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Ant-Man (Scott Lang)

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Ant-Man
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File:FF Vol 2 2 Variant Textless.jpg
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Ant-Man as he appears in FF. Art by Michael Allred
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceas Lang:
Avengers #181 (Mar 1979)
as Ant-Man:
Marvel Premiere #47 (Apr 1979)
Created byDavid Michelinie
John Byrne
In-story information
Alter egoScott Edward Harris Lang
Team affiliationsAvengers
Fantastic Four
Heroes for Hire
Defenders
Future Foundation
AbilitiesUniform grants:
Size changing
Telepathic communication with insects
Maintains strength of normal size in shrunken state

Scott Lang is a fictional character featured in the American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is the second superhero character to use the name Ant-Man in the Marvel Universe, following the original, Dr. Henry Pym. Lang is a reformed thief and an electronics expert.

Publication history

Scott Lang first appeared in The Avengers #181 (March 1979) and became the second Ant-Man in Marvel Premiere #47 (April 1979).

Ant-Man will appear in the new series FF by Matt Fraction and Mike Allred, set to debut in November 2012.[1]

Fictional character biography

Early life

Scott Lang was born in Coral Gables, Florida. He turned to burglary when his occupation as an electronics expert failed to support his family. Apprehended, he served his prison sentence and was paroled after three years for good behavior.

In prison, Lang furthered his study of electronics and was soon hired by Stark International to work in its design department. Under Stark's direction, he helped install a new security system in Avengers Mansion.[2]

Becoming Ant-Man

When his daughter Cassie became seriously ill, Lang decided to return to burglary as a final resort. He broke into the home of Dr. Henry Pym and stole his Ant-Man uniform and shrinking gas canisters. Garbed as Ant-Man, Lang broke into Cross Technological Enterprises and discovered that Dr. Erica Sondheim, the only person capable of helping his daughter, was being held prisoner. He rescued the doctor and was relieved when Sondheim was able to save the life of his beloved Cassie.

Lang had intended to return the Ant-Man costume to Pym and turn himself in for its theft but Pym, aware of the use to which Lang had put the stolen goods, offered to let him keep them, provided he only use them to uphold the law.[3]

Hero

Shortly after, Lang donned the Ant-Man costume on various occasions, primarily to assist Iron Man and the Avengers. When Iron Man became trapped in his armor, Scott saved him.[4] He also helped Pym, as Yellowjacket, attempt to rescue the Wasp, who had been captured by Dr. Parnell Solomon. Alongside the Avengers, he first battled the Taskmaster.[5] He then battled Odd John's mutated insects, and encountered Biotron of the Micronauts.[6] Alongside Spider-Man, he again battled the Taskmaster.[7] As Lang, he attempted to stop the Raiders at a Dallas electronics engineers convention.[8] He then battled the malfunctioning GARD computer security system.[9] As Lang, he aided Iron Man and Jim Rhodes against the Mauler.[10] He then met the Fantastic Four, and with them first journeyed to a "micro-world", and battled there alongside the Thing.[11]

Scott was instrumental in helping Iron Man discover who possessed copies of his technology during the Armor Wars.[12] He also aided the Avengers in infiltrating Taskmaster's henchmen-training facility, battling the Taskmaster alongside Hawkeye, and visited Henry Pym while he was in prison.[13] He encountered Rick Jones and Alpha Flight, and then battled Dire Wraiths alongside Rom and Starshine.[14] Scott was serving in an Avengers back-up team created when Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil took control of the Mansion and captured some of the current team; he even helped the Wasp defeat the Absorbing Man and Titania when they attacked a hospital in an attempt to kill a comatose Hercules.[15] He accidentally shrank Spider-Man and battled Pym's old foe, the Scarlet Beetle.[16] He also battled Dragonfly.[17]

Lang was even briefly hired by the Fantastic Four when Reed Richards was missing and presumed dead to serve as their technical consultant,[18] helping them deal with such foes as the Dark Raider[volume & issue needed] — an alternate psychotic Reed Richards who'd failed to save his world from Galactus — until Reed was recovered from the past where he'd been trapped thanks to Hyperstorm.[volume & issue needed] Also serving with the Fantastic Four at this time was Kristoff Vernard, the heir of Doctor Doom and himself a technical genius. Lang and Kristoff often clashed, the younger man being very arrogant and disparaging of Lang's abilities. He did however design a new Ant-Man outfit which Lang took full advantage of.[volume & issue needed] Much to Lang's annoyance, Kristoff also became close to his daughter Cassie, who also took a liking to him.

