Ant-Man (Scott Lang)

== History ==
: ... Yeah, well I beat up Doctor Doom once! 
:: -- Ant-Man src
=== Early Life ===
Scott Lang was born and raised in Coral Gables, Florida, the son of Bob Lang.[3]He later became an electronic engineer and met and married Peggy Rae. Together they had a daughter Cassandra "Cassie" Lang. Although he was an electronics expert he could not support his family doing repair work, so he turned his talents to burglary. Apprehended, he served his prison sentence and was paroled for good behavior. During his time in prison, however, Peggy divorced him. Lang had furthered his studies of electronics while in prison and was soon hired by Stark International to work in its design department.
When his daughter Cassie was diagnosed as having a serious congenital heart condition, Lang sought the aid of surgeon Dr. Erica Sondheim. Desperate to help his daughter, Lang decided to return to thievery.[5]
=== Ant-Man ===
Breaking into the New Jersey home of Dr. Henry Pym, Lang stole Ant-Man's Suit. Unknown to him, Pym observed the theft and in his guise as Yellowjacket, followed Lang, curious to see what use he would put the paraphernalia.[5]
Garbed as Ant-Man, Lang broke into Cross and discovered Dr. Sondheim was held prisoner by Darren Cross, president of CTE, who needed Sondheim to correct his own heart condition. Rescuing Sondheim and defeating Cross, Lang was relieved when Sondheim was able to save the life of his daughter. Lang intended to return the Ant-Man costume to its owner and turn himself in, but Henry Pym offered to let him keep them, provided Lang put them to lawful use.[6]
=== Stark Industries ===
Tony Stark recruited Scott to find out who Justin Hammer really is.[7] When Dr. Bruce Banner asked Iron Man to help him either be cured or killed. They design a nuclear-powered regulator that would allow him to control his heart beat preventing transformations into the Hulk. Scott Lang and Erica Sondheim successfully implant the device in Banner's chest. After exposing Banner to the emotional overlord inducement generator they are convinced that the regulator will keep the Hulk reigned in from now on.[8] However, this was not the case. Tony, Scott, and Sondheim restrained Banner's transformation, ending with Sondheim's use of sound waves to return Banner to normal. [9] Iron Man directs Sondheim to remove the regulator from the Hulk's chest before he wakes up. Unfortunately, Stark is dealing with his own health crisis, leading Scott to shrink into the Iron Man armor in order to save Tony's life.[10]
Scott also helped Yellowjacket rescue the Wasp who had been captured by Dr. Pernell Solomon.[11] Alongside the Avengers, he first battled Taskmaster.[12]
=== Fantastic Four ===
He then met the Fantastic Four, and with them first journeyed to a "micro-world," and battled there alongside the Thing.[13] He encountered Rick Jones and Alpha Flight, and then fought Dire Wraiths alongside Rom and Brandy Clark.[14]
He helped the Avengers in infiltrating Taskmaster's henchmen-training facility, battling the Taskmaster alongside Hawkeye, and visited Henry Pym while he was in prison.[15]
When the Masters of Evil took control of the Avengers Mansion and captured some of the current team; Lang was instrumental in helping the Wasp defeat the Absorbing Man and Titania, two villains much stronger and more powerful than them. The pair attacked a hospital in an attempt to kill a comatose Hercules [16]
=== Shrunken Spider-Man ===
At the Tomorrow Exposition, techno-thieves break in to steal the Quark machine. With the expo closed, Scott shrinks down as Ant-Man to take a private tour, but his gas apparently also works on Spidey who shrinks to insect size. As the thieves attack a guard, Spider-Man battles a spider. Ant-Man stops the thieves from stealing the Quark field generator's circuit board while Spidey destroys the attacking automatic insect eradicator. Ant-Man enlarges and escapes with the circuit board but is slowed by a magnesium flare. Spidey battles the robot guard dog while Ant-Man summons an army of ants to stop the thieves. Spidey stumbles across the fracas and helps, webbing the thieves up. As the police arrive, Ant-Man takes Spidey to a secluded spot to re-enlarge him, but fails. Spidey is stuck the way he is.[17] While still trapped in his shrunken size Spider-Man and Scott battled the Scarlet Beetle.[18]
=== Stane International ===
When Stark International was bought out by Stane International, Lang resigned out of respect to Tony Stark, the company's former head (and secretly Iron Man.) Lang opened his own electronics business. Later, he temporarily gave up the business to be hired by the Fantastic Four when their scientist and leader Reed Richards was missing for an extended period. Lang and Cassie lived at the Four's headquarters during this time.[19]
=== Armor Wars ===
When Tony Stark discovered that Justin Hammer had stolen his Iron Man technology and provided it to Force and other villains, Stark hired Lang to hack into the computers at Transcorp in order to find out to whom Hammer had sold or supplied that technology. Lang physically infiltrated the Transcorp computers as Ant-Man, and had to fend off an automated pest-control system before successfully transmitting the data to Stark.[20]
=== Heroes for Hire ===
During a time when many of Earth's heroes were believed dead after battling the psychic entity, Onslaught, Lang agreed to join the newly-reformed superteam Heroes for Hire.
