Ant-Man The Official Ant-Man News and Speculation Thread - Part 1

[Dark Raven]

i'm interested in who he would have cast, back then.

He wouldn't have, as it took decades for him to finish a proper draft.

 

[chamber-music]

Wright said he brought a reprint of the Man in the Ant Hill which I would guess is from the early 70's Marvel Features Ant-Man run which featured some reprints as well as new stories about Pym and Wasp as Ant-Man.

I think by the 1980s there was probably a few back issues of the Ant-Man Marvel Features comics still floating around.

Wright has said he has read many of the silver age Tales To Astonish Ant-Man stories as he has talked about liking the cold war stuff from them.

Wright and Cornish have been trying to get Ant-Man made since the early 00's when they pitched the film to another studio before Marvel got their own studio. Wright is definitely a fan. You don't spend over a decade trying to make a superhero unless your a fan of that superhero and think you can make it work on the big screen.

Stan Lee himself pitched an Ant-Man movie to New World Entertainment (Marvel Comics Parent Company at the time) which didn't get off the development stage around the same time Disney was making Honey, I Shrunk The Kids.
Stan Lee has long though was one of his most underrated characters which himself and other rights have never quite got right. Lee has met with Wright a couple times over the years and have talked about Ant-Man.

 

[chamber-music]

Chris Nolan never read a Batman comic in his life and that worked out just fine. They don't have to be supernerds to make a good film.

Speaking of Nolan in ragard to Ant-Man's heist plot, Nolan has probably made the best superhero heist movie so far in a way in The Dark Knight with the Michael Mann's Heat inspired mob bank robbery with the Joker in the prologue and Batman's capturing of Lau from Honk Kong in a elaborate scheme involving Fox planting a EMP device disguised as a cell phone in the building that takes out security while later that night Batman grabs Lau and beats up some security guards before being flown away by some smugglers he hired.

 

[Ant-manic]

if Rudd is Hank Pym, i wonder what the motivation is for the heist. are they using the Trish Starr/Egghead storyline?

 

[Endeavor]

that's what works best for me. i think that he'd be more useful to the Avengers as Giant-Man, anyways.

Yeah, except having a geriatric Giant-Man would be ridiculous, which is why the part about him being much older than Lang is what bothers me the most.

 

[Endeavor]

Ant-Man exists because of Stan Lee and Larry Lieber. it was adapted from an earlier story, in which another person was shrunken and had to fight his way out of an anthill. that character could have been anyone.

Oh come on, you know I was talking about in-Marvel-U-terms. Of course they all exist because Lee or whatever other creative team thought them up. That has nothing to do with what we were discussing.
The Stark analogy IS valid. If you choose to dismiss that argument then I choose to dismiss your dismissal. Stark created the tech that made Iron-Man possible, in the same way Pym created the tech that made Ant-Man possible. The argument that any other character could have been used to create Ant-Man can also be made with Iron-Man, since he is not the only genius engineer and inventor in the Marvel U either.

The point is, don't put the carriage before the horse. Those of us that don't like Lang being the focus first would have had the same reaction to Rhodes being the focus of the first Iron-Man movie, Nightwing being done before Batman ever hit the silver screen, etc etc. If you don't get why that is, then there's no use in discussing the point further.

 

[Endeavor]

could you imagine how ridiculous the hype would have gotten if, both, Paul Rudd and Joseph Gordon-Levitt had gotten roles in this movie? there'd be at least 3 different sets of fans (w/ some overlap of course) possibly interested in it.

I'd be very happy if they were both cast because then it'd mean we get confirmation both characters are being used and Pym would not be an old guy.

 

[Ant-manic]

The point is, don't put the carriage before the horse. Those of us that don't like Lang being the focus first would have had the same reaction to Rhodes being the focus of the first Iron-Man movie, Nightwing being done before Batman ever hit the silver screen, etc etc. If you don't get why that is, then there's no use in discussing the point further.

chances are good that they'd have to introduce Pym first. i just don't see it as an either/or situation. this is a very unique situation because Pym has been out of the costume for so long.

Pym also doesn't have a definitive identity. by that, i mean tha there are just as many people who see him as 'Giant-Man' as 'Ant-Man.' Scott does have a definitive identity. he's only been Ant-Man. he died as Ant-Man. every team he has joined/everything he has done was as Ant-Man.

Pym invented something a weapon with a variety of uses. he invented the Ant-man identity. then he moved on to bigger and better things. it's not comparable to Tony Stark and the Iron Man armor. Tony didn't become Titanium Man after giving over his Iron Man suit to Rhodey. and Rhodey didn't carry that identity for a decade. i, personally, see Pym as an inventor of superheroes; a power broker. he upgraded Janet Van Dyne; made her the Wasp. he (actually the skrull) created the superheroes comprising The Order. the biggest difference between they and Ant-Man, is that Pym field tested the latter before finding an individual suited (his words) to pick up the identity. it's still his invention. he doesn't seem to have a problem with putting on any one of those suits. but, according to Hank, he already chose his successor.

