MC2 Influences in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

 

I have just watched Marvel Studio’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and naturally, instead of a review, my mind leapt at the notion of discussing the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s adaption of Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Lang, particularly as I feel many of these influences can be linked to her counterpart in the MC2. Spoilers ahead, though only mild ones, I promise!

 

I am sure by now readers already know that Hope Pym was lifted directly from the pages of the MC2’s A-Next #7 when the first Ant-Man film adapted her into Hope Van Dyne, complete with matching hairstyle and something of chip on her shoulder. Of course, instead of a villainous role, the Marvel Cinematic Universe made Hope a heroine as the present-day Wasp rather than the Red Queen. This on-screen version in turn was adapted back into the comics in the form of Nadia Van Dyne/Pym, the daughter of  Hank Pym and Maria Strovaya, introduced as the Main Marvel Universe's answer to Hope Pym from the MC2 after the release of the first Ant-Man movie (Free Comic Book Day 2016 Civil War II). What a tangle, but regardless, we have touched on Hope quite enough for now. Let us instead look at the Cassie Lang.

 

Many years ago, I mentioned that it was too early to tell where the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Cassie would be headed in terms of influences; would she be closely modelled on the Young Avengers iteration known as Stature or take cues from the MC2’s Stinger? Well, as it turns out, it is a bit of both, with the usual adaptational differences of all MCU characters.

 

Let’s talk visuals: Kathryn Newton’s Cassie has longer hair which recalls the Main Marvel Universe’s Stature. However, Cassie’s apparently self-designed suit is very much inspired by her Stinger identity with it’s purple colour scheme. I have mentioned before that even the Main Marvel Universe Cassie now uses both the codename and costume of Stinger as of Astonishing Ant-Man #6. An obvious case of brand synergy, sure, but the costume and codename Stinger all originates in the MC2 with A-Next #1 by Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz.

 

Speaking of Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz, both gentlemen received a ‘With Special Thanks To’ in the end credits for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which is consist with the previous two films in the trilogy. Quite right, too. Presumably this time it is not only for Hope but also the as-yet-without-a-codename Cassie clad in purple. I wonder if they got a cheque in the mail?

 

Another MC2 influence, and one I think is quite important, is Cassie Lang’s great intelligence, demonstrated in the film by her development of a device which can make contact with the Quantum Realm. Unless I am mistaken, the Main Marvel Universe Cassie has not demonstrated any scientific skill or interest. Meanwhile the MC2’s Cassie is an established scientist with at least one doctorate who runs a think tank at Lang Labs, improved on the original Ant-Man and Wasp designs with her father Scott Lang including implanting wings in herself and was working on a cure for diabetes using insect DNA (A-Next #1-#2, #7).

 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Cassie Lang also demonstrates a passion for social activism, defending the homeless and has a strong desire to help those around her, inspired by her father, Scott Lang aka Ant-Man. While it is not a 1:1 parallel, I think MC2 Cassie’s scientific efforts show a similar passion for selflessly helping others. Furthermore, Scott and Cassie first teamed up as superheroes in A-Next #7, much as they do on the big screen. Still, I must concede that Quantumania does not give Cassie her wings and does show her growing to giant-size, which is most certainly more akin to the Young Avenger’s Stature.

 

I look forward to seeing Cassie Lang develop into her own unique hero in future film (and possibly television) appearances. It seems almost inevitable that some form of the Young Avengers is coming in the years to come, but it would be a mistake to ignore the MCU Cassie’s ties to the MC2. I have not found any official merchandise that gives Cassie a codename, Stinger, Stature, or something else entirely, but I am sure they will acknowledge her MC2 roots eventually.

 

Until I find Marvel merchandise calls Cassie Lang ‘Stinger’ and feel validated, I remain

 

 

 

Stinger in the MCU

This is a different kind of post, just something quick to talk about the news coming out of the San Diego Comic Convention. During the convention, Marvel Studios have released the first official look at upcoming movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The piece of concept art was produced by Andy Park and features not only the titular Scott Lang’s Ant-Man and Hope Van Dyne’s the Wasp but also provides a glimpse of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Cassie Lang, depicted for the first time in full super heroic attire.

