Scott LangAnt-Man

To Squash an Ant

A genius intellect suffering from strange mutations, wealthy Darren Cross became the second Ant-Man’s first adversary when he kidnapped Cassie Lang’s surgeon for his own use. Cross seemingly lost his life during Scott Lang’s rescue attempt, but years later Ant-Man learned that his old enemy underwent suspended animation to save him from a failing heart. Cross and Lang crossed swords once more when Cassie’s heart was transplanted into the evil genius, but his own hubris foiled his plans and he fled the confrontation to lick his wounds.

Though Ant-Man has yet to rack up the extensive rogues gallery that other heroes possess, his few foes nevertheless rank high on the scale of villainy. Chief among these stands the Taskmaster, the mercenary mimic with the amazing ability to instantly learn all his opponents’ moves and duplicate them flawlessly. Lang stumbled across Taskmaster in his early days as Ant-Man and earned eternal enmity from the criminal.

Family Business

No other person can count themselves as close to Scott Lang as his daughter. Cassie Lang’s presence throughout his life guides him in many ways, and to some extent remains responsible for his career as Ant-Man. Lang’s wife divorced him during his prison stint, but he managed to retain custody of Cassie upon his release, though he later lost custody when his Super Hero career was used to highlight his supposed inability to properly care for her. Luckily, the two survived tremendous upheaval to knit together one of the strongest father-daughter bonds in the heroic community, even when Cassie herself adopted a costume and a codename to become a crimefighter called Stature.

Beyond his daughter, Lang’s family could be said to include his army of ants. Hard-working and willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the colony, Ant-Man’s formic friends provide him with an incredible support structure on his missions, as well as a sounding board function of sorts. Lang’s alliance with the insects even extends to naming certain individuals that he feels express particular personalities and traits—making it all the harder on the hero when one is lost in battle.

Other persons Lang has grown close to include former boss and affluent industrialist Tony Stark, former Super Villain and sometimes employee the Grizzly, and former teammate and on-again-off-again romantic partner Darla Deering.

Big Adventures

Ant-Man has never complained about a boring life, though often times citing his status as merely a part-time crusader. Operating solo or as part of several teams, Lang has crossed universes while fighting the good fight to protect innocents.

An early mission to the Microverse drew him into the circle of Ben Grimm, the Thing, and set Ant-Man up to be invited to assist the Fantastic Four when their leader Reed Richards was believed killed. He soon grew into a full-fledged member after proving his worth and accompanied the famous family on many adventures. An accident involving Lang being temporarily mutated into an advanced being called Myrmidon threw the proverbial monkeywrench into his Fantastic Four status and following a reversal of his mutated condition and a few more missions, Ant-Man parted ways with the team.

Surprisingly, Lang passed up an invitation to join the Avengers to throw his lot in with a revived edition of Heroes for Hire. As one of their agents, he gained more experience in covert operations as well as ant management, but the group’s tenure burned out swiftly, and after a series of solo accomplishments, Lang finally took his place alongside Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in the Avengers. Unfortunately, membership would mean the death of him.

Not long after joining the Avengers, Ant-Man perished in the fiery wrath of an insane Scarlet Witch, an event that prompted Cassie Lang onto a path to become a Super Hero. Unable to fully cope with her father’s death, the girl took advantage of a time-traveling mission with the Young Avengers to ensure Scott Lang’s survival during the original Scarlet Witch debacle. Returned to the present, Ant-Man’s bewilderment transformed into great misery when he witnessed Cassie’s attack on Doctor Doom and her subsequent death battling the international despot.

Grief-stricken over the loss of his daughter, and unsure how to proceed, Lang eventually confronted Doom while leader of a replacement Fantastic Four known simply as “FF.” Following encounters with other Super Villains and a varied pantheon of threats, Lang and his FF confederates defeated Doom soundly, bringing some closure to a wounded father. Later, Doom himself resurrected Cassie during a time of inversion of his normally malevolent personality, and Lang and his daughter enjoyed a loving reunion until the girl’s mother limited her exposure to Ant-Man’s career in an effort to curtail Cassie’s own return to super heroics.

More recently, Scott Lang founded Ant-Man Security Systems, a business meant to provide him with both a living and a distraction from his personal problems. In typical fashion, he soon stood up to his neck in former Super Villain employees, a revived Darren Cross, and multiple reasons to regret the entire endeavor. Battling his own inner demons, Lang persevered, intent on winning back his daughter and continuing to prove himself as a worthy successor to Hank Pym’s legacy as Ant-Man.