With the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War set to start filming this month, Marvel recently released a new trailer promoting its second summer release, Ant- Man, slated for July 17, 2015.
The film stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne, Corey Stoll as Darren Cross/Yellowjacket, Bobby Cannavale as Paxton, and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym.
With Ant-Man being dropped in between Age of Ultron and Civil War, two of Marvel’s most ambitious releases, will the smaller (pun intended) story of Ant-Man, get lost in the shuffle?
Here are three huge factors that will likely determine the fate of the world’s tiniest hero:
- The film focuses on a superhero who shrinks down to ant size, can control ant,s and gets stronger as he gets smaller. While the concept may seem somewhat uninteresting and pretty ridiculous on the surface, especially when stacked up against the likes of a massive Hulk or hi-tech Iron Man, this film is uniquely positioned to give viewers a different, “smaller” flavor than they are used to.
- Marvel has chosen not to use the hero that is most commonly known as Ant-Man, Hank Pym. They have instead opted to go with Scott Lang, a later and lesser-known version of the character. Lang is a single father and “former criminal-turned-hero,” who initially steals, then ultimately inherits Ant-Man’s armor and technology. However, many diehard Marvel fans (like me) feel that Ant-Man is synonymous with Hank Pym-who is one of the founding members of the Avengers in the comics. Hank Pym was also the creator of Ultron and the Vision. On screen, the latter, two non-human beings are created by Tony Stark. Additionally, Pym is cast as an older mentor to the younger, more unbridled Lang. On the bright side, going with the lesser known version of Ant-Man gives the studio more flexibility and new idea potential for future films in the MCU. Whether the focus on Scott Lang and scaling down of Hank Pym will be a success is yet to be determined, but we’ll surely find out in a few months!
- Ant-Man was originally the pet project of Edgar Wright for several years before creative differences with Marvel Studios forced him off the project. In the aftermath, Marvel went to comedy/family film director Peyton Reed, buoyed by minor script rewrites from comedy writer Adam McKay, to finish the film. How will these combined visions impact the film? Will it be a coherent, seamless film or will it be a case of too many cooks in the kitchen messing up the main course meal?
This is Marvel’s most ambitious project due to the unconventional nature of the character itself as well as stops and starts in the production schedule due to the aforementioned director choice and screenplay issues. Marvel Studios’ track record has been flawless to-date, but this film will surely put that streak to the test!
