Following the defeat of Axis powers during the second world war, the Strategic Scientific
Reserve became the espionage agency SHIELD, with Howard Stark serving on the leadership
council as a founding member.
The brilliant inventor, engineer and scientist developed deep ties to the government throughout
the war and beyond, with his company Stark Industries becoming the nation’s biggest
supplier of weapons and advanced technologies.
As a result, SHIELD Agents often had access to the very best and newest equipment available.
However one of the most remarkable discoveries of the post war era, was made not by Stark
or his people, but by a SHIELD scientist and consultant named Hank Pym.
Discovering an extra-dimensional sub-atomic particle, which could expand and shrink both
in height and weight, he named it after himself and harnessed this technology to power the
Ant-Man suit which gave its wearer those same powers.
Despite his pride at having discovered something so incredible, Hank was concerned that it
would be used for nefarious purposes, and chose to keep his research hidden, refusing
to surrender the work to SHIELD.
Though Howard Stark and others tried to pressure him into giving up his findings, he was steadfast
in his refusal, trusting only himself with the technology.
As a result Hank Pym served as the Ant-Man for several years, going on covert missions
for SHIELD, aided by another of his inventions the EMP Communication Device, which allowed
to telepathically communicate with Ants, which could provide support in his shrunken state.
Eventually, Hank was joined on his missions by his wife Janet, who wore her own Wasp suit
they developed together, with wings that allowed her to fly.
However during a mission to stop a Soviet missile from reaching America, the Wasp sacrificed
herself by using the suits regulator to shrink herself to sub-atomic size, becoming small
enough to enter and disarm the missle and then continuing to shrink until reaching the
quantum realm, unable to bring herself back.
Hank, devastated by the loss of his wife, gave up his role as Ant-Man, hiding the suit
away, and eventually resigned from SHIELD , founding his own company Pym Technology.
The enterprise proved successful and made him a billionaire, but in truth he found no
happiness as he was obsessed with researching what happened to his wife to see if there
was any way to bring her back.
His obsession and long work hours estranged him from his daughter who he sent away to
boarding school.
As Hank grew older, he was betrayed by his protégé Darren Cross in 1989, who organized
a vote to oust him as CEO, with his daughter Hope casting the deciding vote against the
founder.
Retiring to his mansion, Pym stayed away for years but was at last called back in 2015,
when Darren Cross invited him to watch the unveiling of the Yellowjacket, a new battle
suit they had developed using Pym Particle technology which Hank tried to bury decades
earlier.
Cross took pleasure in proving himself to his old mentor, and informed him that he planned
to sell the suit, with various organizations like Hydra sending representatives to bid
on the item.
Knowing that he had to stop Cross from going through with the sale, Hank hatched a plan
to find a new Ant-Man, to break into his old company and steal the yellowjacket.
Although his daughter Hope trained for years to fight and use this technology, and agreed
that Darren Cross needed to be stopped, Hank did not want to risk her life, and sought
to find someone competent but ultimately expendable for the mission.
He also refused to take his concerns to the Avengers, because of their connection to the
Starks, who he felt could not be trusted.
And so through his research he found Scott Lang, an ex-convict with a degree in electrical
engineering and a selfless heart, who in his youth stole from criminals and returned the
items to their rightful owners.
When he married his wife Maggie and had their daughter Cassie, Scott gave up his life of
crime and went to work for Vistacorp.
Yet when he discovered that the CEO Geoff Zorick was purposely overcharging customers,
he took it upon himself to hack into their system and give the money back.
However he grew over confident, breaking into the CEO’s mansion, and was arrested after
crashing his bosses car into the pool.
Sentenced to three years in San Quentin State Penitentiary, his wife soon divorced him and
remarried, taking their daughter to live with a police officer named Jim Paxton.
When Scott was at last released from prison, he struggled on the outside, forced to stay
with his old cellmate Luis, while his wife refused to allow him regular visits with his
daughter unless he found a job and paid child-support.
However he was unable to find steady employment, even losing a position at Baskin Robbins because
of his past as an ex-con.
And so when Luis along with his friends Dave and Kurt, presented an opportunity for a big
score by robbing an old billionaire, Scott reluctantly agreed to take the job.
Using his skills as a burglar and engineer, he successfully broke into the mansion of
Hank Pym and got through its security only to find the Ant-Man suit, and nothing more.
Believing that he found nothing of value, Scott took what he thought was a motorcycle
suit and departed.
Back at his friends home, he tried on the suit and was alarmed to hear the voice of
Hank Pym in his ear, eventually learning that the entire ordeal was pre-arranged, with Scott
having been selected to be the new Ant-man in exchange for a promise to help pay his
overdue child support.
Though Scott found his new powers alarming and difficult to control, he was rigorously
trained both by Hank and his daughter Hope, eventually learning to control his ant army
and becoming proficient in suit combat, armed him with pym particle disks he could throw
to instantly shrink or grow random objects during a fight.
In order to go through with their plan, Hank sent Ant-Man to steal a signal decoy from
an old warehouse which they soon learned had recently been converted to a new Avengers
facility.
Despite the mission being called off when they learned of the increased security, Scott
choose to continue on, even defeating the Avenger Falcon in combat to successfully steal
the device they needed.
Now prepared for the main mission to steal the yellowjacket, Ant-man set out to infiltrate
Cross Technologies, but found that Darren Cross was prepared for them, having taken
various precautions which allowed him to initially capture Ant-Man, though he soon escaped resulting
in a battle erupting.
Putting on the yellowjacket, Cross engaged against Ant-Man in a momentous struggle that
soon endangered his daughter, and that only ended when Scott used his suits regulator
to shrink to the sub-atomic level, just as Hank’s wife had done years earlier.
By becoming so small he was able to infiltrate the yellowjacket suit, and destroy it from
the inside, before shrinking to the Quantum realm where he may have been lost forever.
Fortunately, he had with him a Pym particle disk, which he put inside the regulator and
used to grow him back to normal size.
After returning to his reality, Scott found himself in trouble with the law, as an Ex-con
engaged in vigilantism, resulting in the destruction of property.
But in the end his ex wife’s husband Jim used his connections to help him sort out
the issue, with Scott having gained the respect and admiration of his family and friends for
his actions as the superhero Ant-Man.
However, as Scott’s life was getting back on track, even starting a relationship with
Hope, Hank Pym was more interested in studying his return from the quantum realm, starting
to believe that it may be possible to bring back his long lost wife.
In preparing for this new project, he decided that it was finally time for his daughter
to take her place alongside the ant-man, inheriting the mantle of the wasp.
Following the destruction of Sokovia during the Avenger’s battle with Ultron in 2015,
as well as the deaths of dozens of innocent people during the battle with Crossbones in
Nigeria the following year, many of the world’s nations gathered together and wrote the Sokovia
Accords, enacting a set of rules and regulations for enhanced individuals.
However, during the United Nations signing ceremony in Austria, the Vienna International
centre was bombed, killing many, including King T’Chaka of Wakanda.
Although the terrorist Helmut Zemo was behind the attack, it was blamed on the deadly assassin
Winter Soldier, previously known as Bucky Barnes, the childhood friend of Steve Rogers.
Already at odds over the merits of the Sokovia Accords, the hunt for Winter Soldier further
divided the Avengers as Captain America was convinced of his friend’s innocence.
Determined to learn the truth, Captain America gathered together his allies, including Winter
Soldier, Falcon, Hawkeye, and Scarlet Witch.
Yet because they were helping a wanted fugitive, and working outside the law, Iron Man was
ordered to arrest them, and so gathered together his own team including Vision, War Machine,
Black Widow, Black Panther and Spider-Man.
Believing that they needed additional support for the approaching conflict, Captain America
recruited Scott Lang, also known as the Ant-Man, recommended by the Falcon who once faced him
in combat.
Eager to help an American hero like Steve Rogers, Ant-Man enthusiastically agreed to
join them, without informing his mentor Hank Pym, or his girlfriend Hope Van Dyne who wore
her own suit and was known as the Wasp.