 

 

 

While it is not confirmed at this point what moniker Cassie will adopt in the film, judging by her costume’s purple colour scheme I think it is safe to venture a guess this is a version of the Stinger identity. The Stinger codename and costume first appeared in the MC2 with A-Next #1 and, many years later, the Main Marvel Universe version of Cassie would adopt both starting with Astonishing Ant-Man #6.

 

While all the Ant-Man related characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are required to wear a helmet that encases their head as mentioned in the first Ant-Man film, it is nice to see Cassie wearing one that retains at least some of the elements of her comic counterpart such as the coloured eye-pieces. Additionally, the costume also integrates the gauntlets used for offensive attacks. It is not comic accurate, but I must note the footwear, too.  I mean, look at them!

 

Since I started writing this post, it has apparently been confirmed Cassie’s heroic identity will in fact be Stinger, not Stature. I am going to be paying this movie more attention than other recent entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I find it amusing that the Ant-Man movie of all things was the first big screen adaption to use an MC2 character, and now its sequel is continuing the theme.

 

Until I stop giving a massive multinational corporation that does not care about my existence my disposable income, I remain

 

frogoat

 

 

Sony VS Marvel: How it affects the MC2

Some of you may recall that back in November 2014, Sony Pictures were the target of hackers, resulting in a large amount of confidential data being leaked online. Amongst the documents released were several detailing the Amazing Spider-Man film series and correspondence with Marvel Studios. It's fairly well known the backlash to the concepts and opinions leaked resulted in Spider-Man appearing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Which brings me to today's post. I hadn't given much thought to the exact details of Sony's contracts and agreements to produce films based on Spider-Man, which characters they could and couldn't use or anything like that until I saw this recent video by the YouTube channel Midnight's Edge:

Spider-man: The uncertain future with either Marvel's MCU or Sony's Venom

It was while watching that I noticed a familiar name in one of the screenshots of the Sony documents: Meagyn Brady. I'd always figured May 'Mayday' Parker was included in the package of characters for the film rights to the Spider-Man franchise, but it never really occurred to me such minor characters would be mentioned. So I did some digging through the leaked documents.

As it turns out, I found a lot of original MC2 character's names mentioned under various categories. I may have missed a few within this document which appears to be a more finalized version of these prior documents but I've attempted to include even some which may not, just for the sake of completeness. Let me know what I've missed or omitted. Here's the list of the characters quoted as presented under the various sub-headings in the document:

Alternate Versions of Spider-Man include all of the following

Spider-Man (IV)/Gerry Drew

Schedule 6

Named Characters

Black Tarantula (II)/Fabian LaMuerto
Buzz, The/Jack Jameson
Crazy Eight
Daze
Goblin God/Peter Parker
Green Goblin, The (VI)/Norman "Normie" Harry Osborn
Killerwatt
Misery/Melissa Carsdale
Mr. Nobody
Scarlet Spider (VII)/Felicity Hardy
Spider-Girl (I)/ May "Mayday" Parker
Spider-Girl 2020/May Parker
Spider-Man (IV)/Gerry Drew
Spider-Venom
Spider-Woman/ May "Mayday" Parker
Venom/Spider-Girl, May "Mayday" Parker