=== The Avengers ===
Lang continued to aid his superpowered colleagues as needed, such as joining other Avengers associates in infiltrating the base of the Avengers' enemies of the Triune Understanding, although this turned out to be a ruse by the Triunes to discredit the Avengers. He also helped the Avengers against the threat of the villain Kang the Conqueror, who nearly succeeded in conquering the world. After overthrowing Kang's would-be regime, the Avengers offered Lang a place on the roster, and he agreed.[22]
=== Jessica Jones ===
Scott dated Jessica Jones, the super-heroine named Jewel who left to become a private investigator.[23] He assisted her in a matter with Mattie Franklin, one of the many female heroes to take the Spider-Woman identity. Assisting the duo is S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Clay Quartermain.[24] Their relationship ended when she revealed that she was pregnant with Luke Cage's baby.[25]
=== Jack of Hearts ===
Lang's place with the Avengers was not without its personal struggles. Scott was brought into court for a custody battle with his ex-wife over the safety of his daughter Cassie when she visited the Avengers Mansion headquarters of the team. Lang also struggled with his new teammate Jack of Hearts, as the two often clashed over trifling matters. However, when Lang's daughter was randomly kidnapped by a madman, Jack of Hearts rescued Cassie at the risk of his own powers consuming him, which ultimately killed him.[26]
=== Avengers: Disassembled ===
Lang felt guilty that he had only begun to reconcile with his new friend. Later, Jack of Hearts somehow returned to the Mansion with a message of warning for the team. When Lang reached out to his friend, Jack of Hearts detonated himself, taking half of the Avengers Mansion and seemingly Scott Lang with him. This attack was later discovered to be motivated by the Scarlet Witch, whose mind had become unhinged due to the magical powers she constantly felt forced to control. Whether this was truly the corpse of Jack of Hearts or just a magical construct of the Scarlet Witch remains unclear.[27][28]
=== Stature ===
Cassie subsequently becomes Stature as a member of the Young Avengers, having apparently taken enough Pym Particles over the years to enable her to automatically grow and shrink in size whenever she wants.[29] Ant-Man's Helmet fell into Amadeus Cho's possession for a time. He wears it with Cassie's blessing, choosing to focus on the insect mind-controlling abilities.[30]
=== Children's Crusade ===
A few years later, the Young Avengers traveled back in time with an amnesiac Scarlet Witch to the moments before Avengers Mansion was destroyed and escaped along with Lang, leaving the Avengers of that time to believe he had perished.[31] This celebration was short lived however, after Lang witnessed the death of his daughter Stature in battle with Doctor Doom.[32] Lang then swore vengeance on Doom.[33]
=== Defenders ===
Scott joined the Defenders team composed of Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer, Red She-Hulk, Black Cat and Iron Fist. Together they battled the Death Celestials.
