But Morrison aimed higher than just adorable. He wanted Ant-Man's ants to be scientifically spot on. The movie highlights a few different real kinds of ants, and their real, super ant powers. For example, bullet ants really do sting their enemies painfully. Crazy ants can short out electrical systems (although probably not on purpose as they do in the movie). And fire ants actually build rafts and bridges with their bodies.
"I thought it was a great movie," says Ana Jesovnik, a graduate student who works at the Ant Lab at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History. She attended an early screening with scientist Seán Brady, who chairs the entomology department there.
The scientists have no quibble with Ant-Man, who is, after all, a made-up Marvel Comics character. But male ants have short little lives. They live in the colony, mate with the queen, guard her and die. In the movie, the main ant character is a winged carpenter ant named Antony. He most certainly would be female in reality.
Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is officially upon us with the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which I will be referring to as Ant-Man 3 from here on out. Because I am not going to type out quantum-whatevertheheck over and over again. Truly, a terrible name for a movie.
I joined Forbes as the Europe News Editor and will be working with the London newsroom to define our coverage of emerging businesses and leaders across the UK and Europe. Prior to joining Forbes, I worked for the news agency Storyful as its Asia Editor working from its Hong Kong bureau, and as a Senior Editor in London, where I reported on breaking news stories from around the world, with a special focus on how misinformation and disinformation spreads on social media platforms. I started my career in London as a financial journalist with Citywire and my work has appeared in the BBC, Sunday Times, and many more UK publications. Email me story ideas, or tips, to iain....@forbes.com,
I am a game designer with over 15 years worth of game credits and industry experience. My work includes licensed games based on worlds like Star Wars, Star Trek and Firefly, classic game worlds like Dungeons & Dragons and Shadowrun and my own creations like Camelot Trigger and Save Game. I play a wide variety of games as part of Theatre of the Mind Players and have been the guest of honor at several conventions. I live with my family in Wisconsin, born near the heart of RPGs (and just a few short years younger than they are).
Along with my work at Forbes, I'm a contributing reporter at Engadget. In addition to games, I write about tech, film, TV and the internet. My work has appeared on Tom's Guide, The Daily Dot, TechNewsWorld, The Daily Beast and Paste, among others.
Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne, along with Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, explore the Quantum Realm, where they interact with strange creatures and embark on an adventure that goes beyond the limits of what they thought was possible.
No journey into the science of comic book movies would be complete without a comicon visit. On April 2, experts from Argonne and Fermilab geeked out with fans of all ages at an interactive panel at the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2).
Loki escapes, teams up with another Loki variant, this one a woman who goes by the name Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino). (Variants often look the same, but they can be different genders, species, ages, etc. Loki encounters older versions of himself, younger versions of himself, versions of himself that are a different race, and even a crocodile version of himself). Together, they hunt down the person who runs the Time Variance Authority with the goal of overthrowing his rule and setting all the hunted variants free to live in peace.
He notes that he called "all of us." Their chamber opens up to reveal a massive arena full of Variants -- Kangs from branching timelines -- of seemingly infinite temperaments and species, with even more arriving through time portals.
The same is true of the comic source material, where one Kang -- Kang Prime -- worked with some Variants to eliminate their counterparts. He then killed those allies and replaced them with robot doppelgangers to ensure his control over all timelines. It didn't really work out for him though, because schemes that involve ruling multiple realities tend to spiral out of control.
However, this version of Mobius can't remember Loki. There's also a statue of Kang wearing his comic costume towering over the TVA -- it seems the God of Mischief was sent to a timeline in which the agency is controlled by a Kang Variant that's cool with letting the timeline branch.
This guy could also be the same Kang we met in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (the final battle left his fate unclear) -- it'd be more narratively satisfying if the version of the character we spent time (ha) with turned out to be Kang Prime.
The latest evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time. Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang (Rudd) must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas), protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.
Sporting a robust and resonant DTS-HD MA 7.1 audio track, 'Ant-Man' brings all of the best auditory elements that we've come to expect from this generation of big-budget superhero films. Dialogue is crystal clear and never a trouble to hear - even when all hell is breaking loose during the film's final act. As dialogue, for the most part, keeps to the front/center channels, that leaves the surrounds and rears to be left open for all of the background and ambient sound effects and the film's playful score by Christophe Beck to occupy. As expected the big action beats sound as amazing as they look with thundering audio that is filled with pleasing amounts of action-packed imaging. Sound effects zip and crash around the surround channels and are constantly engaged. Even during the film's quieter character moments, there is the right amount of background effects to make each set sound like it has a lot of space. Adding to the fun is how the sound effects were tweaked to represent their nature in terms of size, a normal gunshot can all of a sudden become a booming explosion whenever Scott shrinks. It's really fun when these effects fly at you in the span of a second and the audio track never falters. As should be expected from a big studio release from Marvel/Disney, this audio track is absolutely first rate.
Marvel continues to provide solid superhero fun. If there was ever a comic property that was a risky bet, 'Ant-Man' was most certainly it. If the casting hadn't come together, if Director Peyton Reed had dropped the ball in any way, if the humor hadn't landed - this movie could have been a bitter pill to swallow. Thankfully, everything turned out well enough and 'Ant-Man' stands as one of Marvel's best "purely for entertainment" ventures thus far. Marvel/Disney has done a bang up job bringing this movie to Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D with a first-rate, demo-worthy A/V presentation and a smattering of some decent extra features. Highly Recommended.
Here's a classic Ant-Man carrying an Ultron head. We know that Hank Pym is no longer responsible for creating Ultron in the Cinematic Universe but it was a really cool touch added to the costume along with the lab coat.
Led by Scott Lang, Ant-Man 3's Elton John-infused trailer helps to fulfill the multiverse promise by introducing a slew of new, crazy worlds. Viewers are given the impression that the main characters will journey through multiple realms. Initially, the first two Ant-Man movies only gave audiences a tease of what life inside the Quantum Realm was like, but this time, the microscopic world feels much bigger. The third film's "Quantumania" subtitle suggests that Ant-Man may further his learning with quantum physics and discover new, ridiculous capabilities of his iconic superhero suit. It also seems Scott and his family will visit new universes, large or small, which, in turn, helps to continue the expansion of the ever-growing multiverse.
The teaser for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania introduced four or five different worlds as part of the larger exploration of the Quantum Realm. Upon their arrival, Ant-Man and his daughter, Cassie Lang, stand beside one another in a world consisting of a fragmented landscape littered with floating chunks of rock. Multiple beams of bright orange energy shoot down from dark, purplish clouds that surround them. Later in the trailer, Janet van Dyne and her husband Hank Pym stride through a realm that resembles a jungle made up of various fungi species and thick, colorful plants all around. On possible third world, a hooded figure is seen kneeling beside large spiral-like clouds, overlooking a light shooting through the sky, similar to fireworks.
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