Ant-Man: Info, Pics, Rumors, Casting and Details till release

[Guy Gardener]

Marvel Triple Action, reprinted early Avengers comics throughout most of the 70s.

I did say "hindsight". You can read comics form the 60s, or reprints of those comincs at any point in your life after they have been printed and delivered to a shop and the shop has put them out for sale.

Peter was 15 when Betty was J. Jonah Jameson's executive secretary and probably office manager. She had at least 5 years on Peter if she had already graduated high school and climbed to the top of the totem in the Bugle office.

Of course she did marry Flash Thompson, but then his current girlfriend is at least 10 thousand years old, so he likes to stealing form the casket.

 

[Nerys Myk]

There is a significant age difference between Hank and Jan in the comics as well. Jan was barely an adult and Hank was already a widower when they met.

To be a widower all you need is a dead wife.

 

[Nerys Myk]

In the 60s, using hindsight, or maybe you were there, what did you think the age difference between Hank and Jan was?

I was in the single digits. They were both old/adults. Even in the 70s they were both old/adults. Somewhere along the line some writer or editor began over thinking things and Hank became an older man and Jan became a sweet young thing. Same thing happened with Reed and Sue. Though in that case the "evidence" is more compelling.

 

[Fist McStrongpunch]

There is a significant age difference between Hank and Jan in the comics as well. Jan was barely an adult and Hank was already a widower when they met.

To be a widower all you need is a dead wife.

(Steeples fingers) Good to know. Heh heh heh.

 

[Turtletrekker]

No. Janet was always much younger than Hank. this is her very first appearance ever...

http://comicsriot.com/post/21211707029/henry-pym-major-creep-this-is-the-first-time

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I think making her 40 or 50 wouldn't be unreasonable. Clearly younger than Douglas to fit the cradle robbing aspect of Pym, but not so young as to think that she should be with Scott Lang. That being said, Paul Rudd is in his 40s, so maybe there's no way to avoid that implication.

The more I think about this, the more I see the decision to have Pym as the older Ant-Man and not the protagonist. The biggest reason is simply that Pym is a dick. That being said, I hope he isn't the villain because that's not fair to the character either.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Michael Pena is apparently being offered a role:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/65745

 

[Nerys Myk]

No. Janet was always much younger than Hank. this is her very first appearance ever...

http://comicsriot.com/post/21211707029/henry-pym-major-creep-this-is-the-first-time

But how much younger? 5 years? 10 years? The art doesn't make her look like a woman just out of puberty.

 

[Turtletrekker]

The art doesn't make her look like a woman just out of puberty.

But Hank's thought bubble does. "She's not much more than a child."

 

[Nerys Myk]

The art doesn't make her look like a woman just out of puberty.

But Hank's thought bubble does. "She's not much more than a child."

A lot of people who are simply a few years older have that attitude towards "younger" people.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

In the 60s, using hindsight, or maybe you were there, what did you think the age difference between Hank and Jan was?

I was in the single digits. They were both old/adults. Even in the 70s they were both old/adults. Somewhere along the line some writer or editor began over thinking things and Hank became an older man and Jan became a sweet young thing. Same thing happened with Reed and Sue. Though in that case the "evidence" is more compelling.

Reed Richards had a major touch of grey from the get-go, which was well before he and Sue got married and before Franklin was born. Is this what you mean?

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The art doesn't make her look like a woman just out of puberty.

But Hank's thought bubble does. "She's not much more than a child."

A lot of people who are simply a few years older have that attitude towards "younger" people.

Eh, I've never really seen that. To me, comments like that are about someone in their early 20s and they aren't made by people in their early 20s. I'm not saying she's 14, but it's probably something like him being 40 and she being 20 rather than him being 35 and she being 29.

 

[Nerys Myk]

In the 60s, using hindsight, or maybe you were there, what did you think the age difference between Hank and Jan was?

I was in the single digits. They were both old/adults. Even in the 70s they were both old/adults. Somewhere along the line some writer or editor began over thinking things and Hank became an older man and Jan became a sweet young thing. Same thing happened with Reed and Sue. Though in that case the "evidence" is more compelling.

Reed Richards had a major touch of grey from the get-go, which was well before he and Sue got married and before Franklin was born. Is this what you mean?

