The MCU
features all kinds of familial relationships – plenty of the “the family you
make” variety, naturally, but also lots of actual family ties as well, such as
brothers (Thor and Loki,) sisters (Gamora and Nebula,) brothers and sisters (T’Challa
and Shuri,) and fathers and sons (Ego and Peter.) But when it comes to the Ant-Man franchise, their thing is definitely fathers and
daughters. For the films, they all but
have the market cornered on this relationship – there’s also technically Thanos
and Gamora-Nebula, but that’s a whole other thing. Ant-Man
is driven by Scott’s desire to regain his visitation rights with Cassie, and
another major relationship in that movie, as well as Ant-Man and the Wasp, is the one between Hank and Hope (some
Hope-Hank spoilers.)
Our
introduction to Hope in the first film features an icy exchange between her and
her father at Pym Technologies, where we’re given the information that she was
the deciding vote in kicking Hank off his own Board of Directors. Not everything is quite as it seems – Hope and
Hank are making plans together to steal Hank’s technology from Darren Cross,
the company’s new CEO, and they play up the antagonism between them to help
deflect Darren’s suspicion. To the
outside observer, there’s nothing to suggest that these two would be working on
anything together.
But it’s
not all an act, either. There’s been a
rift between Hank and Hope ever since they lost Hope’s mother Janet and Hank
wouldn’t tell her what happened. Hope has
grown up believing her mother is dead but knowing her father is hiding
something about it, while Hank throws himself into researching the Quantum
Realm into which Janet disappeared rather than raising his grieving
daughter. The way Hank handled this
situation left distance between them, and it left Hope with scars not easily
healed.
Janet’s
disappearance fuels the other main source of conflict between them: Hank’s initial refusal to let Hope wear his
suit and take on the main role in their planned heist of Pym Technologies. It’s why Scott is brought into the picture at
all, because Hank wants someone else in the suit. After what happened to Janet, he’s terrified
of losing Hope too and would rather risk the mission by sending in someone less
trained than risk his daughter, but of course, he doesn’t tell any of that to Hope – Scott is instead the one who realizes
and explains his expendability to her.
And without that explanation, Hope only sees her father putting his
trust and weight behind an unknown element, a convicted felon with no training,
instead of someone with her skills and expertise. No wonder she’s at first so bitter about
being tasked with training Scott.
Ant-Man allows them to get some of these issues out in
the open – and, significantly, features a post-credits scene in which Hank
unveils the Wasp suit to Hope, proving once and for all that he believes in
what she can do and is ready to see her in action. So, by the time Ant-Man and the Wasp comes around, Hope and Hank are in a much
better place. It again involves Janet,
but this time, it brings them together rather than keeps them apart. Scott’s experience in the Quantum Realm in
the first film have ignited their hopes that Janet can be found and retrieved,
and together, they throw their time and energy into their search. Their working partnership is a lot more solid
than it was in the first movie, and what’s more, they also lean on one another
emotionally. They both open up more, and
as they face the monumental prospect of recovering Janet, they hope/strive
together instead of suffer separately.
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