 

[Ant-manic]

not exactly much time left. but do you think we'll get more casting announcements before the end of this year?

"According to the studio’s Kevin Feige, the film – which is due for release in July 2015 – is likely to reveal its main cast before 2013 is out.

‘Edgar Wright is working on just sort of tweaking the drafts with Joe Cornish, who now is a big director in his own right of course,’ Feige told the website IGN.

‘And we’re crewing up and prepping, and there should be some cast announcements probably before the end of the year.’"

 

[Whiskey Tango]

I hope so, I've had enough waiting on this project. Some details would be nice.

 

[chamber-music]

I don't think Edgar's plans have changed much from this

"'The idea that we have for the adaptation is to actually involve both... Henry Pym and Scott Lang. So you actually do a prologue where you see Pym as Ant-Man in action in the 60's, in sort of 'Tales to Astonish' mode basically, and then the contemporary, sort of flash-forward, is Scott Lang's story, and how he comes to acquire the suit, how he crosses paths with Henry Pym, and then, in an interesting sort of Machiavellian way, teams up with him."

 

[Ant-manic]

I don't think Edgar's plans have changed much from this

I know that it's what has been said. but I have my doubts. the casting of Rudd definitely doesn't point in that direction.

 

[Zarex]

If Wright is going to go with the dueling Ant-Men approach, then having the youthful looking but mid-40's Rudd team up with a twenty-something actor as Lang would work better than having Rudd portray the youngster in the relationship.

 

[cherokeesam]

If Wright is going to go with the dueling Ant-Men approach, then having the youthful looking but mid-40's Rudd team up with a twenty-something actor as Lang would work better than having Rudd portray the youngster in the relationship.

But would a twentysomething actor have a teenage daughter?

I'd be willing to bet that Pym and Lang would both be in their 30s-40s.

 

[Dark Raven]

Was Cassie a teenager when she first debuted? I thought she was about 8 or so, especially in the issues of Iron Man. Maybe they aged her up later, but I thought she was younger. A twenty-something man could have a daughter who is 8. But I agree that Lang should be older. At least in his 30s.

 

[Ant-manic]

Was Cassie a teenager when she first debuted? I thought she was about 8 or so, especially in the issues of Iron Man. Maybe they aged her up later, but I thought she was younger. A twenty-something man could have a daughter who is 8. But I agree that Lang should be older. At least in his 30s.

she was 9 years old. the rumored casting sheet calls for [Young Girl] Submit ages 6-9, intelligent, appealing.

so who knows how old they are casting, if Scott Lang is even in the movie. on another note, Cassie aged at a pretty normal rate, in the books...until you compare her to Power Pack or Franklin Richards. it's gone back and forth. when she appeared in Busiek's Avengers run, Scott was picking her up from elementary school and she was still mispronouncing words. that was in the 90s. in Geoff Johns run, she also appeared to be at some kind of grade school. but the moment that Scott was killed, she was a teen. so a lot of her aging happened in the late 90s.

this story (in 2003) points to her being approx 11 years old... http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix4/stangowskiant.htm

 

[Ant-manic]

But would a twentysomething actor have a teenage daughter?

I'd be willing to bet that Pym and Lang would both be in their 30s-40s.

they certainly are in the books; despite Waid's funny math. but i think the movie-verse is another story. and i seriously doubt that they are going with a teenaged Cassie. she got past her medical issues early in life.

 

[Hawkingbird]

if Rudd is Hank Pym, i wonder what the motivation is for the heist. are they using the Trish Starr/Egghead storyline?

I think it will be the Cassie storyline. They might combine Lang/Pym.

 

[chamber-music]

They should have Pym and Lang around the same age. I'm not a fan of the old mentor/young novice dynamic as I would prefer more of a contemporary buddy vibe between

 

[sabetoonth]

So we know Rudd's playing Pym at this point Or is that just what we're assuming?

 

[ThePowerCosmic]

Just assuming.

 

[J'adore]

I'm praying for a non-white Janet but I know that's just too wild for Hollywood.

 

[Dr. Evil]

I'm praying for a non-white Janet but I know that's just too wild for Hollywood.

I wouldn't say that. If Rashida Jones becomes Janet, you'll get your wish of a non-white Janet.

 

[Ant-manic]

new clues from Wright?

http://www.edgarwrighthere.com/2014/01/06/january-5th-2014/

in case you're wondering, it's from the 'To Steal An Ant-Man' episode of Avengers Assemble. i look at Rudd and see Henry Pym. i'm quite certain that he will fill Pym's shoes in the movie. so it's weird to even think about Lang still being in the movie. how do you top announcing Paul Rudd as Pym (besides Rashida Jones as Jan)? watch it be Steve Carrell.

 

[Ant-manic]

I wouldn't say that. If Rashida Jones becomes Janet, you'll get your wish of a non-white Janet.

there are opportunities for diversity on the villain front; as well.