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| “ | Why don't you pick on someone your own size? | „ |
| ~ Scott Lang / Ant-Man to Darren Cross / Yellowjacket. |
Scott Edward Harris Lang (or simply: Scott Lang) is the father of Cassie Lang, the second Ant-Man and is the titular protagonist of the 2015 Marvel movie Ant-Man and its 2018 sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp. He is also one of the tritagonists of Captain America: Civil War, and one of the titular protagonists of Avengers: Endgame.
He is portrayed by actor Paul Rudd, who also portrayed Tommy Doyle in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers in his first role.
Early life
Scott Lang gets fired from his job at Vistacorp for whistle blowing. Later that day, he tells his wife, Maggie Lang, that he needs to set things right.
Later that night, he breaks into the VistaCorp headquarters to hack their systems and pay back the money VistaCorp has been stealing from. He then breaks into Geoff Zorick's Mansion and steals a few items, including jewelry. He then gets carried away, stealing Geoff Zorick's car and gets caught by the police. He then is thrown in prison.
In the present day, Scott is meeting the groups muscle, 'Peachy', about the Vista job. The meeting turns into a prison fight.
Domestic Life
Scott Lang had a daughter named Cassie with his wife Maggie. Cassie is suffering from a heart condition that motivated Scott to go into a life of crime to gain the finances to help her. Maggie and Scott divorced following his incarceration, and Maggie eventually married a man named Paxton.
Ant-Man
VistaCorp and Arrest
One day, he was with his wife, Maggie Lang, and Scott said he needed to set things right.
Later that night, he broke into the VistaCorp headquarters to hack their systems and pay back the money VistaCorp had been stealing from their customers over the years, a feat that was supposed to be impossible. He then broke into Geoff Zorick's Mansion and stole a few items, including jewelry. He then got carried away, and stole Geoff Zorick's car and got caught by the police. He was then thrown in San Quentin State Prison.
A Biased Interview
- "You seem very unrepentant Scott, you can see why so many of us have trouble believing your side of the story."
"Yeh, so many of you who get paid by Vistacorp. I'm getting tired of your biased accusations."
- ―Christine Everhart and Scott Lang
A day before his release from San Quentin State Prison, Scott Lang was interviewed by Christine Everhart at WHiH Newsfront. They discussed the reason behind his heist at Vistacorp; however, Lang felt that the news station was being unfair, due to Vistacorp being one of their financial backers. His animosity towards the remarks made by the seemingly biased news anchor, causing him to yell and slam his hand onto the desk, resulted in him getting tased.
Release from San Quentin
- "I'm gonna miss you Scott."
"Gonna miss you too Peach, man you guy's got the weirdest goodbye rituals."
- ―Peachy and Scott Lang
On the 17th of July 2015, Scott was released for proper conduct during his entire stay in the prison. Before being pardoned, he underwent a "good-bye ritual" where he fights a fellow inmate called 'Peachy'. Afterwards, he is assisted on the way out and is picked up by Luis, Lang's friend and former cellmate.
On the way to his new place to stay, Luis informed Scott of a place they could rob but Scott rejected the idea and claimed that he would not be turning back to his old ways and get sent back to prison. Arriving at the residence, Scott met Kurtand Dave whom Luis rounded up in hopes of helping in his planned heist if Scott agreed. Nevertheless, Scott disclosed that he would not be going back to stealing.
Fired
Lang obtained a job at Baskin-Robbins, going by the name of Jack. One day he was called by his manager. The latter brought up his past and promptly fired him because of his criminal records. Then, since he had no source of income and burdened by the long period of time until he could visit his daughter again, Lang returned to Luis for information about the new place they could break in and agreed to put the plan into motion.
Unwelcome Family Reunion
- "I'm not going to miss my little girl's birthday party."
- ―Scott Lang
On the very same day was Cassie's birthday, which was being held at Jim Paxton's house. Although he was not invited to the party she was having, Lang turned up at Paxton's home. Cassie was delighted to see him and hugged her further tightly, he managed to give his gift to Cassie despite the cold treatment Paxton gave him, Cassie then went to inform her mother of Lang's return. When his ex-wife Maggie appeared she asked to speak to Lang outside of the house. From there, they discussed a little bit of what Scott must do before he can visit Cassie again.