Teams/Groups/Gangs

Team Spider

Supporting Characters

Aftershock
April (first appearing in Spider-Girl #75)
Babbit, Mr

Barney – agent of Hobgoblin (first appearing in Amazing Spider-Girl #2)
Bitter Frost
Brady, Meagyn
Canis
Carlo, Mona
Claw
Desantos, Simone
Diana - Black Cat's love interest in MC2 Universe
Dragon King/Carlton T. Hackmutter
Drasco, Det. Vinnie
Duran, Courtney-May "Mayday" Parker's friend
Funny Face
Fury the Goblin Queen/ Elan DeJunae
Golden Goblin
Grief Machine
Groote, Leonard
Hardy, Felicity (daughter of Felicia)
Healy, Gus
Healy, Joyce
Healy, Sandra
Hicks, Ralphie
Hingle, Duane
Hingle, Cindy
Hingle, Sarah
Impact
Jade, Dr. Sonja
Kirby, Davida - May "Mayday" Parker's friend
Kodiak
Kurkle, Charlie
La Fantome
Ladyhawk/Regina Morgan
Ladyhawk/Rosetta Morgan

Lieber, Caitlyn
Lu, Nancy - May "Mayday" Parker's friend
Mansfield, Billy
Mansfield, Katy
Mansfield, Moose
Mansfield, Mr. - father of Moose
Miller, Brad
Mr. Abnormal
Parker, April - clone of May Parker
Parker, Benjamin "Benjy" Richard Parker
Phillip, Charlie
Pirouette
Quickwire
Ragone, Theodore "Turtle"
Raptor/Brenda Drago

Reverb / Rudolf
Spyral
Thompson, Gene (son of Eugene "Flash" Thompson and Felicia Hardy)
Tyne, Reilly
Weadon, Arthur
Westin, Wes
Yama, Jimmy
Yi, Spike

Business and Other IP

Café Indigo
Deacon's Den
"EVERYBODY'S HAPPY" - program
Hotel Caprice
Humanity First
Kingsley International
Spider Shoppe
Spidera
St. Andrew's -women's shelter
Zebra Patrol

SCHEDULE 7A

Frozen Characters

Hero or Villain

Spider-Man appearing as a member of the Fantastic Four (e.g., as a member of the Fantastic Five or Fatal Force)
Reilly Tyne as an alias for Darkdevil

Anthropomorphic Variations

Mary Porker

Schedule 8

Marvel Reserved Characters

Hero or Villain

Bluestreak (III) (first appearing in A-Next)
Coal Tiger/T'Chaka
Darkdevil
Dragonfist
Freebooter/Brandon Cross
Mad Dog Rassitano
Magneta
Stinger/Cassandra "Cassie" Lang
Stormtrooper/Eric Masterson
Thunderstrike/Kevin Masterson
Wild Thing

Teams, Groups, and Gangs

Sons of Serpent/Soldiers of the Serpent

There were many, many other characters that appear in the MC2 who I didn't included in the above list because I only transcribed characters who hadn't appeared anywhere prior to their MC2 appearances. So Phil Urich isn't listed above because he debuted beforehand, meanwhile Normie is listed only as a version of the Green Goblin. Make sense? Good. You'll have noticed a few odd spellings and the occasional character that might not be from the MC2, but I've listed some (such as 'Mary Porker') because I believe they may be typos, misreading or similar mistakes.

The most fascinating discovery was that a character named Reilly Tyne could be used by Sony, so long as he wasn't linked to Darkdevil, and Marvel Studios appears to be able to use the design and name of Darkdevil so long as his secret identity isn't Reilly Tyne. This is attributed to the Daredevil-related elements of the character's super hero identity. Being the son of Ben Reilly -a literal clone of Peter Parker- means he's a Spider-Man character while his super hero moniker, appearance and origin link him to Daredevil as well as Ghost Rider who's film rights were previously held by Sony.  In early versions, Sony Pictures recommended 'Darkdevil' be frozen, likely due to the aforementioned conflict of rights. The use of 'Reilly Tyne as an alias for Darkdevil' appears on the list of 'frozen' characters while 'Darkdevil' appears under 'Marvel Reserved Characters'. Poor Reilly, even in the real world he gets a raw deal, split between so many 'fathers'.

(This might also explain why The Buzz was licenced for the Spider-Man Unlimited mobile game but Darkdevil never appeared, despite actually having spider-powers and being directly related. Not strictly relevant, but I did often wonder!)

