Ant-Man and the Wasp

I was not an avid comic book reader when I was younger. I remember thumbing through an X-Men comic book here and there, but I never dove into the world of Marvel superheroes. So when I started watching movies set into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), I leaned upon those who were obsessed with the comics to understand how well they made the leap to the silver screen. And then there were the heroes like Ant-Man that I had never even heard of before the 2015 MCU film.

Ant-Man and the Wasp

But the little known, outside of the uber comic book obsessed fans, burst onto the screen and made a name for himself. In the first movie, we are introduced to this tiny superhero, both the first Ant-Man and his successor. Scott Lang is a devoted father who had made some bad choices, and by the end of the film, we see him moving in the right direction.

Between the two Ant-Man films, we are treated to the events of Captain America Civil War. And Scott chooses a side in the conflict. Unfortunately, he made the wrong choice at least from the legal standpoint and is imprisoned by the end of that feature.

So now that we have gotten the appropriate backstory in place, we begin the journey of Ant-Man and the Wasp. Part of the fallout from Scott’s actions leave him under house arrest, and Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne are fugitives. The cast and crew have done another fantastic job to bring yet another story featuring this tiny hero to the big screen. The tension between Scott Lang, Hope van Dyne, and Hank Pym is absolutely genius, and it melts away believably as the movie progresses.

And with all the tension between those three main characters, it is fantastic to see the love between Scott and his daughter Cassie. Throughout the entire story, she is Scott’s rock, his source of strength and desire. The one thought that guides Scott’s decisions throughout the film is his paternal instinct to protect Cassie from harm. But she says the right words to keep Scott on the right path to become a true hero.

There is plenty of humor, both honest jokes and subtle references that everyone will enjoy this latest installment of the MCU. One of my favorite references happens reasonably early in the movie as Scott looks out of the passenger window and sees an enormous eye staring back at him. Unlike the scene from the original Jurassic Park, he is not eye to eye with a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but it is pretty much the same scale.

When the movie finished and the post-credit scene finished, I found myself waiting for Avengers 4 and the next installment of the Ant-Man series.