Breaking Into Pym's Residence
- "They weren't kidding; this safe is serious."
- ―Scott Lang
With the help of his newly-found heist team, Scott was able to break into the house easily until he arrived at the vault. Scott deduces the vault's door is made of the same material as the Titanic, prompting him to freeze the door and wait for it to open. As soon as the door was opened, he immediately scanned the room only to find a few hanging blueprints, some colored liquid contained in test tubes, and a suit with a helmet that seemed to be as a pair of motorcycling attire for him. Despite everything, no money was found and Lang took the suit with him. Unknown to him, Hank Pym has been watching everything he did, with a camera mount on an ant.
- "The world sure seems different from down here, doesn't it, Scott?"
"Who said that?"
- ―Hank Pym and Scott Lang
Trials of the Suit
The following day, Scott checked the suit and tried it on, pushing the buttons he saw on each gloves until he found himself to have shrunk. Hank Pym used this chance to get through the suit and communicate with Scott, revealing to him that he knew about the heist. Scott ran for his life as he avoided getting stomped by many things before finally figuring out how to grow back to normal size.
Horrified by the experience, Scott broke into Pym's house again to return the suit to the safe, however on his way out he was caught by police officers called byHope van Dyne who were waiting outside. Without thinking, Lang attempted to defend himself by claiming that he was not stealing anything but was instead returning something that he had stolen, this tactic failed however and Lang was handcuffed and taken to prison.
Prison Break
- "My days of breaking into places and stealing s--t are over! What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to break into a place and steal some s--t."
"Makes sense."
- ―Scott Lang and Hank Pym
Back in a cell again, Paxton expressed his disappointment to find Scott back inside a jail again when they thought he'd turn for the good and believed it. Paxton's partner Gale came and told him he had a visitor. When Scott asked who it was, the officer simply said that it was his lawyer and brought him to the visiting room.
There, he met Hank Pym in person for the first time, yet Pym is keeping his visit a secret from the camera inside the room by using the ants to block the camera's view. Pym told Scott about the heist, how the former got to bribe a woman from spreading a gossip about a vault in a basement that is holding "good stuffs" and made sure that the talk got to Luis in order to pass it to Scott. Pym explained that he did all this to test if he got the right man to succeed as the Ant-Man. Scott then wanted to tell that he'll take no part in it anymore but Pym persuaded him by helping him with Cassie if he agreed to continue being the Ant-Man. After giving Scott the option Pym left, using the ants to mask his departure.
Not long after, a few ants visited Scott's cell with the Ant-Man suit. Deciding to take the offer, Scott quickly dressed into the suit and escaped by shrinking and riding an ant. But on the way out, Scott fell unconcious due to feeling lightheaded.
A week later, Scott woke up in a bed with Hope van Dyne standing near him. After some words, Scott joined Hope and Pym at their coffee table. Pym then revealed he let Scott steal the suit to test his theiving skills and afterwards told him about the Yellowjacket Suit and the potential for chaos it held. After some convincing, Scott agreed to steal the suit from Darren Cross.
Training
Sitting around the dinner table, Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne demonstrated to Lang how to communicate with the ants in order to use them to do as you wished. They started by having Lang tell a few ants to lift a few cubes of sugar into a small cup filled with tea.
Mastering the Suit
- "Nailed it."
- ―Scott Lang
Hank Pym gave Lang the task of running towards a closed door and jumping through the key hole while tiny. Although Lang remained confident, he failed time after time again, much to the annoyance of Pym and Hope van Dyne. Eventually he managed to fit through the key hole during his leap, although he did crash into the wall upon his landing in the other room.
Fighting with Hope van Dyne
- "You're going to have to learn how to punch."
"You're going to show me how to punch? Show me how to punch."
- Punches him in the face*
"That's how you punch."
