Scott Edward Harris Lang is a fictional character portrayed by Paul Rudd in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Depicted as a thief-turned-superhero, Scott is recruited by Hank Pym to use an advanced suit that allows him to change sizes and communicate with ants, inheriting the superhero identity Ant-Man.
Scott is recruited by Sam Wilson to join the Avengers; works alongside Pym's daughter, Hope van Dyne; and rekindles his relationship with his daughter, Cassie Lang. After the Blip, Scott is trapped inside the Quantum Realm before being accidentally saved, then helps the Avengers to stop an alternate version of Thanos. Afterwards, Scott writes a memoir. He is later trapped in the Quantum Realm once again, where he encounters Kang the Conqueror and prevents him from escaping.
Scott first appeared in the film Ant-Man (2015), then in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). Alternate versions of the character appeared in the Disney+ animated series What If...? (2021–2023) and Marvel Zombies (2025), with Rudd reprising his role.
Concept, creation and casting
In the mid-2000s, Kevin Feige came to the realization that Marvel Studios still owned the rights to the core members of the Avengers, which included the character Ant-Man. By 2005, Marvel Studios received a $525 million investment from Merrill Lynch, allowing them to independently produce ten films, including one based on the Ant-Man character, set to be directed by Edgar Wright. In 2013, multiple actors were considered for the film's lead role including Paul Rudd, who was eyed to be portraying Hank Pym. By January 2014, Rudd was confirmed to be starring as Scott Lang.
In May 2014, Wright and Marvel Studios issued a joint statement announcing that Wright had exited the movie due to creative differences. According to Wright, he had been hired as writer-director but became unhappy when Marvel wanted to write a new script, retrospectively stating in 2017 that, he "wanted to make a Marvel movie", but that Marvel was not on board with his creative choices, which caused him to rethink his role. Wright was replaced by Peyton Reed as director, with Adam McKay and Rudd rewriting the screenplay.
Feige praised Rudd's casting, noting that he would be able to "do slightly unsavory things like break into people's houses and still be charming and [someone] who you root for and whose redemption you will find satisfaction in". Reed also compared Scott to Danny Ocean (portrayed by George Clooney in Ocean's Eleven), saying, "He's a guy trying to create a new life for himself and find redemption". Rudd went on to sign a multi-film contract with Marvel, with Feige stating it was "three [films]-plus-plus to appear in other things".
Characterization Depictions and appearances
Scott first appeared as the character in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Ant-Man (2015). The film depicts Scott as petty criminal who becomes the successor to Hank Pym as Ant-Man, when Pym allows him to "steal" his old suit that allows him to shrink in size but increase in strength. Scott works with Pym and his daughter, Hope van Dyne to take back Pym's company, Pym Technologies, from Darren Cross. To get in shape for the role, Rudd worked with various trainers and cut alcohol, fried foods, and carbohydrates out of his diet. He stated that he "basically didn't eat anything for about a year", comparing his route to that of Chris Pratt.
Scott next appeared in Captain America: Civil War (2016) which saw him being recruited by Sam Wilson to fight alongside Steve Rogers in the Avengers Civil War against Tony Stark's faction of the Avengers, and the Sokovia Accords. Peyton Reed had discussed the character with the Russo Brothers, the film's directors, and stated that Scott's appearance was important for continuity purposes. During the airport battle, Scott reveals that his suit can grow rather than solely shrink, with Feige noting that "it was just a great idea to turn the tide of the battle in a huge, shocking, unexpected way". Anthony Russo added that the transformation was the continuation of Scott's character arc from Ant-Man, opining that Scott is "really impressed with Captain America, he just wants to deliver and he figures out a way to deliver where he might actually tear himself in half but he's willing to do it and it works". Additionally, in the film, Rudd's suit "is streamlined and more high-tech" than the one seen in the previous film.
Scott appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). In April 2017, Peyton Reed noted that Scott would don his Giant Man moniker once again for the film. Following the events at the end of Captain America: Civil War, Scott escapes from the superhuman prison, the Raft, and is now "a bigger fugitive" from the first film, and is on house arrest. During the film, Scott teams up with Van Dyne, who has now taken her mother's (Janet van Dyne) superhero identity, the Wasp, to help her father rescue her mother from the Quantum Realm. After rescuing Janet and completing his house arrest, during a post-credits scene, Scott is trapped in the Quantum Realm after Janet, Pym and Van Dyne disappear due to The Blip.
Rudd reprised his role in Avengers: Endgame. In a key scene in the film, in which attempts to send Scott through time instead drastically change his age, Scott is portrayed by twins Bazlo and Loen LeClair as a baby, by Jackson A. Dunn at age 12, and by Lee Moore at age 93. This was Moore's final film before his death in August 2018. Markus and McFeely explained that adding Scott helped with implementing time travel into the film, saying, "we had access to him in the second movie, and the fact that he was bringing a whole subset of technology that did have something to do with a different concept of time was like a birthday present".