Lang later returned to form a temporary Fantastic Four with the Human Torch, She-Hulk and Namorita when the other three were temporarily trapped in the Negative Zone,[19] the team disbanding after the other team members returned.[volume & issue needed]

Lang played an important role in helping Mister Fantastic cure the Hulk when he was suffering from Lou Gherig's disease; using a cure devised by the Leader, Lang shrank down to microscopic size, entered the Hulk's genes, and replaced the damaged genes causing his disease with healthy genes taken from the corpse of Brian Banner, Bruce Banner's father, the energy surge released when the Hulk returned to human form integrating the new genes into his system and curing him of the disease.[20]

After Lang's ex-wife Peggy Rae gained custody of their daughter Cassie, Lang accepted an offer to join the Avengers officially.[21] His personality clashed immediately with fellow Avenger Jack of Hearts. However, in Avengers vol. 3 #76, Jack helped save Cassie from a child-murderer, shortly before committing suicide by travelling into space with the murderer and exploding rather than return to the containment cells required to control his power.[22]

He also appeared in the series Alias by Brian Michael Bendis, where he dated the leading character Jessica Jones, a former costumed superhero named Jewel who left that avocation to become a private investigator.[23]

Death

Lang dated private investigator and former superhero Jessica Jones briefly.[24] He assists her in a matter with Mattie Franklin, one of the many female heroes to take the name of Spider-Woman. Assisting the duo is SHIELD agent Clay Quartermain.[25] Jessica's long-time enemy, the Purple Man, uses his powers to make it seem as if Scott had been consumed by ants.[26]

Shortly after this, Jack Of Hearts reappears on the grounds of Avengers Mansion as what appears to be a zombie. Jack blows himself up, destroying much of the mansion and killing Scott. This Jack may have been some type of "apparition" created by an insane Scarlet Witch rather than the actual Jack of Hearts, starting the crisis known as Avengers Disassembled.[27]

Lang's daughter Cassie has subsequently taken up his mantle as Stature, in the Young Avengers, having apparently taken enough Pym particles over the years to enable her to automatically grow and shrink in size whenever she wants.[28]

His Ant-Man helmet falls in Amadeus Cho's possession for a time. He wears it with Cassie's blessing, choosing to focus on the insect mind-controlling abilities.[29]

Alive again

During the events of the limited series Avengers: The Children's Crusade, Iron Lad takes the Young Avengers and Wanda Maximoff (who has no memories of her time as the Scarlet Witch) into the past, back to the day that the events of Avengers Disassembled began. Here, despite Iron Lad's assurance that they could not interact, Cassie manages to hug her father, and take him away from the zombified Jack of Hearts, who is revealed to be the real Jack of Hearts under the control of an insane Scarlet Witch. When Jack explodes, Scott survives unharmed. The Scarlet Witch then regains her memories and returns them to the present.[30] Scott Lang is proud that his daughter followed in his footsteps.[31] However, a subsequent battle ensues (regarding the fate of the Scarlet Witch) involving the Avengers, Young Avengers, X-Men, Magneto, and Doctor Doom. In the course of the fight, Cassie is killed.[32]

Then, Scott joins the new Defenders team composed of Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer, Namor, Red She-Hulk, Iron Fist and the Black Cat.[33]

Eventually, Scott became the leader of the second Future Foundation replacing Reed Richards when the Fantastic Four went on a time travel trip.[34]

Powers and abilities

Using a gaseous form of "Pym particles" kept in a compartment in his belt, Ant-Man had the power to shrink himself (and other people and objects along with himself) to the size of an ant and return to normal. His cybernetic helmet allowed rudimentary telepathic communication with insects, and was equipped with sound amplification equipment allowing normal-sized humans to hear him. The helmet also had a retractable plexiglass face shield and a limited air supply. When wearing the suit, he could lift more than 4 times his weight. Scott required exposure to the "reducing gas" and "enlarging gas" in order to change size. "Pym particles" were created by the original Ant-Man, Dr. Hank Pym.

