Ant-Man #3-5: Cassie Lang the Damsel In Distress

[informationgeek]

CBR News: Cassie plays the role of normal teenager in the first issue, but she has a lot in common with her dad given that they've both come back from the dead and both have been super heroes. How does that impact her relationship with her father? And do you have plans for the super powered aspect of Cassie's life in "Ant-Man?"

Nick Spencer: Yeah, definitely! Part of the fun of Cassie is that she's very much her father's daughter. So I think a lot of the parallels of their careers as super heroes is a great part of their relationship.

Cassie really became Stature because of her dad and Scott really became Ant-Man because of his daughter. It's a funny thing because I think Scott is very much driven to make sure that Cassie turns out better than he did. The fun thing about that is the personal dynamic of wanting your kids to achieve so much more, but at the same time they can often mirror you. So that's definitely an interesting thing to explore.

3 pages each from Ant-Man #3-5...



Reading and reviewing Ant-Man Vol. 1 by Nick Spencer stood out to me. Other than being Diet Marvel Indie, I couldn't help but feel... Cassie was not written all that well. It got worse especially in the final three issues of this five issue "series"...









Onto #4...







Then we wrap with #5...



Scott saves her in a pretty cool scene (though in his flashback, there's no indication or mentions she was a superhero...)







"... is let them go."

Brilliant move dude. Leave her alone in this time where she is recovering from getting the Heart of Hush treatment where your presence may be beneficial to her recovery mentally while two psychopaths with grudges against you and your family are out and about (neither of whom are exactly stable).


Sooooooo bad. It felt like Cassie Lang got the shaft this entire run and her past as a hero was flatout ignored (no one mentioned it at all like they were ashamed of it. She didn't even address it herself!)... but that could be me.

What did you guys think of this storyline and Nick Spencer's use of Cassie? Do you think it was good or bad? Do you hope he'll give her more to do in the next Ant-Man series?

Comments

[silverhammerman]

Ant-Man's grown on me as a series, but the treatment of Cassie Lang was definitely remained a sour note for me. I wasn't even one of the people who got into comics through Young Avengers, but it still aggravates me to see a series that was important to people now just being completely ignored and overwritten.

Its one of the most obvious and more aggravating examples of Marvel trying to synergize their comics with the films, and just not going about it in a good way.

[beyondthefringe]

Cassie's age has always confused me. She's pretty young when first introduced, but is a teenager in Young Avengers and the Initiative. Here, they say she's a teenager, but she looks like a young one. I wonder if she was deaged a few years when she was brought back to life, and doesn't even remember having a heroic career. That might explain why it gets glossed over here... maybe when Doom brought her back, he decided it was easier to erase that part of her life altogether.

Because it really looks as though she went from like, 16 or 17 to 13.

And is it just me who sees "Darren Cross" and thinks "Darren Criss"?

[beyondthefringe]

Oh, and who wants to bet that the whole heart transplant thing also removed her powers? Or will provide a writer with the opportunity to change them later?

Naw, it'll be more melodramatic.

[7dialsmystery]

Her heart will stay the same size but the rest of her will be able to shrink or grow so if she uses her powers it'll kill her.

Re: Naw, it'll be more melodramatic.

[beyondthefringe]

You just depressed me. :(

Re: Naw, it'll be more melodramatic.

[7dialsmystery]

...and at the end of the world she'll end up heroically dying to inspire her father. Because women and girls solely exist to die to motivate the hero.

Re: Naw, it'll be more melodramatic.

[deh_tommy]

Doesn't Last Days of Ant-Man deal with the titular character and Cassie attending a giant party?

[crimsonmoonmist]

Hey, Scott. Why not lay down the helmet for a while to spend time doing all the things you mentioned she deserves. Y'know, she deserves a dad too.
Disappearing from her life during such a fragile time doesn't seem like it'd do her any favors.

[starwolf_oakley]

Scott sees himself as the problem. Someone is always going to need Ant-Man to save them.

Yes, heroes blame themselves instead of the bad guys. That is their thing.

[cricharddavies]

And if they can blame themselves in such a way as to get themselves out of the lives of the CANCEROUS THING SOME BITCH INFLICTED ON THEM, as most of these writers view their children, so much the better!