It's also worth noting that in earlier versions mentioned above, Meagyn Brady, Magneta and Dragonfist were among the list of characters Sony Pictures wished to have included in their licence agreement, in addition to requesting the spelling of 'Mona Carlo' be corrected. Sony Pictures also felt 'Bluestreak' had 'clear associations with Spider-Man and/or a subsidiary character' enough to request a rationale for exclusion. Regardless, other than Meagyn, all these characters appear on the Schedule 8 list for 'Marvel Reserved Characters'.

It's simple enough to see how and why Stinger, Thunderstrike, Coal Tiger and even Magneta and Dragonfist and other aren't considered a part of the film right for Spider-Man, and are listed as 'Marvel Reserved Characters'. With characters like Hope Van Dyne in the MC2 based on Hope Pym, it's safe to assume the MC2 characters are on the radar for Marvel Studios to mine for future films. My money is on Stinger being the next MC2 character!

I do wonder where a character like Bluestreak falls in the eyes of a legal team. Blue is a former member of the mutant team X-People who first appeared in the Avengers related title A-Next, which is mostly associated with the MC2, primarily known for Spider-Girl, a Spider-Man character. Presumably she counts as either an X-Men character or an Avengers character or both like her predecessor in speed, Quicksilver. This stuff is messy!

The introduction of Spider-Man into Marvel Studios' MCU while Sony Pictures retains several related characters such as Venom for their own 'Sony Marvel Universe' further splits up the available characters within the MC2. For example, would a symbiote character like April Parker aka Mayhem be retained by Sony for their Venom film series or would her clone nature mean she is loaned to MCU?

It would seem that Mayday and her family are all free and clear to appear in a future production (such as a Into The Spider-Verse related movie, for example) but only some of her rogues gallery, supporting cast and fellow heroes are free and clear to make appearances alongside her. Personally, I'd settle for a great Spider-Girl appearance in a future animated film from Sony if it was as well produced as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
I could cover this a bit more in future, if there's any interest. Let me know!

Until I stop being far too excited by legal documents, I remain

frogoat

The Pym Family Tree

Obviously, after having recently watched the Ant-Man and The Wasp movie, I've been doing a little digging into the history of both Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne so that I can present a (hopefully) complete and accurate Pym Family Tree for the MC2 Universe.

Dr Henry 'Hank' Pym first appeared in Tales to Astonish #27, becoming Ant-Man for the first time in Tales to Astonish #35. Over time, Hank's mental health and stability would fluctuate dramatically, causing several issues with his self-esteem, personal life and heroic identity. Through the years Hank would adopt various monikers: Giant-Man (Tales to Astonish #49), Goliath (Avengers #28), Yellowjacket (Avengers #59) and simply Dr Pym. Despite his many successes, Hank is usually only remembered for two things: the creation of Ultron (Avengers #54)and a scene of domestic abuse during a mental breakdown (Avengers #213) which has followed the character to this day. After hitting rock bottom, Hank attempted suicide but was talked out of it by fellow Avenger Firebird (West Coast Avengers vol. 2 #17). In the MC2, Hank is among the Avengers who perished while on the team's final mission (A-Next #7).

Janet Van Dyne became The Wasp when her father, a scientist named Dr Vernon Van Dyne, opened a portal to an extradimensional prison and was murdered by one of it's escaping inhabitants. To avenger her father, Janet sought assistance from Hank Pym, who granted her the ability to shrink in size, shoot bio-electric blasts and fly by means of insect-like wings implanted in her back (Tales to Astonish #44). Janet and Hank worked as crime-fighting partners for sometime before becoming founding members of the Avengers (Avengers #1) and after dating form sometime, were eventually married after Janet agreed to Hank's proposed while he was suffering a schizophrenic episode
(Avengers #60). The two would later divorce in Avengers #213 following the aforementioned spousal abuse. Janet would go on to successfully serve as Chairperson and leader of the Avengers and later joined the West Coast Avengers roster at which time she and Hank resumed a romantic relationship (West Coast Avengers vol.2 #42). In the MC2, Janet was among the few Avengers to returned from the team's final mission but was heart-broken and was later said to have died of a 'broken heart'.

