over as Ant-Man, who uses a special suit and helmet to change his size at will. Their nemesis will be Corey Stoll as Darren Cross, aka "Yellowjacket," who in the comics was based on an alternate-identity of Pym's and has similar powers. In addition, Evangeline Lily confirmed her role as Hope Pym/Van-Dyne, Douglas' character's daughter.

Peyton Reed will direct the film, which starts shooting on August 18th. The plot is described as a "heist movie," and the film's revised script (original writer/director Edgar Wright departed over creative differences) has not yet been completed -- or at least not all the cast have seen it yet.

Because filming hasn't started, the teaser didn't show us any actual footage, instead showing us a set of Pym's presumed lab with voiceover of Pym and Lang arguing. When Lang says he's not interested in being a superhero, Pym laughs, saying "Superheroes? What a goddamn joke." He goes on to reassure Lang that "it's a small job." The trailer then cuts to CGI footage of Lang as Ant-Man, attempting to make a getaway from a secure facility -- and not quite having his new skillset down yet. Pym walks him through it with little patience and even less sympathy -- simply telling Lang to jump from a high perch when he can't get an ant to give him a ride.

Seeing the cast in action -- even if it was just in voice action -- paints a picture of an action flick that's fast-paced and funny... but what else would you expect from Marvel Studios? The older, more cynical Pym provides a good balance to Lang, who -- between the casting and the character itself -- can be a more comic character.

Ant-Man will be hitting theaters on July 17th, 2015 -- just in time for next year's Comic-Con.

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[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/conferences/sdcc2014]

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[frizzlebyte]

"Heist movie?" That can only either go very well or very badly, and I am very, very interested to see which one it turns out to be. I've never been sold on the whole "Ant-Man" idea for the Marvel movies, and this just makes me even more nervous for it.

 

[Falterfire]

Interesting. No mention of The Wasp? It'll be kinda odd if we have their daughter but no Wasp.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Interesting. No mention of The Wasp? It'll be kinda odd if we have their daughter but no Wasp.

(I could entirely be wrong and this could just be rumors)

But I remember reading that lily might actually be wasp...and in the movies wasp might actually be hank pym's daughter rather than lover/wife/etc...

Obviously a change, but wasp is always a character I remember as being a core avenger member so hopefully she gets in there somehow.

 

[matrix3509]

Well Lang IS a mechanic turned thief. So at least they got that going for them. Which is nice.

Other than that though, its likely the movie will turn out to be a disaster due to executive meddling.

 

[Zontar]

I'd say "no wasp, no deal", but let's face it, the release date is a countdown for when they can take more of my money.

There's better be Wasp though.

 

[Ratty]

I'm wondering how they're planning to handle the domestic abuse problem, if at all. Since, let's face it, they can't/won't address it directly in a mature and informative manner I hope they avoid it altogether. No "nods" to it like with Tony Stark's alcoholism.

 

[Belaam]

I'm okay with Lilly as Wasp, and really hope we see it, but I doubt it for this movie. Old Ant-Man, new Ant-Man, and Wasp seem like.a lot of origin stories all at once. Unless Rudd dies. Hmm... Quick search doesn't show any mention of a multi-film contract for him, so maybe. A Wasp with mentoring Ant-Man dad could be pretty cool.

 

[MorganL4]

Interesting. No mention of The Wasp? It'll be kinda odd if we have their daughter but no Wasp.

My thoughts exactly.


Also, so Yellow Jacket ISN'T Pym? When was Yellow Jacket someone OTHER than Pym? Is this something that happened in the comics, or was this a new idea created by the film?


Also also: WHERE IS MY BLACK PANTHER FILM!!!???

 

[Sould1n]

So there seems to be no Wasp... and Hank Pym isn't going to be the main focus of the film... and their resorting to making 'Yellowjacket' a separate person as the villain... well my enthusiasm for this film has drained away for certainty.

Funny how hearing they were going to be making an Ant-Man film (after having become attached to the characters of Hany Pym and Janet Dyne thanks to the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and then reading up on them) had me incredibly excited, probably more so than any of the current line of Marvel films bar Avengers, and yet just about every piece of plot I've heard afterwards has gone to lessen each point of my enthusiasm.

I'll see it eventually, I see all the Marvel movies, but this certainly won't be the Ant-Man movie I was hoping to see.

 

[RealRT]

I'm wondering how they're planning to handle the domestic abuse problem, if at all. Since, let's face it, they can't/won't address it directly in a mature and informative manner I hope they avoid it altogether. No "nods" to it like with Tony Stark's alcoholism.

To be fair, in the Marvel 616 there's exactly one (1!) instance of him hitting his wife and that he can't live down. Yeah, it's a shitty thing to do, but painting him as a wife-beater based solely on this one instant is not very good. Reed Richards has a much darker history with domestic abuse and he gets away with it.

 

[Ratty]

I'm wondering how they're planning to handle the domestic abuse problem, if at all. Since, let's face it, they can't/won't address it directly in a mature and informative manner I hope they avoid it altogether. No "nods" to it like with Tony Stark's alcoholism.

To be fair, in the Marvel 616 there's exactly one (1!) instance of him hitting his wife and that he can't live down. Yeah, it's a shitty thing to do, but painting him as a wife-beater based solely on this one instant is not very good. Reed Richards has a much darker history with domestic abuse and he gets away with it.

Yeah you're right, I can only imagine Reed Richards has gotten away with it because the higher ups at Marvel have willed it to be so. Anyway someone's asked them about the domestic abuse issue and they've confirmed it's not going to be touched on in the movie. Though they did say after praising the various comic depictions of Hank Pym that Micheal Douglas's take will be "...even more unique and more different, and I would say that some of the spirit of that plays into his temperament in the film, plays into his gruffness in the film." whatever that means. http://screenrant.com/ant-man-movie-story-spousal-abuse/

 

[vid87]

-If Hope is the daughter, it may mean they still need to cast Janet.

-If there's any mention of abuse, I imagine it will be a past conflict briefly touched on.

-I'm ok with there be a new character in the Wasp role, but I'm a little uncomfortable that Hank and Janet, 2 of the supposedly important characters in the franchise, are supporting roles at best.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Wait, both Pym and Scott are in it but it's Scott that is Ant-Man? How is Pym the former Ant-Man in the first place, was he a superhero sometime after WW2 that is if they're going to changed the origin abit?