Ant-Man: A Short Lesson - P. A. Nolte

1/ Taskmaster, bursting through some double doors, running into a hall, frantically pressing the trigger in his hand.

Ant-Man (Caption): My first few months in costume, I kept coming across this guy named Taskmaster.

Ant-Man (Caption): He's a muscle mimic with eidetic memory.

Taskmaster: C'mon, dammit!  Lousy--


2/ Ant-Man appears in front of him, using his variable size to flip Taskmaster with ease.

Ant-Man (Caption): "Anything you can do, I can do better."

Taskmaster: Whoop!


3/ Taskmaster performs a perfect 3-point landing, sword drawn, still holding the trigger.

Ant-Man (Caption): Pretty cool gimmick, really.  Too bad he's on the wrong side...

Taskmaster: Gonna take a lot more than that to slow me down, bug.


4/ Taskmaster thrusts his sword towards Ant-Man, but Lang has shrunk and run up the blade and Taskmaster's arm, only to jump off of the villain's shoulder.

Ant-Man (Caption): I've seen him catch and hurl Cap's shield right back at him and dodge arrows like he knew where they were going to be before Hawkeye even had a chance to nock them.

Ant-Man (Caption): But it doesn't matter how much footage of me he watches--

Taskmaster: HA-- huh?


5/ Ant-Man is back to full size and grabbed Taskmaster by the back of his hood.

Ant-Man (Caption): Nobody steals Scott Lang's moves.

Taskmaster: Aw...


6/ SFX: WHAM!


7/ Ant-Man stands over the crumpled form of Taskmaster, flipped and incapacitated.  The trigger in Taskmaster's hand is depressed.  Must have happened mid-flip.  A loud, angry alarm sounds.

Ant-Man (Caption): Nobody.

SFX: DEET DEET DEET

Ant-Man: Uh-oh.

Scott Lang, Ant-Man – Entomology – Derek Adnams

Page 1 – (5 Panels)

1.1:  Exterior, day, a foot rising in mid-stride off of a stomped dragonfly, lying eviscerated on a St. Louis, Missouri sidewalk.

Scott Lang (caption):  There are cultures out there where dragonflies represent transformation. 

1.2:  Scott Lang in his Ant-Man gear climbing through the crushed carcass of the insect.  He is starting a journey from the tail in this panel to the head in Panel 1.5.

Scott Lang (caption):  I don’t put much faith in symbols, being more of a machine guy, but as a system they are nearly perfect. 

Scott Lang (caption):  It’s funny how a bug that hasn’t evolved in 325 million years could come to represent renewal.

1.3:   Now Scott is at the base of the thorax, where is connects to the tail.  It is shattered, all bug guts and goo and decimated exoskeleton.

Scott Lang (caption):  My kid made me listen to this song once.  The only line I remember goes something like -

1.4:  Scott Lang walking past the destroyed wings of the dragonfly.

Scott Lang (caption):  “Then I will remove your wings and you will learn to fly”.

1.5:  Scott Lang walking toward the reader, the dragonfly’s head and enormous compound eyes in the near background.  There is a clear substance coming out of one eye, creating the illusion of crying.

Scott Lang (caption):  Cassie always loved dragonflies.

Scott Lang, Ant-Man - Sins of the Past - R.A. Wonsowski

Set-up: A mysterious woman came through Reed Richards's dimensional portal, assaulting Reed and demanding the whereabouts of the Ant-Man. She manages to bypass the security at Avengers Tower, and finds SCOTT LANG in full Ant-Man get-up,  returning from a mission, and heading to the TV room. Blasting energy bolts from her hands, she flies into a rage, attacks LANG, and is even more furious when his helmet is knocked off...

Panel 1- Foreground, a six-inch tall SCOTT LANG jumps from a blasted coffee table, evading a pair of energy bolts. The WOMAN shooting, background, is wearing a black motorcycle helmet (mirrored face shield down) and leathers with yellow piping, aiming carefully and unhurried.

WOMAN: You heard me!! Where is that murdering son of a bitch?!

WOMAN: WHERE'S HENRY PYM?!?

