'Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania' How The MCU Remixed Cassie Lang's Journey To Heroism

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, the first film of the MCU's phase five, has arrived. Part of the film's plot features the transition of Cassie Lang from an adorable supporting character to a hero in her own right as she masters the use of her very own Pym suit.

One of the things the MCU has always done well is to keep the spirit of Marvel Comics and their stories, while twisting things just enough to keep comic fans on their toes regarding what will happen next. The same is true of Cassie Lang's journey until this point. Let's look at Cassie's story in the comics, and what has been changed for the MCU.

Saving Cassie

In both the comics and the film, Cassie is introduced as the daughter of Scott Lang. While Scott's backstory refers to him having turned to burglary while struggling to support his family, he used his time in Prison well, studying electronics, and was released early for good behaviour. He was hired to work for Stark International soon after, and is fully reformed by the time readers meet him.

Unfortunately, this changes when Cassie is diagnosed with a serious heart defect. Only one Doctor, Erica Sondheim, has the skills to save Cassie, but as he arrives to seek her help, Scott witnesses Dr. Sondheim's kidnapping at the hands of Darren Cross. At this point, Cassie is running out of time, so a desperate Scott breaks into Hank Pym's home and steals the original Ant-Man suit, using it to go rescue Sondheim.

After Sondheim performs a successful surgery on Cassie, Scott prepares to turn himself in for the theft of the suit. However, impressed at Scott's control of the suit, and moved by his reasons for having taken it in the first place, Hank Pym, who was using the alias Yellowjacket at the time, allowed Scott to keep the suit and become the new Ant-Man, so long as he used it for good.

After her Father took the mantle of Ant-Man, the fully recovered Cassie began spending a lot of time with the heroes her Father worked with, including the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers, becoming close enough to Iron Man that she sometimes referred to him as Uncle Tony. Sadly, after Cassie is kidnapped and almost killed by a child murdering villain, Scott's ex Wife Peggy and her new husband decide the hero life is too dangerous for a child. They take the matter to Court, successfully restricting Scott's access to Cassie.

Touched by Tragedy

Cassie, who had spent more time with Scott than her Mother prior to this point and views her Father as her hero, rebels against the strict rules now attatched to her time with him. Unfortunately, tragedy was about to strike. When he spots the believed dead hero Jack-of-Hearts on the grounds of the Avengers HQ, Scott appraches to investigate. He discovers Jack's corpse, reanimated by the mentally unstable Scarlet Witch, and is killed when Jack explodes. Scott was the first victim of the 'Avengers Disassembled' story arc, which leads to a temporary disbanding of the Avengers.

Scott's death drives a deeper wedge between Peggy and Cassie, who blames her Mother for lost time she should have had with her Father.

Becoming a Young Avenger

Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, Cassie had spent many of her visits to Avengers HQ stealing, experimenting and exposing herself to the Power of Pym Particles. She believed the experiments had no effect, until sometime after the dissolution of the Avengers, Cassie developed the ability to change size at will, unlike her Father, who could only use his powers while wearing a suit. Her abilities eventually bring her into contact with the newly formed Young Avengers, and she joins the team under the alias 'Stature', hoping to honour the legacy of her late Father.

Stature remains a Young Avenger throughout the team's attempts to step in as new Avengers, their pivotal battle against Kang the Conqueror, and their subsequent fight to be accepted by the reuniting adult Avengers. In 'Young Avengers: The Children's Crusade', which takes place towards the end of the original Young Avengers run, the team takes a short trip back in time, allowing Cassie to intercept Scott's investigation of the undead Jack-of-Hearts, preventing his death when he accompanies the Young Avengers back to the present.

The team are warned by time-travelling founding member Iron Lad that Scott's resurrection may not come without consequences, which are soon tragically realised. In the very same story in which her Father was restored, Cassie loses her own life in a confrontation with Doctor Doom.

Cassie's death devastates Scott, her Young Avengers teammates, and the adult Avengers, many of whom had watched her grow up.

From Stature to Stinger

However, like her Father, Cassie's death is not permanent. After the personalities of Marvel's heroes and villains are inverted during the 'AXIS' event, Doctor Doom briefly develops a more heroic personality, and with it, guilt for his past villainy. Able to draw on enough power to alter a single significant event from his past, Doom chooses to resurrect Cassie. At first delighted to have his daughter back, Scott opts to distance himself from her on the belief that his life as Ant-Man puts her in danger, especially after an incident with the villain Darren Cross costs Cassie her powers.

Upset at Scott's decision, Cassie goes to great pains to regain powers, eventually taking the new codename Stinger. After Cassie defeats Cross in battle, Scott accepts her desire to join him in the Superhero life, with Ant-Man and Stinger working as a crime-fighting duo ever since.

How Cassie's Journey differs in the MCU

While there are some similarities to the comics in Cassie's MCU story, there are also quite a few differences. As in the comics, Cassie Lang is introduced as the young daughter of Scott Lang, however, the movies omit her heart condition. Rather than keeping Cassie from Scott due to any malice or danger he poses, Scott's ex (named Maggie rather than Peggy, probably to differentiate the character from Peggy Carter), simply wants Scott to be in a more stable position before he can be a regular part of Cassie's life.

While Scott does not actually die in the MCU (or at least, hasn't yet), Cassie believes that he is dead during the five years he spent trapped in the Quantum Realm following the Blip. Quantumania reveals that Cassie spent this time studying information on the Quantum Realm in Hank Pym's journals, eventually leading to her creation of the Quantum Satellite that sparks the film's main plot.

While she is not depicted as having experimented on herself with Pym Particles like her comic book counterpart, the MCU's Cassie Lang is seen to be versed in the use of Pym Particle technology in Quantumania, and has even (unbeknownst to Scott), been granted use of her very own Pym suit. The suit's distinctive purple colouring is reminiscent of the one Cassie uses as Stinger in the comics, which suggests that MCU Cassie will likely bypass becoming Stature in favour of the Stinger persona.

This change fits with what is looking to be a remixed Young Avengers for the MCU, with a likely merging of the Young Avengers and Champions line-up from the comics. Whatever the case, the grown up Cassie Lang is easily one of the breakout characters of Quantumania, and we can't wait to see what the MCU does with her next.