- ―Hope van Dyne and Scott Lang
For the physical part of stealing the Yellowjacket Suit (i.e. knocking out the guards), Lang was trained by Hope van Dyne. She told him she would teach how how to punch but Lang scoffed at this, noting that he was in prison for three years so he already knew how to punch. He invited her to show him how to punch, lifting up his hand for her, but she responded by punching him square in the face. They trained together and neither one held back in their fighting styles, with Lang quickly learning that van Dyne was not a woman to be underestimated.[1]
Meeting the Ants
- "I'm gonna call him Antony."
- ―Ant-Man
Lang was sent into Hank Pym's garden to explore the tunnels created by the ants. While in there, he encountered a small crazy ant, which could be used to conduct electricity and could also be used to carry cameras and other devices. Lang at first viewed it as cute and allowed it to climb on top of him, however when the rest of the small army of ants charged in and surrounded Lang, he freaked out and returned to normal size, slightly embarrassed.
The next stage of Lang's training involved meeting the the army of flying Carpenter Ants which would assist Lang to his missions. There he was reintroduced to the Ant that flew him out of the prison, Lang immediately developed a strong connection to the ant, feeding him water and renaming him Antony. He finally met a group of Fire Ants which could be used as natural architects and transport Lang through tight corners and difficult to move locations by creating long structures, like rafts and bridges.
Pym Confesses
Hank Pym admitted to Hope the secret of how her mother, Janet van Dyne, died: In 1987 Soviet separatists had launched a nuclear missile at the United States. As Ant-Man, Pym stowed away on the missile as it traveled to it's target, but he was unable to gain access to it's internals. Janet arrived in an attempt to help, but the two of them realized the only way to get inside would be to disable their suits regulators and shrink to a subatomic scale that would allow them to penetrate the missile's titanium hull and disable it's targeting system. Pym was prepared to make the sacrifice but his belt malfunctioned so Janet did so, disabling the missile but at the cost of trapping herself in the Quantum Realm. After telling her the truth Hope finally forgave her father and the two embraced only for Lang to ruin the moment.
Duel at New Avengers Facility
- "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Ant-Man."
- ―Sam Wilson and Scott Lang
Hank Pym sent Lang to retrieve a device from an old building that was used byHoward Stark, citing that this device would later assist Lang in stealing theYellowjacket. However, when Lang arrived at the building, he discovered it was theNew Avengers Facility. Pym told Lang to return to San Francisco; instead Lang decided to go to the facility anyway and landed its roof. This led to an encounter with the Falcon who was guarding the facility. During the fight Lang used theAnt-Man Suit and his new fighting skills to keep up with the Falcon. He managed to get the device and escape the facility.
Darren Cross Visits
As the group discussed the heist, Darren Cross arrived at the Pym Residence, planning to kill Pym (but choosing not to, and Hope was there also); not wanting Cross to see the plans, Lang had Ants roll them up. Cross eventually left but he called Hope to tell her that he was beefing up security.
Building the Team
Knowing that they would need help with getting past the extra security, Scott sought the aid of (much to Pym's reluctance) Luis, Kurt, and Dave to help.
Stealing the Yellowjacket
Despite the logistical set backs imposed by Cross, the team still managed to infiltrate the facility while Cross was holding an important event. Luis, posing as a security guard, gained access to the building's water main, and shut it off long enough for Scott and his army of ants to gain access to the inside. Scott managed to make it into the hermetically sealed chamber that the Yellowjacket suit was contained in, but at the last moment Cross revealed his awareness of their plan and trapped Scott inside the chamber after having removed the Yellowjacket suit.
Momentarily having the upper hand, Cross' security held Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne at gunpoint while he chastised Hank for his failures as a mentor and a scientist. Cross introduced Mitchell Carson from HYDRA who intended to purchase the Yellowjacket Suit, Cross then took a gun and aimed it at Pym, intending to execute his former mentor. A scuffle broke out, in which Scott was able to escape the chamber by smashing through the glass and assisted Pym and van Dyne in fighting Cross' guards. Pym fought Cross but was shot in the abdomen, Lang and van Dyne ran to Pym's aid but he insisted that Lang go after Cross before he escaped.