These 2 opposing Avenger factions then collided at a German airport, where Ant-Man introduced
himself by returning Captain America’s shield after it was stolen by Spider Man.
During the ensuing battle, Ant-Man faced off against Black Widow, and made himself small
enough to ride an arrow shot by Hawkeye, in order to enter Iron Man’s suit and damage
it from the inside.
Needing a distraction, Ant-Man used his suits regulator to grow into Giant-Man, allowing
Captain America and Winter Soldier to reach a Quinjet and escape.
In the aftermath of the battle, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, Scarlett Witch, and Falcon were arrested,
while War Machine was badly injured, leaving his legs paralyzed.
Continuing their investigation, Captain America soon proved Winter Soldier’s innocence,
capturing the true culprit Helmut Zemo.
However even after the terrorist was captured, the Avengers remained broken apart with Captain
America breaking his allies out of prison and then going into hiding.
Yet because Hawkeye and Ant-Man both had families and could not simply disappear, they chose
to turn themselves in, making deals to retire and serve a sentence under house arrest.
Although Scott’s family were willing to forgive his criminal behaviour, believing
that he was legitimately willing to leave it behind and focus on being a father to his
daughter Cassie, Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne were less understanding, as they were soon
targeted by the FBI for their association with Ant-Man, becoming fugitives when they
fled.
Yet while they lost their home and freedom, Hank and his daughter were able to rescue
much of their research, as it was kept in a mobile lab, an entire building that could
be shrunk down to the size of a suitcase.
Cutting off ties to Scott Lang, they continued their research into the Quantum Realm, hoping
to find a way to bring back the original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne, lost decades earlier.
And after nearly 2 years of work, their efforts paid off, by constructing a Tunnel which would
allow Hope to enter the Quantum Realm, and extract her mother.
Once complete, they powered up the Tunnel, only for it to quickly overload and shut down.
However for a brief moment the connection was successfully established, allowing Janet
Van Dyne to send a message through Scott Lang, having become entangled with him during his
time in the Quantum Realm several years earlier.
When Scott Lang informed them that he had a vivid dream about finding a little girl
hiding in a dresser, they realized it was a memory of Janet and her daughter, believing
this meant she was still alive.
Although Scott was prohibited from leaving his home, Hope set up a decoy to take his
place, allowing for Ant-Man to once again take his place by the Wasp’s side.
In an effort to secure a necessary component to keep the Tunnel functioning and stable,
they made an enemy of Sonny Burch, a black market tech dealer determined to acquire their
research.
And while this made their work more difficult, they faced further challenges when they were
attacked an enhanced individual known as Ghost, with the ability to phase and pass through
solid objects.
She too sought to steal the mobile lab, hoping to use their technology to cure her molecular
disequilibrium, acquired after an accident in her father’s lab where he was experimenting
with research originally developed under Hank Pym at SHIELD.
After a number of brief battles between the competing factions, Scott recruited his friends
at Ex-Con security to help secure the Lab, eventually allowing them to complete the Tunnel.
However with Ant-Man and the Wasp busy fighting Ghost, it fell to Hank Pym to put on a suit
and travel into the Quantum realm to find and bring back his long lost wife Janet van
Dyne who had acquired new powers during her time away.
Janet van Dyne then used these new quantum powers to stabilize Ghost’s energy, saving
her from the immediate threat to her life.
Meanwhile Sonny Burch was arrested for his crimes, while Scott Lang was not, having successfully
hid his involvement from law enforcement, allowing him to complete his 2 years of house
arrest, to become a free man.
Having repaired his relationship with the Hope and her family, Scott Lang then continued
to serve as the Ant-Man, alongside the Wasp, and aided in their research, soon sent back
into the Quantum Realm to retrieve a sample they might use to cure Ghost permanently.
However when Ant-Man completed his mission and asked to be brought back, the countdown
ended in silence as this exact moment coincided with the victory of Thanos at the Battle of
Wakanda, collecting all 6 infinity stones to exterminate half of the population of the
universe.
Unfortunately this happened to include Hank, Janet and Hope, who vanished into black ash,
leaving Ant-Man trapped in the Quantum Realm.