So, the first real trailer for Marvel's "Ant-Man" was shown during "Agent Carter" last night then hit the interwebs shortly after. Overall, it looks much better than I was expecting, and had a different "feel" then I was expecting. What I mean by that is how the 1 minute and 56 seconds was framed in terms of a story arc, and that arc being the redemption of Scott Lang from criminal to hero.
Here are some of my personal observations and takeaways from this trailer:
Quite honestly, I don't know much of Lang's version of "Ant-Man" in the comics. I knew (and really liked) the Hank Pym version of Ant-Man/Giant Man/Yellowjacket. According to the Marvel Wiki: "Scott Lang was an electronic engineer who was unable to support his family, and decided to turn to crime. He was caught and sentenced to five years in jail, but got out early for good behavior. Once freed he began to work at Stark International's design department.
"When his daughter was diagnosed with a fatal heart condition, Lang sought help from Dr. Erica Sondheim, who was kidnapped by Cross Technological Enterprises founder Darren Cross, for help with his own heart condition. In order to rescue her, and save his daughter, Lang broke in to the home of Dr. Henry Pym, the first Ant-Man, and stole his technology. After a successful rescue, Lang tried to turn himself in, but Pym allowed him to keep the suit, but for the purpose of good."
As we saw in the trailer, the film definitely seems to be sticking close to Lang's comic origin story. Although, it's tough to say from this short clip if they'll have him working for Stark and actually trying to steal the Ant-Man tech from Dr. Pym. The other elements appear to be pretty much the same...and that's very good. As I've stated before, sticking close to the original source material and not making asinine changes for the sake of making changes is absolutely vital to making these comic book stories work on the big screen.
We get to see Corey Stoll as the evil Darren Cross of Cross Technological Enterprises, but not as Yellowjacket and that's a real shame. My guess here is that the SFX work for his suit isn't ready for prime time as of yet, and that's why we don't see Yellowjacket in the trailer.
Like most people, I had my doubts about Paul Rudd in a superheroic role, but this trailer has allayed the majority of my fears...for now. Rudd has a rep for playing smarmy smartasses and playing them well. The creators of "Ant-Man" have retained some of that here and that should definitely work for the Lang character.
While Evangeline Lilly is certainly gorgeous, I'm not sure what her overall role in this film is going to be other than the 2000s version of the "girl" and/or "eye candy." I never recall Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne having a daughter named Hope in the comics. Maybe there was in some alternate-universe type of thing that escaped my attention, but it's going to be interesting to see how she's shoehorned in here and not have it be weird or just suck.
The Ant-Man suit and SFX that they did show off here looked hot. I was most curious if they were going to have Ant-Man riding wasps and all because I always thought that was super cool in the comics. Lo and behold, that's one of the best scenes in the trailer. Awesomesauce. Can't wait to see more of that and Ant-Man's other abilities and tricks when this releases in July.
In case you missed it last night, the trailer is once again embedded below for your viewing pleasure, and be sure to leave your thoughts on the trailer in the comments:
