So the, I guess…Ant-icipated (?) trailer for the latest Marvel Studio movie, Ant-Man has arrived and on the surface, it has all the hallmarks of the hero origin story. Man has sick daughter. Man goes to jail. Man meets Michael Douglas (as Hank Pym, nee Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath…plus, four or five other lesser known characters) willing to give him a second chance by becoming bat food to prove to man’s daughter he can be the hero she needs. Well, liberties with the true Marvel origin aside, at first glance it looks like director Peyton Reed may have weaved the more dismal segments of con-man Scott Lang’s (Paul Rudd) past into a campy but visually slick July 17th release. And though Rudd has only one line in the trailer, it’s the beautifully appropriate query to Pym, “Is it too late to change the name?”
Digging deep into the Marvel canon worked out spectacularly for Guardians of the Galaxy, and Marvel Studios seems to be the new Pixar when it comes to hits. I have the feeling this movie is more about fleshing out the Marvel universe and leading up to something larger. What I did glean from the trailer is the movie is set in the now (maybe before Avengers?) Pym is obviously too old to play the part he once did and is ready to pass it off to a younger protégé (“I’ve been watching you for a while now…second chances don’t come around all that often…this is your chance…”) What Pym sees in Lang? Could it be $200m + in box office receipts? Marvel sure hopes so.
Mike Faucher has previously written for music magazines Instant, Northeast Performer, and MicStand and as a staff reporter for the Lowell Sun newspaper. He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree at Columbia University and is a systems analyst at Columbia University Medical Center. He and his family live in Westchester County, New York.