Scott could also shrink to sub-microscopic size, and thereby enter the countless "subatomic universes".

He had advanced training and expertise in electronics, and earned an electronics technician certificate, plus additional advanced electronics training while in prison.

Other versions

Avengers Fairy Tales

Scott is seen in the "Alice in Wonderland" issue of Avengers Fairy Tales, where he is the Caterpillar as a representation of Cassie's dead father.[volume & issue needed]

House of M

In House of M, Scott Lang is depicted dating Jessica Jones.[volume & issue needed]

MC2

In the MC2 universe, Scott had retired from being Ant-Man, and was developing new technology that would give the powers of Ant-Man and the Wasp to a human (his daughter Cassie took the tech and became Stinger). Later, when Mainframe was severely damaged, Scott came out of retirement with the Ant-Man armor designed by Doctor Doom II (Kistoff Vernard), and shrank to microscopic size to repair him from the inside. He realized that he still enjoyed being a hero, and stayed "un-retired" and joined A-Next.[volume & issue needed]

The Thunder Guard, a group of Nazi Avengers from an alternate universe who fought A-Next, included a highly unstable version of Scott called "Pincer", who had killed that universe's version of Cassie.[volume & issue needed]

Ultimate Marvel

An Ultimate version of Dr. Scott Lang, taking the code name "Giant-Man", first appeared in Ultimate Avengers 3, then appears as a new recruit for the New Ultimates in Ultimate Comics: Avengers Vs. New Ultimates.[35]

In other media

Television

Film

Video games

Toys

  • Scott appears as Ant-Man in the Wal-Mart exclusive Giant Man wave of Marvel Legends. He also appear sculpted on to one of Hawkeye's arrows in Wave 7.

References

  1. ^ Beard, Jim (9 August 2012). "Marvel NOW! Q&A: Fantastic Four". Marvel.com. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  2. ^ Avengers #181
  3. ^ Marvel Premiere #47-48
  4. ^ Iron Man #133
  5. ^ Avengers #195-196
  6. ^ Micronauts Vol. 1 #19-20
  7. ^ Marvel Team-Up #103
  8. ^ Iron Man #145
  9. ^ Iron Man #151
  10. ^ Iron Man #156
  11. ^ Marvel Two-in-One #87
  12. ^ Iron Man #225
  13. ^ Avengers #223-224
  14. ^ Rom #58-59
  15. ^ Avengers #275-277
  16. ^ Amazing Spider-Man Annual #24
  17. ^ Iron Man Annual #12
  18. ^ Fantastic Four #384
  19. ^ Fantastic Four vol. 3 #43
  20. ^ Paul Jenkins and Sean McKeever (w), Joe Bennett (p), Tom Palmer (i). "Spiral Staircase (Part Three)" Incredible Hulk, vol. 3, no. 32. Marvel Comics.
  21. ^ Avengers vol. 3 #62
  22. ^ Avengers vol. 3 #76
  23. ^ Alias #13-28
  24. ^ Alias #13-28
  25. ^ Alias #16 (Jan. 2003)
  26. ^ Alias #27
  27. ^ Avengers #500
  28. ^ Young Avengers #2
  29. ^ Mighty Avengers #25
  30. ^ Avengers: The Children's Crusade #5
  31. ^ Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6
  32. ^ Avengers: The Children's Crusade #7
  33. ^ Defenders vol 4 #10 (September 2012)
  34. ^ FF #1 (November 2012)
  35. ^ Ultimate Comics: Avengers Vs. New Ultimates #1
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