Panel 2- LANG lands and bounds off a sofa cushion, aiming himself at the WOMAN's face.

LANG: ...psycho...

WOMAN: I'LL KILL HIM FIRST!!!

Panel 3- LANG smashes his tiny fist into the WOMAN's faceplate, shattering it.

LANG: Not today, lady...

Panel 4- circular inset, close-up of LANG's face, complete shock.

LANG: ...no...

Panel 5- close-up, through the shattered faceplate, we see revealed the face of JANET VAN DYNE, the Wasp of another dimension, her left eye is covered with a leather eye patch, and her left cheekbone looks like it never healed from a long-ago beating. She's screaming in rage.

JANET: Every Earth, every slide! He's the same! If not WORSE!

JANET: I have to save me! From HIM!!

JANET: HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE A AVENGER!!!

JANET: HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO LIVE!!!

...to be continued...

Scott Lang – Ant-Trap – MK Stangeland Jr.

(This script takes place in the MCU, following the movie.

So SPOILERS if you haven’t seen ANT-MAN yet.

But really, what are you waiting for?)

(6 Panels)

Panel 1: HANK PYM is talking on the phone.

SCOTT LANG: (Phone) Hey, Hank. You’re an expert on ants, right?

HANK PYM (1): Yes, Scott.

HANK PYM (2): Yes I am.

Panel 2: Closeup on SCOTT LANG, on the other end of the phone. He’s looking at something off-screen.

SCOTT LANG (1): Great.

SCOTT LANG (2): I need your help with an ant thing.

Panel 3: HANK PYM, still on the phone. His face shows subtle signs of ‘why do I put up with this?’

HANK PYM: Just say it, Scott.

SCOTT LANG: (Phone) You remember Cassie’s pet ant? Antie?

Panel 4: Back to SCOTT LANG. The panel is further back now to show that he’s looking at ANTIE, the giant ANT that CASSIE LANG adopted at the end of the ANT-MAN movie. ANTIE is lying on the ground, not looking like they’re doing the greatest. CASSIE LANG is nearby, hugging her pet ant, and looking at SCOTT with the expectation that her dad is going to find a way to fix the problem.

SCOTT LANG: He’s not looking too hot, and we were hoping you could give him a look and see what’s wrong.

Panel 5: Beat panel. HANK PYM is on the phone, with a close-eyed ‘why me’ look.

Panel 6: Continuation of Panel 6.

HANK PYM (1): (Thought Balloon) I knew I should have had him shrink that thing back down.

HANK PYM (2): Sure, Scott.

HANK PYM (3): I’ll take a look.

(END PAGE)

Scott Lang - They Tried to Make Me Go to Rehab... - Phillip Butehorn & Brian Harris

Panel 1: View is of a door. On the door is a sign: Kleptomaniacs Anonymous. 

Panel 2: View of Scott Lang from chest up. He looks tired. Eyes are baggy and he is one piece of bad news away from falling off the wagon.

Scott Lang: Hello. My name is Scott and I’m a kleptomaniac

Crowd: Hi Scott.

Scott Lang 1: I’ve been theft-free for five years now. But you know what? I still get those urges.

Scott Lang 2: Today, for example. Billionaire Justin Hammer arrived in town for Spy Con. Do you have any friggin’ idea what Spy Con’s net worth is? I’m sweating just thinking about it.

Panel 3: Scott is in the background, at the head of the circle sitting in a chair surrounded by other members of the anonymous group. One person is already up and walking away. Another kleptomaniac is listening closely but halfway out of her seat.

Scott Lang: It’s like the time last April, when I was casing the Worthington place (his place is in town too, on West 68th), just to see what was up. I was four years free, I wasn’t taking anything, just remembering the old thrill.

Panel 4: View of the group. One person is wiping sweat off his foreground, one is listening closely while taking notes, and another person is biting on her finger nails.

Scott Lang 1 (off panel): I don’t know, sometimes, I just- I don’t know if it’s worth it.

Sponsor (off panel): What’s that, Scott? What’s not worth it?

Scott Lang 2 (off panel): Giving up that life. I mean, I did pretty damn well for a while. Don’t you remember what that’s like?

Panel 5: The man next to Scott, the Sponsor, is sweating as he watches more of his recovering thieves make for the doors.

Sponsor: Well, let’s not forget- let’s not… Don’t you remember what this did to you?

Scott Lang 1: I guess so, yeah.

Scott Lang 2: But I also remember what this did for me.

Panel 6: Most of the remaining recovering thieves at the door, out the door or making for the door. The sponsor running his hand through his hair, looking utterly dismayed.

Panel 7: View of the three remaining members, Scott, the Sponsor and a handsome Southern gentleman with medium length hair held back by a headband, sporting a pink shirt and a brown trench coat. The gentleman is smirking at Scott, who seems the smallest bit ashamed of himself. The sponsor can’t even look at either of the men.

Remy LeBeau: Congrats, mon ami, you made 18 recovering thieves relapse.

Scott Lang - Little Things - Grant McLaughlin

This would take place somewhere in the current Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas Ant-Man book with Scott in Florida to be closer to his ex-wife and daughter.

1 - Night time.  We're in the living room of Scott's apartment.  The lights are off and nobody looks to be home.

CAPTION (SCOTT) (1): Things have been going pretty well.

CAPTION (SCOTT) (2): I'm running my own business.  I have this sweet apartment.  And I get to see my daughter on the regular.

2 - Flashback.  Scott is running into an auditorium / concert hall in a panick.  As is his wont in this series, he's wearing the full Ant-Man get-up.

CAPTION (SCOTT): Although juggling all that could occasionally go a little more smoothly.

SCOTT: I'm here!  I'm --

3 - Expand the scope to show that the place is pretty much empty.  Cassie is sitting at her drumkit, mad, while Peggy is off to the side, a little disappointed.  Scott is taken aback at his poor timing.

CAPTION (SCOTT): And sometimes I'm a little off.

CASSIE (1): -- too late.

CASSIE (2): I can't believe you missed my recital!  This was really important to me!

4 - Cassie is having none of Scott's excuses.  She's yelling at him, mad in the way only teenagers can be.  Scott is heartbroken to have made his daughter so upset, and even Peggy seems to feel the reaction is a bit over the top.

CAPTION (SCOTT): In those moments, even though I know I'm giving it my all, well...

SCOTT: Honey, I'm sor--

CASSIE: No!  You're the worst Dad ever!

5 - We're back to the empty apartment of the first panel, except this time we have a magnified inset panel to show that Scott is actually present.  The zoom should be centered on the carpet, and the panel should show Scott sitting at the base of a forest of carpet strands that loom high over him.  He sits on the ground, legs curled up, elbows on his knees.  His helmet is off and he holds it in his hands, his head leaning forward against it, eyes closed.  He can be crying or just frustrated with himself or somewhere in between.

CAPTION (SCOTT): It can make a guy feel pretty small.

Why Ant-Man?

Because we do tie-in weeks when a new comic book movie hits theatres.

There's been a lot of change around here, but that's one tradition that isn't going away anytime soon.

But why Ant-Man?  More specifically, why Scott Lang?

Well, he's the protagonist of the film for one thing.  And we've already done Eric O'Grady...

But seriously, Scott Lang may be a legacy character, but he's managed to build a pretty varied career out of the whole thing.  Thief.  Reformed thief.  Electronics expert.  Relapsed thief.  Super hero.  Avenger.  Fantastic Four-er.  Dead.  Reformed dead.  Fantastic Four-er a second time.  Defender.  Most recently, small business owner.

But perhaps most importantly, Father.

There are a lot of things that can make a character worth caring about, but for Scott Lang, I think it's his relationships.  And while the links he has to the superhero and supervillain community are often worth your while (I'm partial to him and Taskmaster - particularly in the most recent book by Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas), it's his relationship with his daughter Cassie that makes Scott something special.  He's had a lot of ups and downs and encountered more than his fair share of challenges, but the thing he wants more than anything is to be a good father to his daughter, and I think that's worth dwelling on.

There's an awful lot to chew on when it comes to Scott Lang.  So let's do some chewing, shall we?