To me it's not the just the character but even just the name that will turn people off. Ant-man to a non-comicbook fan just sounds ridiculous. IDK I have my doubts but this was a good article.

Good write up dude, I mostly likely think that Ant-Man has huge potential! Like you said it could work as a spy film, which is the best idea to an ant-man story. And as characters, I would have essentially Hank and Janet as protagonists, and maybe scott as a side character this time, and maybe in the future he steals the tec from hank. And hank is a brilliant mind, with a sad personality, and you can very well have a fantastic movie with this! Radioactive Man would be the ideal villain for a first time, great things can be done with such a character in a movie. And of course, Ewan Mcgregor for Hank Pym and Olivia Wilde for Janet :)
btw, in avengers movie they should have him with both ant-man and giant man technology.

LucasMend Thanks for the comment bro. ;) I agree with most everything you said. Although I would have Scott take over the Ant-Man ID for Avengers 2 and finally have Hank do a Hulk type thing suiting up in the Giant Man suit and having him be one of the main people to stop Ultron. What do you think?

You mean having both Lang and Pym on the team at A2? Hmm probably too soon for Lang to join main team, but having Giant Man vs Hulk is a must! after thor vs hulk Giant man vs hulk is one of the classic fights I most wanna see in a movie haha

Nice write-up, however...

First off, I don't think characters such as Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America have ever been doubted as non-live-action movie materials, let alone thinking they "weren't cool" before the movies. Alright, I can't be so sure on the former point since I wasn't exactly a news follower back then (as far as I know, it took so long for them to be get movie treatments only due to the production stuffs that were so changeable), but on the latter...they're major characters. They're up there alongside the likes of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, or the Fantastic Four as the most well-known characters not just of Marvel, but also of the comic book universe as a whole. They're always regarded as the "leading characters" and that being said, I can't see how they could be categorized as lame before their appearance in the movies.

Secondly, yes, you're correct that people in general will say, "Excuse me? That's a superhero?" when they hear of the name "Ant-Man". I'm not saying that I see him as a non-movie material as a comic book fan - in fact, I already have some ideas for him that I'll bring up later - but if I weren't one, I'll respond in the exactly same way as stated above. Yes, that name will be VERY hard to be sold to general audiences if incorporated in a solo movie. There's no way to deny that. And yes, the fact that his main abilities are to shrink and communicate with ants will not change the public view, either.

Talking about the sample scene description you wrote above, it is still very weak. Such immediate shrink-and-grow-and-shrink-again action will be pretty tough to be translated to the big screen visually, and to feature a grown ant in it is...well, awkward. My point is that without the precisely correct handling, to primarily rely on such kind of action scene in a movie may make it look cheap. Furthermore, if you expect such thing to change people's view on this Ant-Man hero, I believe it won't be very effective.

So, what? Well, as I've said before you can't easily make an action movie with this kind of character. Then why not make it a science fiction movie, with a touch of drama? Yes, a science-fiction movie. Perhaps, your spy film suggestion can also be incorporated in this. So, a spy science-fiction drama.

Science-fiction; well, Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne are both scientists, and there's Pym particles that can be regarded as a valuable invention - make that a plot point, and you can move from there. Drama; you've pretty much nailed this part in the characters description section, and it can easily move the plot along with the science-fiction element. Spy; this of course is related to what kind of story the movie will tell. Perhaps, the Pym particles are stolen? Or something like that? Whatever it is, I think this element work to spice it up a little bit. I like the idea of the "silent takedowns" the hero can easily perform and that can strengthen the spy element of the film, but as I've said, I think we can't expect so much action with this character.

Now, I have a quite different idea for the story, with Ultron as the primary antagonist of the movie...but, I think I'll just save it. As for your write-up, what I've written above is all that I can say. It's not the treatment, but it's the name and premise of the character himself that becomes the primary obstacle for the movie to be made. Although the names of Marvel Studios and Edgar Wright may just help a little bit or even change that fact radically, we can't be so sure as for now.

I say it's the name that turns non comic fans away form the character, I still think it would work ten times better if it were a Yellowjacket movie.

nice write up, and I'm with ya. I can visualize an Ant-man movie. I think they should call it Giant Man though. Lots of cool potential with this movie...lots of room for a disaster too, so they gotta play it just right.