The Final Fight
Stopping Darren Cross
Cross attempts to evacuate the facility via private helicopter, taking hostages with him. Ant-Man pursues him, and while distracted, Cross dons the Yellowjacket suit. The two fight at both normal and shrunken sizes, with Yellowjackets energy weapons disabling the pilots of the helicopter and sending it crashing to the ground. Scott and Cross fall out of the helicopter as it was crashing, landing in an unsuspecting family's backyard pool while shrunk, only for the two of them to return to normal size and continue fighting—terrifying the family. Scott momentarily wins the battle when he uses the family's barbecue spatula to swat Cross into a bug zapper, electrocuting him and rendering him unconscious.
Saving Cassie
- "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?"
- ―Scott Lang to Darren Cross
Cross makes his way to Scott's family, breaking into Jim's house and entering Cassie's bedroom while she slept. Intending to take her hostage, Scott arrives and the battle between Scott and Cross continues. Scott uses some of the devices that Hank gave him, often missing Cross and either shrinking or enlarging random items, such as enlarging an ant to the size of a dog, or a Thomas the Tank Engine toy to the size of a real locomotive.
Eventually, Scott has the same revelation that Hank and Janet had decades earlier when he fails to access the internals of Cross' suit, which Cross defiantly gloats is due to it's titanium construction. Scott accepts that his fate will be like Janet's and disables the regulator on his suit, shrinking him small enough to pass through the atomic structure of the titanium and into Cross suit, where he permanently disables the suit and causes Cross to vanish into thin air.
Quantum Realm
While he succeeded in disabling Cross' suit, he continues to shrink at various intervals, just as Hank had hypothesized. Shrinking well into the subatomic world, witnessing an existence that was perceptually very strange from our own.
In his resolution to return to his daughter and survive, Scott retrieves one of the enlarging devices and places it into the regulator of his suit. His attempt to return to normal size is successful.
Aftermath
Following the events with Cross, Jim drops the case against Scott and invites him to have dinner with them so Scott can spend time with Cassie, who has adopted the dog-sized ant as a pet as a payment for saving his daughter's life.
Sought by the Avengers
Later, when Scott is talking to Luis, Luis recalls that in his chain of contacts, someone informed him that Sam Wilson of the Avengers were looking for him.
Captain America: Civil War
When Captain America and Falcon were recruiting for a team to stop Helmut Zemo from supposedly resurrecting the Winter Soldiers in an old HYDRA base, Falcon suggests that they recruit his new acquaintance Ant-Man for help. He is picked up by Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch and easily joins the team. As they prepare, the team is suddenly interrupted by Tony Stark and his Avengers with the addition of Black Panther and Spider-Man. During the fight, Ant-Man is able to grow to gigantic size thus making a giant version of himself dubbed Giant-Man. For a time, he was able to fight off War Machine and the other of Stark's crew. But Spider-Man was able to stop Ant-Man as he shrunk down to his regular sized self. He is later seen in the Raft Prison where he tells Tony 'Hank Pym always said you never can trust a Stark', with Tony asking who he was. Lang is later rescued alongside the other of Rogers' Avengers and supposedly returns to his normal life.
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Avengers: Endgame
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Ant-Man Suit
- Size Manipulation: Using technology developed by Hank Pym, Lang is able to reduce himself to approximately the size of an ant. He still maintains his regular sized strength and resilience when shrinking; while in reduced scale, this translates to granting him inhuman effort and exertion capabilities. Also, obtaining momentum and kinetic energy in small scale and exerting it immediately while returning to or right after returning to normal size can result in a feat of inhuman effort and exertion, and therefore, momentarily give Lang enhanced strength while in regular size.
- "When you're small, you have superhuman strength."
- ―Hope van Dyne
- Superhuman Strength: While wearing the Ant-Man Suit in its miniature form, Lang possesses superhuman strength due to his increased density, enabling him to take out multiple opponents of normal human size.