That and the fact Reed fought in WWII, which ended about 16 years before FF#1 came out. So at best Reed would have to be 34 when he got his powers. He was probably older though. (Even with taking WWII out of the equation)Hard to say how old Sue was. Johnny was 16, Sue could be 10 years older than Johnny or just a couple.

Eh, I've never really seen that. To me, comments like that are about someone in their early 20s and they aren't made by people in their early 20s. I'm not saying she's 14, but it's probably something like him being 40 and she being 20 rather than him being 35 and she being 29.

I'm thing more of a 10 year gap. Hank being thirtyish and Jan being in her early twenties, but coming across as younger because she petite and ditsy.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Anyway, given that it's charitably ambiguous and later comics have made the age gap more explicit, it's not unreasonable to think the movies would have an age gap.

 

[Saga]

i think the Byrne era established that Reed was in college when he met a 12 year old Sue, who developed a crush on him.

 

[Guy Gardener]

True. That history has been recently Orwelled, and the letters column addressed the fact that Byrne is skeevy and they needed to ignore that that issue ever happened, and no one should say that they are ignorant, just tasteful.

 

[Nerys Myk]

True. That history has been recently Orwelled, and the letters column addressed the fact that Byrne is skeevy and they needed to ignore that that issue ever happened, and no one should say that they are ignorant, just tasteful.

Apparently Kyra Sedgwick first fell in love with her future husband, Kevin Bacon when she was 12. (Bacon mentioned this on the Late Show with Craig Ferguson a couple of nights ago.)

How old was Joan Lee when Stan met her? He seems to have a thing for young women falling for older men:

Reed and Sue.

Hank and Jan.

Prof. X and Jean Grey (for a brief second)

And possibly Betty and Bruce. It seems Betty was just out of boarding school when she fell for Dr. Banner.

Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter might qualify too, ( plus the added factor of her looking like his lost love and her older sister)

 

[Robbiesan]

May-September romances and relationships were fairly common in American culture at the time period when the comics came out. Usually that resulted in young women just becoming adults (18, 19, 20) and marrying an older man who might be 40 and established and able to provide for a family.

There were quite a few of these in my hometown. That changed during the sexual revolution of the seventies. All along women had dated and fallen in love with young men, but often ended up discarding them for someone more mature. However with the sexual revolution, people often discounted the advice of their parents and married for love and based upon sexual compatibility.

That practice has continued in Hollywood, far overshadowing reality, with lots of married on screen couples showing a significant age gap. Of course the other was considered improbable even foolish up until the mid-nineties when films like The White Palace came out.

Having Michael Douglass play Pym doesn't make much sense as it really limits the story and makes casting more difficult.

Once comic books were counter-culture or they were strictly juvenile popular culture. Because the demographic in the beginning was 25-35 year old men for the comic based films, then you'd expect to see wish fulfillment for those folks. Now the same people are attending, plus their older fathers who originally read comics like Antman. A good portion of comic readers are women today. I believe sometimes approaching 25%.

Since so many have been made, and are pretty guaranteed of success based upon drawing the same folks each time, then more and more mainstream actors are willing to do a blockbuster and then have more economic freedom to do other things like Wonder Boys or even independent films like Solitary Man.

One would hope though that they'd cast someone younger...a lot younger than 69. Otherwise he'll be perpetually show musing and having flashbacks about his younger self fighting crime.

 

[Guy Gardener]

A 19 year old is still a child, it's just their parents are sick of them and the government wants to send them to war, so we pretend that they are mature.

 

[Robbiesan]

A 19 year old is still a child, it's just their parents are sick of them and the government wants to send them to war, so we pretend that they are mature.

Actually this is a modern invention that people magically become adults at age X.

For much of human history, young people were adults as early as age 13. In fact it was fairly common for two young people to be married by 15. It's just that with public education things changed and teenagers became a phenomena. Prior to public education in America people likely married and stayed with their parents because they couldn't afford a home, and they inherited a home over time. Otherwise a few homesteaded and so gained property and often at very young ages.

Re: war
Prior to the Vietnam War, the average age of an American soldier was ~25-26. The big deal with Vietnam and subsequent wars was the lowering of that standard.