While in university Hank met and fell in love with Maria Trovaya; a Hungarian woman who had immigrated to the United States with her father, Janos. The couple were soon married and Maria convinced Hank to take her back to Hungary for their honeymoon. Sadly, Maria was captured and  killed by some of Janos' political opponents. Hank later learned that Janos Trovaya was also killed in an a suspicious explosion while working in his lab in the United States around the same time. It was at this time that Hank suffered his first mental breakdown, ending up arrested and jailed during his unsuccessful attempts to find his wife. The US embassy negotiated his release and he returned to America as a widow. Upon meeting Janet Van Dyne for the first time, Hank notes she bares a strong resemblance to his deceased wife. (Tales to Astonish #44, Avengers #227).

In the MC2, we learn that Hank and Janet had two children: twins Hope and Henry Pym Jr. As a result of their parents deaths, the two are left orphaned (A-Next #7, A-Next #12). Hope makes her first cameo appearance as a pair of silhouetted legs in A-Next #7 and makes her first full appearance in A-Next #10 where she learns the new team of Avengers have re-activated the portal that led to her parents demise. Hope and Henry Jr under the guise of the Red Queen and Big Man respectively, formed and led the Revengers in an invasion of the Avengers Compound, using their parents old security codes to gain access.  After taking Edwin Jarvis, Tony Stark and Clint Barton hostage, the Revengers launched a surprise attack on the exhausted Avengers team upon their return from the parallel Earth.

Henry began to have major doubts when he witnessed Hope torturing Stinger (Cassie Lang, daughter of the second Ant-Man) and threatening to kill the entire team. While Henry only intended to prove the new Avengers weren't worthy of the title, it became clear Hope had far deadlier plans. Hope blamed the Avengers for the death of her parents, and believed Stinger in particular had tarnished their legacy. Hope was defeated by her own brother Henry, who turned himself over to the Avengers for his crimes (A-Next #12).

Henry Jr was next seen among a gathering of heroes who met to defeat the god Seth (Spider-Girl #58) before joining a government sanctioned team for reformed super villains led by Arthur Weadon to combat threats (Spider-Girl #62, #64-66, #73, #77-78, #93, #95-96 ). As of Amazing Spider-Girl #9, it appears Henry has 'graduated' the program and paid in full for his crimes. Depending on whether you want to count MC2 stories post-Spider-Verse, Big Man also appears in the Spider-Girl story published in Spider-Island #1-5.


Hope next appears in the Last Planet Standing mini series, leading a new incarnation of the Revengers against the Avengers, launching attacks on them despite the ongoing threat to the entire planet posed by Galactus and even resorting to looting during the chaos. The Red Queen returns to menace American Dream, this time only accompanied by Ion Man. The duo monitor American Dream's exploits and team up with the villainous Silikong to defeat the hero but were themselves defeated by American Dream and the Avengers. Depending on whether you want to count MC2 stories post-Spider-Verse, The Red Queen also appears in the Spider-Girl story published in Spider-Island #1-5.

The Pym Twins (that's so much fun to say) appear to be legally adults. For example, Hope's initial appearances suggest she is in charge of the company (Pym Laboratories, perhaps?)  that granted Ion Man his powers and Henry working for Weadon's government sanctioned team. If the twins are, in fact, adults then we must shift the point at which the MC2 diverged from the Main Marvel Universe back even further from the usually cited 15 years. This will be something I'll attempt to address in a later discussion.