- Insect Manipulation: Lang, through the use of radio and electric waves and signals accessed with the suit's helmet, can communicate with organisms the size of insects, especially ants, allowing him a rudimentary form of control over these insects.
Abilities
- Expert Thief: Lang was skilled in theft, specializing in breaking into homes and other places to steal. He is also skilled with utilizing chemistry when opening locked safes and bypassing security systems.
- "I got a Master's in electrical engineering, alright. I'm gonna be fine."
- ―Scott Lang to Luis
- Expert Engineer: Lang was an electrical engineer, having earned a Master's Degree in the subject. His knowledge was useful when he was able to tinker a way out of the Quantum Realm using tech pieces provided by Hank Pym.
- Expert Acrobat: Lang is capable of acrobatic maneuvers, leaping across steep divides and climbing difficult structures. He does not just perform these stunts in his shrunken state, but also when breaking into houses while in the process of thievery.
- Computer Programmer: Lang created the security systems for Vistacorp Headquarters and corrected a program that was stealing money from its customers. Christine Everhart referred to Lang as a "cyber-criminal".
- Expert Tactician: As an expert thief, Lang has a keen mind for formulating elaborate plans and schemes, and is especially notable for being able to modify those plans to adapt to unforeseen circumstances at short notice - sometimes within seconds. Examples include when he discovers the fingerprint scanner in Hank Pym's home, when he discovers that the warehouse he is breaking into is actually now the New Avengers Facility, when he is discovered by Falcon, and when Darren Cross triples security on the Pym Technologies building. He, alongsideHope van Dyne and Hank Pym, worked together on creating the heist mission to stop Darren Cross and steal theYellowjacket Suit.
- Expert Martial Artist: Lang had poor fighting skills as he avoided confrontations during his heists. Hope van Dynetrained him and he slowly became a skilled fighter. His skills combined with the Ant-Man Suit allowed him to defeat armed security personnel and even keep up with the Falcon.
Relationships
Family
- Maggie Lang – Ex-Wife
- Cassie Lang – Daughter
Allies
- Hank Pym – Mentor
- Hope van Dyne – Trainer, Teammate, & Girlfriend
- Janet van Dyne
- Luis – Former Cellmate and Friend
- Dave
- Kurt
- Peachy
- Ants
- Antony † – Steed
- Jim Paxton – Rival turned Ally
- T'Challa/Black Panther – Ally
- Shuri – Ally
- Okoye – Ally
- James Barnes/Winter Soldier – Ally
- Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange – Ally
- Wong – Ally
- Valkyrie – Ally
- Pepper Potts – Ally
- Gamora – Ally
- M'Baku – Ally
Avengers
- Sam Wilson/Falcon – Temporary Enemy turned Recruiter and Former Team Member
- Steve Rogers/Captain America – Leader and Former Team Member
- Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow † – Former Team Member
- Tony Stark/Iron Man † – Former Team Member
- Thor – Former Team Member
- Bruce Banner/Hulk – Former Team Member
- Clint Barton/Hawkeye – Former Team Member
- James Rhodes/War Machine – Former Team Member
- Nebula – Former Team Member
- Rocket Raccoon – Former Team Member
- Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch – Former Team Member
- Peter Parker/Spider-Man – Former Team Member
- Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel – Former Team Member
Guardians of the Galaxy
- Peter Quill/Star Lord
- Drax the Destroyer
- Groot
- Mantis
Enemies
- Vistacorp
- Geoff Zorick – Former Boss
- WHiH World News
- Christine Everhart – Interviewer
- Darren Cross † – Enemy and Victim
- HYDRA
- Mitchell Carson
- Sonny Burch
- Thanos †
- Cull Obsidian † (alternate timeline) - Victim
- Ebony Maw † (alternate timeline)
- Proxima Midnight † (alternate timeline)
- Corvus Glaive † (alternate timeline)
Trivia
- Scott Lang was one of the characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have taken over the mantle of a former superhero, the second was Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel.
- Ant-Man becomes Demoted to Extra in Captain America: Civil War, appearing after an hour and twenty-seven minutes. He has a major role in Endgame, after having escaped from the Quantam Realm.
