The Two Best Things About The First Ant-Man Teaser
By Nick Tylwalk
Though I’ve enjoyed almost everything Marvel has done with its movies over the past few years, it’s no secret that I’ve been nervous about Ant-Man. It just seemed like a potential stumbling point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe machine, one that has shown no signs of tripping up so far. After the debut of the film’s first teaser last night, though, I’ve officially been upgraded from “worried” to “cautiously optimistic.”
More from Movies
- James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy casts more major DC characters
- New Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom trailer pushes Arthur to his limits
- 7 actors who could replace Ezra Miller as The Flash in the DC Universe
- Masters of the Universe reboot’s new domain could be at Amazon’s Prime Video Streamer
- James Gunn gives interesting update of Superman and Supergirl movies at DC Studios
It’s not because of Marvel’s trademark blend of action and humor, though that appears to be there. It’s not due to the special effects, which look great in the little bit that we see, or even Paul Rudd’s charm as an actor.
Instead, here are the two things I think were the smartest bits of our first glimpse of Ant-Man:
- It plays up Scott Lang’s need for a second chance
Redemption is such a powerful and universal theme. We’ve seen it a bit in the MCU already, with Tony Stark’s regret over his company’s war profiteering and Black Widow’s desire to balance her “ledger.” But they’ve also been heroes the whole time they’ve been on-screen, people who are already actively dealing with any past transgressions.
Marvel has a long history of people who started out on the wrong side of the law before finding their inner hero, and Lang is certainly one of them. Though the teaser isn’t long enough to really delve into his back story, it’s obvious even to Marvel newbies that he’s got a checkered past and is being offered a chance to make it right. This isn’t just a neophyte super hero, but someone who might have to take baby steps even in just making the right decisions, and that helps set him apart from the Avengers.
- There was a strong focus on Lang’s bond with his daughter
Again, this isn’t something common to the MCU so far. Most of the Avengers are loners either by choice, circumstance or both, prior to coming together as a team. Thor has a family, but an extremely dysfunctional one. Captain America’s true love is a senior citizen, and his best friend is only just starting to get his head right. None of them have any children.
Showing Lang trying to make good for his daughter and having Hank Pym emphasize that he can be a true hero for Cassie is definitely a smart decision. It’s a completely relatable motivation for someone to play super hero, plus my gut tells me it might be paralleled by Pym trying to do something similar to show his true colors to his daughter, Hope Van Dyne.
I’m still not 100 percnt convinced Ant-Man is going to be another home run, but at the very least, Marvel convinced me in just under two minutes that it’s going to swing for the fences. There’s still another six months, and undoubtedly multiple trailers, left to finish the job.