Scott reprised his role in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).
Alternate versions of Scott appeared in season one and two of What If...? (2021–2023), voiced by Rudd. Another alternate version of Scott as Giant-Man appeared in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) as a large dead skeletal corpse, which was ultimately used by Cassandra Nova as her headquarters. Deadpool makes a meta-reference to Rudd's age upon seeing the corpse.
Fictional character biography Early life Scott graduated from MIT with a degree in engineering, but turned to a life of crime to punish a corporation that had swindled its customers. While in prison, his wife Maggie divorced him and took custody of their daughter, Cassie.
Becoming Ant-Man
In 2015, Scott is released on parole and moves in with his former cellmate, Luis. He visits Cassie unannounced, and is chastised by Maggie and her fiancé, police detective Jim Paxton, for not providing child support. Unable to hold down a job because of his criminal record, Scott agrees to join Luis and his crew, Dave and Kurt, in a burglary. Following a tip, Scott breaks into a house and cracks its safe, only to discover and steal an old motorcycle-looking suit. When he tries it on, he shrinks to the size of an insect. He returns the suit to the house out of fear, but is arrested and subsequently broken out of jail by the homeowner, Hank Pym.
Hank reveals that he had previously operated as the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent codenamed Ant-Man, and had manipulated Scott into stealing the suit as a test. He reveals that he wants Scott to steal another suit from his former protégé, Darren Cross, who has reverse-engineered Hank's technology. Hank and his daughter Hope van Dyne train Scott to fight, use the Ant-Man suit, and to control ants. Hank reveals that Hope's mother, Janet van Dyne, disappeared into the subatomic Quantum Realm while disabling a Soviet nuclear missile over 30 years prior. Hank warns Scott that he could suffer a similar fate if he overrides his suit's regulator.
Scott is sent to steal a device from the Avengers Compound in New York, where he encounters and briefly fights Sam Wilson. Scott, with the help of Luis, Dave and Kurt, infiltrate the Pym Technologies' headquarters as Cross hosts a ceremony at the building to unveil his perfected "Yellowjacket" suit. Scott and Hope stop Hydra agents at the event and detonate the building. Cross later dons the Yellowjacket suit and takes Cassie hostage in her house to lure Scott into a fight. Scott overrides the regulator and shrinks to subatomic size to penetrate Cross' suit and seemingly defeat him. Scott disappears into the Quantum Realm, but manages to reverse the effects and returns. Out of gratitude for saving Cassie, Paxton covers for Scott to keep him out of prison; Scott rekindles a relationship with his family. He is later told by Luis that Wilson is looking for him.
Avengers Civil War
In 2016, Scott is recruited by Wilson to help Steve Rogers, who has gone rogue in the wake of the implementation of the Sokovia Accords to save his friend Bucky Barnes. He is picked up by Clint Barton and Wanda Maximoff and is taken to Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany. Before they can leave to stop Helmut Zemo, they are confronted by Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, James Rhodes, T'Challa, Peter Parker, and Vision. During the fight, Scott uses his suit to grow to an enormous size, allowing Rogers and Barnes to escape in a Quinjet. Scott is taken down by Parker, Stark, and Rhodes, and is later imprisoned by Thaddeus Ross in the Raft, a superhuman prison. He and the others are later freed by Rogers and Romanoff. Scott, alongside Barton, negotiate a deal with Ross and the U.S. government, receiving a term of house arrest.
Working with the Wasp
By 2018, Scott has lost contact with Hank and Hope. Still on house arrest, he is monitored by FBI agent Jimmy Woo. However, he learns that he has unknowingly become entangled with Janet van Dyne after he receives an apparent message from her from the Quantum Realm. Scott contacts Hank about Janet, who sends Hope to kidnap Scott, leaving a decoy so as not to arouse suspicion from Woo. Hank and Hope (who reveals that she is upset Scott did not ask her to help him in the Civil War) recruit Scott to help build a Quantum tunnel to retrieve Janet. Hope uses her own Wasp suit to fight black market dealer Sonny Burch (who has a part of the tunnel they need), before being attacked by a quantumly unstable masked woman. Scott helps Hope fight her off, but she escapes with Hank's shrinkable lab. Hank's estranged former-S.H.I.E.L.D. partner, Bill Foster, helps them locate the lab, where the woman captures the trio and reveals herself to be former S.H.I.E.L.D. assassin, Ava Starr, codenamed "Ghost". Her father Elihas, another of Hank's former partners, died along with his wife during an experiment that caused Starr's unstable state.