[deh_tommy]

That's not very nice. Are most writers abusive towards their children?

[cricharddavies]

I can only judge them by the sheer unadulterated loathing they display towards the notion of their characters having functional adult relationships and children.

[kevinroc]

I get why Spencer started off by focusing on Scott and Cassie's relationship as he started his run. They really hadn't had any focus together for about 10 years. I was disappointed with the way some of this was executed and hope some of Cassie's time as Stature is acknowledged in series.

Given the new volume will clarify Scott's situation with Darla, I think acknowledging Stature may happen.

[punisher007]

UGH!! I am so freaking sick of this "oh it's my fault and not the evil supervillain. So I'll abandon her, right after she finally got her father back. That's the best option." I HATE this cliché so freaking much, enough of this nonsense writers!! It just makes him look like an complete a-hole.

Oh and Cassie's treatment in this entire book was, just bad. Attention comic book writers, the MU is NOT the MCU. You cannot make everything line up 100%, because they're different. And this is one of the more obvious examples.

[mrstatham]

You can't blame the comic book writers, realistically. In instances like this, the connecting links with the MCU would be pressed upon them by the higher-ups, so Cassie and Scott's regression to 'complete loser' after FF is going to be an instance of that.

Still my least favourite Nick Spencer book in forever, though, especially after loving Morning Glories and Superior Foes.

[coldfury]

They gave her a heart transplant? Seriously, they took one of the Young Avengers, miraculously ressurected, and ripped out her heart? With no fight of her own? Doesn't a lifetime of weakened immune system and transplant drugs put a bit of a downer on her future as a superhero, or am I being too realistic here?

I like Scott Lang, but I hate this book.

[thanekos]

At least it's a believable enough scenario- mid-to-low-list as Crossfire is, he's still got those CIA field ops skills that make sneaking up on someone otherwise normal and knocking them out believable.

[beyondthefringe]

This is comics. People recover from organ transplants, major surgeries, and bionic replacements on a daily basis. Seriously, once you live in a world where you can surgically remove and exchange heads, heart transplants are terribly mundane with no complications ever.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Wow....

A character's child is functionally written out of their life in their series.

NEVER SAW THAT COMING.

It's completely original, never happened before and completely unpredictable.

[zechs80]

I haven't kept on this book in awhile, but the reason why is Spencer is changing course with this relationship is because he's going with Scott aka leading a group of C-Level villains apparently (if the teasers are indicated of the new #1).

Also Spencer did acknowledge Cassie's powers. #1 ended with her shrinking (off panel) and enjoying a movie on a smart phone with her dad while they sat in a doll room.

[silverhammerman]

The shrinking thing struck me less as a "Cassie Lang, superhero" thing and more as a "Ant-Man's daughter" thing, if you get my meaning. Like that scene works completely independent of Cassie's career as Stature.

[lordultimus]

The sad thing is that this still isn't the worst thing Marvel has done to synchronize with the MCU.

*coughWandaandPietrocough*

[informationgeek]

Ah yes... Axis. The worst event comic I ever read... bad memories.

[deh_tommy]

I'm genuinely curious, what is so terrible about Wanda and Pietro no longer being Magneto's children? Has the change harmed the characters or their stories in any way?

[lordultimus]

Less story potential. Them being Magneto's kids is a lot more interesting than being random High Evolutionary experiments.

[philippos42]

Wow. That was...strange. That's not the first time I've seen a series sort of "rewound" into a new timeline, but...yeah, that's kind of a mess.

[jaybee3]

I remember how they made Cassie such a great hero in New Avengers to the point of sacrificing herself to bring her father back to life. This...this is just repulsive. I detested Heart of Hush (I know it has fans) and I detest this. The heart is not something that can easily be taken out and replaced, especially when it seems when it's always some smug male villain doing it to some female (hero/anti-hero) who he personally has NO history with. And they get away with it...

Dini gave some comeuppance to Hush from Catwoman and her cronies (basically taking all his money) but then destroyed that a bit by having her be one of the people who agreed to perpetuate the Hush masquerading as Bruce thing Dini was doing while Bruce was "dead" (another storyline where the heroes came off as dumb). Here Cassie gets no agency at all....and she was a hero.