Ant-Man & the Wasp

***Ant-Man & the Wasp*** is a 2013 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superheroes of the same name, and a sequel to *Ant-Man* and *The Avengers*. It was directed by Peyton Reed and was written by the writing teams of Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, and Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari. It is the eighth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The film stars Paul Rudd, Evangelline Lilly, Andrew Garfield, Sophie Turner, Cobie Smulders, and Laurence Fishburne. It was released on July 3, 2013 and grossed $970.8 million on a $217 million budget. It ran 146 minutes and received generally positive reviews.

## Plot

A year after the Battle of New York, Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne both continue to operate as Ant-Man and the Wasp to fight crime at the size of insects, allowing them to get into places other people can't. Pym also runs Pym Particles, a science company, while their daughter, Hope Pym, begins to go through a rebellious phase. Pym is angered when his former business partner, Bill Foster, returns to New York. When Pym Particles was just a start-up, Pym worked with Foster until he stole his technology, though Foster's potential business never made it off the ground. Foster invites Pym and van Dyne to dinner, though Pym believes it is a trick, van Dyne encourages him to come. At dinner, Foster at first makes a good impression and asks Pym for a job. Pym hires him as a lab assistant, though by the next night, Foster has left the city with Pym's next piece of technology, one that can grow someone to incredible sizes, instead of shrinking. Pym's assistant, Scott Lang, has been attempting to fix Darren Cross's Yellowjacket suit, unbeknownst to Pym.

Van Dyne calls in S.H.I.E.L.D. Deputy Director Maria Hill to track down Foster. However, while on the road, they are attacked by an invisible force, who steals van Dyne's wasp suit and uses Hill's beacon to attack a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and steal Quantum Realm equipment there. Pym reveals he had created new, improved Wasp and Ant-Man suits in case of emergency. When Hill discovers a similar energy signal to the one that attacked them, in Pym Particles, Pym and van Dyne attempt to find the assailent, only to find Hank's new Ant-Man suit gone. Pym blames Foster and believes he was behind the attacks, though van Dyne tries to dissuade him from it. Pym reveals he installed a tracker in the new suits and they are able to track the thief to Miami. There, they discover Foster, who claims he was attempting to find the assailent as well, though they believe he is lying. Hill takes him in for questioning, though he refuses to give up on his story.

Pym and van Dyne learn that Hope has begun dating Lang, and Pym goes to confront him. Lang manages to hide the Yellowjacket, but when Pym tells him to stop seeing his daughter, Lang forces Pym out of his house, causing the latter to fire him, though Pym sees a flicker in the air, startling Lang. Hope then runs away due to her father firing Lang. Foster's claims are finally justified when the "Ghost" reveals itself in a physical form, though it is masked. Ghost attempts to steal the technology that Foster took, though Hill manages to fight her off. Foster reveals that he stole the growing technology from Pym because the Ghost had been hunting him down, and he was attempting to fight her off with his own suit. Pym allows Foster to wear the suit, calling it Goliath, and the three heroes wait for another attack. While Hope is at Lang's house, the Ghost is revealed to be working for Lang. Ghost presents the new Ant-Man suit and the old Wasp suit, though it fails to give the Goliath suit. Lang orders it to go back and kidnap Foster if it has to. Hope begins to doubt her involvement in the scheme, though Lang promises her that they will be able to be together.

The Ghost returns to attack Pym, van Dyne, and Foster, and this time it manages to knock Foster. It escapes with Foster using its ability to pop in and out of the Earth's surface, allowing it to teleport. Returning to Lang's house with Foster, Lang congratulates Ghost on gaining all three suits. Lang reveals his plan to Hope: with the three suits, he will be able to open enough Quantum Realm energy to send him and Hope into the Quantum Realm along with anything they want, shrinking it down enough to live inside. Hope is reluctant, but Lang forces her to go through with it, revealing that he has the technology to open a portal out of the Quantum Realm if they ever decide to leave. Lang begins the process to open the Quantum Realm. Pym is at a loss with what to do, though van Dyne refuses to give up. Hill tries to track down energy signals, though none are a match, due to them being out of the radius. However, when Pym remembers being at Lang's house, he realizes the flicker he saw at his house, was the Ghost arriving.

They make it back to New York, where Hill leads a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and an armed Foster, into Lang's house. However, Lang is in the Yellowjacket suit and fends off the group. Pym and van Dyne make it into Lang's basement without him noticing, where they find Hope and the Ghost. Hope tries to escape with her parents, though Ghost tries to get her to say. Lang returns at the last second and Ghost attempts to push him in, revealing it was on Pym and van Dyne's side and was attempting to trap Lang in the Quantum Realm without Hope and a way out. However, Lang pushes her in instead and takes Hope with him, taking a shrunken house. Pym tries to make it into the Quantum Realm as well, though the machine turns off, trapping Hope in there with Lang. Foster finds the stolen suits, though their energy is out due to Lang's machine. Pym reveals it could take years to amass enough energy to open another portal, and leaves Pym Particles for Foster to run until he finishes.

In a mid-credits scene, Pym is at work to create another Quantum machine, while Ultron talks to him. However, unbeknownst to Pym, Ultron has begun synthesizing a physical form for itself. In a post-credits scene, Foster is told that Eric O'Grady is asking to meet with him.

## Cast

* Paul Rudd as Hank Pym/Ant-Man
* Evangelline Lilly as Janet van Dyne/Wasp
* Andrew Garfield as Scott Lang/Yellowjacket
* Sophie Turner as Hope Pym
* Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill
* Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster/Goliath

The villain Ghost also appears, though it's identity is never revealed in this film.