Paul Rudd is coming to theaters next July as the star of Marvel's Ant-Man, aka The One Edgar Wright Quit. Always one to take advantage of the high profile attention its characters receive from box office releases, Marvel has just greenlit a new monthly Ant-Man title.
Kicking off in January, Ant-Man the comic will chronicle the adventures of Scott Lang, which is incidentally the same version of the character Rudd plays in the film. Writer Nick Spencer of Avengers World and Superior Foes of Spider-Man will script the series, while Night of the Living Deadpool's Ramon Rosanas will handle artwork.
The original Ant-Man was, of course Hank Pym (who appears in the film as portrayed by Michael Douglas). In the comics, Lang took over the mantle after a life of burglary lead him to steal the Ant-Man suit with its shrinking and insect-communicating abilities. He'd meant to use the suit for personal gain (and to save the life of his daughter) but wound up rescuing an innocent man and defeating a bad guy. So Pym, who became Lang's mentor, offered to let him keep the suit, provided he would use its powers only for good.
The movie is expected to follow a very similar storyline. Yet in the comics, despite this intriguing origin and even a stint as an Avenger, Lang has never gotten close to A-list superhero status. The new Ant-Man monthly series looks to change that. Marvel says that Tony Stark is about to call Scott Lang with a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" that the publisher is keeping secret for now. Since Stark will be operating out of San Francisco as "The Superior Iron Man" at this time, it's not hard to imagine that the role Stark offers Lang will bring him to SanFran as well — which once again, lines up nicely with the movie, which is set in the same city.
Scott Lang will undertake this mysterious new mission with the intention of realizing his full potential, of changing his image and becoming the hero he was meant to be. We'll find out if he succeeds in January 2015.
That release date, incidentally, puts it perfectly in place so that the sixth issue will release in June. Comics fans know what this means: July will bring the release of the trade paperback collection of those first six issues — putting the book in stores at just before the movie arrives in theaters.
And if you think Marvel didn't plan out the timing of that with great precision... Your naïveté is cause for concern.
