With talks of the new Ant-Man movie, it only seems appropriate to shine some light on one of the founding members of the Avengers. So without further ado, here’s what you need to know about Dr. Hank Pym, his first successor Scott Lang, and his Pym particles. Possible spoilers ahead!

Like other superhero origin stories, Dr. Hank Pym was living an ordinary life as a successful biochemist until tragedy struck. When his wife was murdered on vacation, he switched gears to focus on research that would in a sense avenge her death. This led him to discover what he coined as Pym Particles, which caused him to change size. At first, Pym thought it was far too dangerous to keep the serum he developed, but was convinced he shouldn’t throw away his prized discovery. He soon developed a helmet that he used to talk with ants thus creating a crime communication network. He and the Wasp (his new wife whom he gave wasp transforming powers for more death avenging) became a crime fighting team and eventually creating the Avengers. I could write pages about Hank with his breakdowns, schizophrenia, and infamous strike on the Wasp, but I think the upcoming movie will probably focus on Pym’s successor, Scott Lang.

Struggling to support his family, Scott Lang turned to crime. He turned out to be a horrible criminal and was jailed for three years. He was the hired as an electronics specialist at Stark International after he was released. Lang was doing okay until his daughter Cassie was diagnosed with a heart condition. Desperate, he broke into Dr. Pym’s house and stole the Ant-Man uniform along with his aerosolized shrinking serum to kidnap the only doctor that could save her. Unfortunately, Dr. Erica Sondheim was captured by super villain, Darren Cross. Uniform clad with powers ready, he saves the doctor and she treats Cassie’s heart condition. Lang was ready to atone for his crimes and return the Ant-Man equipment, but Pym offered him the Ant-Man mantle as long as he used his powers for good.

As far as the movie, it appears that Michael Douglas will play Hank Pym and Paul Rudd will play Scott Lang. While I was a bit skeptical about this decision (the timeline may be tweaked so that Pym was not in the Avengers but Lang probably would be), Marvel has made canon changes in the previous movies without affecting the quality. I think the movie will be in the safe hands of the Cornetto Trilogy director, Edgar Wright. Expect all the action of a Marvel blockbuster with the humor of Shaun of the Dead. Now if only Sony Pictures would lend Marvel Spider-Man so Peter can finally join the Avengers like he canonically deserves.

[Oh, one more thing: Pym coincidentally created Ultron, an artificially intelligent robot that is bent on killing everyone (he kind of plays a big role in the next Avengers movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron). Just something to keep in mind for 2015.]

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