Ant-Man

Ant-Man is the name of several fictional characters appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Ant-Man was originally the superhero persona of Henry Pym, a brilliant scientist who invented a substance that allowed him to change his size. Henry Pym was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Tales to Astonish #27; his first appearance in the Ant-Man persona was in Tales to Astonish #35.

After Pym retired his Ant-Man identity, successors Scott Lang and Eric O'Grady have used Pym's technology to take on the role of Ant-Man.

Fictional character biography
Over the years a variety of characters have assumed the title of Ant-Man, most of whom have been connected with the Avengers.

Henry Pym
Biophysicist and Security Operations Center expert Dr. Henry 'Hank' Pym decided to become a superhero after discovering a chemical substance (Pym Particles) that would allow the user to alter his size. Armed with a helmet that could control ants, Pym would shrink down to the size of an insect to become the mystery-solving Ant-Man. He soon shared his discovery with his girlfriend, Janet Van Dyne, who became his crime-fighting partner as the Wasp. The duo would become founding members of the Avengers, fighting recurring enemies such as the mad scientist Egghead, the mutant Whirlwind, and Pym's own robotic creation Ultron.

While Pym is the original Ant-Man, he has adopted other aliases over the years including Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket, and the Wasp after Janet's death in Secret Invasion. Leaving his original persona vacant, his successors have taken up the role of Ant-Man while Pym explored these other identities.

Scott Lang
Scott Lang was a thief who first became Ant-Man after stealing Henry Pym's Ant-Man suit to save his daughter Cassie from a heart condition. Reforming from his life of crime, he soon took on a full-time career as Ant-Man with the encouragement of Hank Pym. He became an affiliate of the Fantastic Four, and most recently became a full-time member of the Avengers. For a period of time he dated Jessica Jones. He was later killed by the Scarlet Witch along with Vision and Hawkeye in Avengers Disassembled, but his daughter, Cassie, has taken up his heroic mantle as Stature, in the pages of Young Avengers. He has returned in 2011 in the pages of the mini series known as The Children's Crusade, but soon loses his daughter when she heroically sacrifices herself to stop a super charged Doctor Doom.

Eric O'Grady
Eric O'Grady is the third character to take up the title of Ant-Man. Eric O'Grady is a low-level agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who stumbled upon the Ant-Man suit in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters. A man of few morals and willing to lie, cheat, steal, and manipulate in order to get ahead in life, Eric stole the armor for his own selfish plans, which included using his status as a "super-hero" to seduce women and humiliate and torment others. He had his own short-lived title before being part of other teams: first the Avengers: The Initiative and then The Thunderbolts and more recently Secret Avengers.

Film
A live-action film, featuring Scott Lang and Hank Pym, titled Ant-Man, is scheduled to be released on July 17, 2015. It will be directed by Edgar Wright, who wrote the script along with Joe Cornish. In July 2013, Wright revealed to Digital Spy while talking about his new film The World's End, that the script was finished. In August 2013, Wright stated in an interview with Collider, that pre-production would begin in October 2013. Kevin Feige stated in October 2013 that filming would begin in mid-2014. In November 2013, Feige confirmed that aspects of Eric O'Grady's Ant-Man would not be featured in the film. In December 2013, Paul Rudd was cast as Ant-Man, followed in January 2014 with the casting of Michael Douglas as Pym, and the confirmation of Rudd as Lang.