Finally, some random bits and pieces I should mention lest I be accused of a mistake: Ultron and his entire kin will be covered in another Family Tree. A reference to Dr Pym's mother being killed is made in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Vol. 13, though I can't find any specific issue for this mention and it's not present in earlier entries to my knowledge; as such I have left it out. Apart from those seen above in the Pym Family Tree- stories published after the (likely) divergent point for the Avengers of the MC2- have mentioned or depicted other relatives. As these are most likely not relevant to the characters MC2, I will simply list them here for the sake of completeness:

• Hank references an Aunt Sally and Uncle Harry in Ant-Man's Big Christmas #1
• Janet also refers to an Uncle Bertram, an Aunt Ruth and a cousin named Sally in Ant-Man's Big Christmas #1
• Amelia Van Dyne and Blaine Van Dyne are potential relatives mentioned in the special 1939 Daily Bugle #1 special, though may have been mentioned earlier. Let me know.
• Hank mentions that Janet's Mother was left in a vegetative state following a car accident and eventually died (Avengers Academy #7)
• We learn that Hank's paternal grandmother (Angela Pym) encouraged him to pursue wild and creative inventions before her death, that his father and mother (Brad Pym and Doris Pym) tried to push him into more mundane fields such as engineering and medicine (Age of Ultron #10A.I.) 
• Nadia Van Dyne/Pym is the daughter of  Hank Pym and Maria Strovaya, introduced as the Main Marvel Universe's answer to Hope Pym from the MC2 after the release of the first Ant-Man movie (Free Comic Book Day 2016 Civil War II)

Well, I think that's just about it for now! I've attempted to cover everything in brief, but if you feel I've missed a Pym or Van Dyne somewhere along the line, please let me know.

Until I figure out the secret to Pym Particles, I remain

frogoat

My Trivial Problems

I've been more active with this blog lately. I'm not entirely sure what's led to this, but I'd like to assure anyone who's out there reading this (if anyone actually does read this...) that I don't plan on stopping anytime soon either.

A few odds and ends: Since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 hit the big screen, I noticed my little Mainframe video received several hundred more views than it had in a very short time. Obviously, this is due to a SPOILER-ific cameo by a certain singing celebrity who voices the Guardians of the Galaxy-related character coincidentally also named Mainframe. For the record, the two characters are not related. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the film for it's wonderful character depth and character exploration. Seriously, go check it out!

I've considered doing more 'Evolution'-style MC2 videos, but presently I feel there is limited material to draw from. What little material I have been able to track down to use in future videos also comes with the extra complication of having unidentified or unverified voice actors. This applies to Stinger's recent appearance in the Marvel Avengers Academy mobile game and various symbiote-related characters featuring currently in the Spider-Man Unlimited mobile game. Sadly TinyCo's Avengers game has listed credits and Gameloft's Unlimited has not updated it's in-game credits in sometime. Hopefully, this will improve in the near future.

Speaking of hope....I am conflicted about whether to address Hope Pym in other media. Hope Van Dyne bares very little resemblance to her comic counterpart in the Ant-Man film. In addition, it is the film version who is featured in other media, such as the Lego Marvel's Avengers video game, making them an adaption of an adaption. I highly doubt this version of Hope will turn to villainy, despite my early speculation when the character was announced for the Ant-Man movie. Then again, Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz are given a mention in the films credits. Perhaps I should consider the film version etc when creating a future MC2 video? I am befuddled.

I have a similar conflict with adaptions of Cassie Lang as a character. Until recently, 'Stinger' was the superhero identity of the MC2 character, almost exclusively. Cassie's alias in the main Marvel Universe was Stature but recent developments in the Ant-Man comics have led to her adopting the Stinger nomenclature and costume. Not only is Cassie a character who originates in the regular Marvel Universe, she's quite different. With MC2-related concepts feeding back into the main Marvel Universe, it's muddied the waters when determining which version of the character is being adapted. The obvious exception is the Ant-Man movie's adaptation of Cassie, who is too young to suit up as a hero just yet.


Until I resolve my trivial problems, I remain

frogoat