=== Future Foundation ===
The Future Foundation would soon be left in the hands of Scott, after Reed discovered that the cosmic energy that gave him is powers was decaying, forcing him and the rest of the Fantastic Four to visit another universe in order to fix the problem. Scott was left with She-Hulk, Medusa, and Johnny Storm's current girlfriend, Darla Deering, to be the replacement Fantastic Four for what was supposed to only be approximately four minutes, unless something went wrong, which of course it did.[35] He later defeated Doctor Doom, and when the Fantastic Four returned, he left the team.[36]
=== Original Sin ===
Following the murder of Uatu the Watcher, Scott was chosen alongside Black Panther, Winter Soldier, Emma Frost, Gamora, the Punisher, and Doctor Strange as one of the potential candidates to replace the original Nick Fury in his role as the defender of Earth.[37] He and the others attempted to stop Fury after he was revealed to be the Watcher's true murderer.[38]
=== AXIS ===
The now-heroic Doctor Doom used the Scarlet Witch's powers to resurrect Cassie, seeking to atone for at least one of his crimes; she turned out alive and well on Scott's doorstep.[39]
=== Ant-Man Security Solutions ===
With Cassie returned, Scott tried to adjust his life, and got the job of Head of Security at Stark Industries. However, after Cassie moved with her mother Peggy to Miami, Scott ditched his new job in favor of spending more time with his daughter (against Peggy's will and without her knowledge).[40] As part of his new life, Scott opened a business called Ant-Man Security Solutions. Scott battled Grizzly who wanted revenge on Ant-Man due to his betrayal during the Siege of Asgard, unaware he was not Eric O'Grady. After the misunderstanding was cleared, Lang offered Grizzly a place at his new company.[41]
Trouble followed Scott and his family after Cassie was abducted by Cross Technological Enterprises.[42] With the help of Grizzly's friend from Villains Anonymous, the Machinesmith, Ant-Man infiltrated Cross Technologies and fought his way to Darren Cross, whom Dr. Sondheim was blackmailed into reviving using Cassie's heart.[43] Darren engaged in combat against Ant-Man while the hero tried to buy time for Sondheim to transplant another heart into Cassie.[44]
After Cross was forced to flee when the Pym Particles now in his body caused him to shrink down, Scott shrunk down to microscopic size, and was guided by Sondheim to attack Cassie's white cells and allow her body to accept the new heart's tissue. Even though the procedure was difficult, Scott was finally able to help Cassie survive the experience. When Peggy and Blake arrived, Sondheim told her that Cassie had suffered an infraction and Scott took Cassie to her, which they believed. Although he saved his daughter, Scott decided to distance himself from her so that she could have a normal life.[44]
Scott couldn't resist the urge to accompany her daughter, and started stalking her while in miniature size,[45] something that enraged Cassie after Scott confessed his behavior, and led her to resent her father even more than when she simply believed he had distanced from her.[46] Cassie's increasing frustration prompted her to enlist in a mobile app developed by the Power Broker called Hench that facilitated anybody a supervillain career, with the intention to shut it down from the inside. However, Power Broker's revelation of the truth behind Cassie's latest health problem ensured her collaboration in infiltrating Cross Technologies as Stinger, in order to shut down Cross' own app, a copy and rival of Hench called Lackey.
Once he learned of Cassie's whereabouts, Ant-Man assembled a group of supervillains, including his casual romantic partner the Beetle, to break into Cross Technological to prevent her from falling into Cross' clutches.[48] The rescue mission was successful, but the police were alerted of the intrusion.[49] In order to protect Cassie, Scott took the blame for the situation and was arrested.[50]
Scott faced court, and he was represented by She-Hulk.[50] However, the prosecutor was Janice Lincoln, the civilian identity Beetle,[51] who held a grudge against Scott for having failed to use their sporadic relationship to gain access to Pym Particles. Lincoln managed to put Scott in a tight spot by using her knowledge on Scott's break in plan and manipulating every witness account to her favor. The trial was interrupted by the appearance of Darren Cross, now donning a stolen Yellowjacket Armor, who wanted to have revenge on Ant-Man for the injuries his son Augustine sustained during Scott's mission to rescue Cassie fom them. Even though Scott and his allies fell to Yellowjacket's power, Stinger managed to defeat him by forcing him to ingest the Pym Particle-neutralizing pills that Scott had been taken while incarcerated. The trial resumed, and the surprising testimony of Peggy Rae turned the tide in Scott's favor, allowing him to walk away as a free man.
Scott's business was shut down, however, having forged a new relationship with both Cassie and Peggy allowed him to begin a new lease on life, with his daughter joining him in his adventures, together as Ant-Man and Stinger.
=== Earth Crossover ===