Hopeless: How "Ant-Man" Failed the Legacy of the Wasp

[CBR News]

Marvel's attempt to fill the void created by Jan van Dyne's absence with her daughter falls short thanks to untapped potential, harmful tropes and trite writing.


Full article here.

[Hi-Fi]

The article is right. I enjoyed the movie, but they butchered the Wasp in favor of Ant-Man and Hope's character seemed more like a requirement to have a woman in the movie than anything else. I also hate the constant tease: "but wait, look! Here's her costume in this post-credit scene! Eventually she will be a super-heroine!". What happened to here and now? There were a lot of ways the Wasp could actually be an integral part of this story.

[Slant]

I'm glad people are just excusing this anymore.

[Hypestyle]

Marvel's attempt to fill the void created by Jan van Dyne's absence with her daughter falls short thanks to untapped potential, harmful tropes and trite writing.


Full article here.

At this point, I think it’s just as well that Wasp/Janet/Hope were introduced in the way that they were.
As it stood, Wright’s script focused on Scott, with an aged Hank having been established as Ant-Man decades ago—which meant, presumably, if the Wasp were an active heroine at some point- and his partner- then she would have to be similarly aged at this point, were she alive. My speculation is that Wright’s original script didn’t even deal with the Wasp.
I really hope (pun intended) that people aren’t just super-nitpicking over the name of Hank’s daughter.
If you wanted a young, vibrant Wasp to potentially join the Avengers, she’d have to be a much younger woman. Of course, you could have the 66 year old Hank dating or having recently married a 30 year old woman named Janet, but then, of course, you’d be nominally making fun of Michael Douglas’s real life relationship with Catherine Zeta Jones.
As far as the “refrigerated woman” trope goes, I think it’s nominally reactionary to have that reaction to every single case of a woman character that meets an unkind fate. For whatever it’s worth, it was a “mysterious death”, which in the comics are nearly always reversible in some form. The “out”, here, is the reputed time-space neutrality of the Quantum Realm.
Janet’s portrayal in the comics only became more sophisticated in the post-Stan Lee era of writing. If you go back to the earliest comics, she was a “wealthy socialite”, very flighty, jealousy-prone and often in need of rescuing. She was Paris Hilton with powers. She was a classic “Housewife Heroine”.

If Hope’s transformation into Wasp was fast-tracked in this film alone, then that would have increased the budget significantly, and likely altered the storyline much further than Wright’s general arc.
I’m not convinced that Marvel “blew it” yet, regarding Wasp. There’s still room for her to debut in full-costume and have some compelling heroics in her resume.

[krazijoe]

The article is right. I enjoyed the movie, but they butchered the Wasp in favor of Ant-Man and Hope's character seemed more like a requirement to have a woman in the movie than anything else. I also hate the constant tease: "but wait, look! Here's her costume in this post-credit scene! Eventually she will be a super-heroine!". What happened to here and now? There were a lot of ways the Wasp could actually be an integral part of this story.

Well, the movie is named Ant-Man.

[Darrell D.]

Well, the movie is named Ant-Man.

They have to have cover everything in a 2 hour movie, even at the expense of it being entertaining, did you get the memo?

[Matt D]

I'd read a Dennis Hopeless Wasp comic.

[CSTowle]

Couple of things. First, Evangeline Lilly doesn't seem to have the chops to play a breakout hero. Second, Wasp replaced Pym's first wife who was killed by Commies so Hope's pretty much following in the Wasp's footsteps.

That said, she's one of the most established female characters in Marvel comics-dom. Far more than the Black Widow. A major wasted opportunity. If they'd gone with a stronger actress, preferably someone with comedic chops to play off Rudd, they could have elevated the franchise.

[Hi-Fi]

Well, the movie is named Ant-Man.

That's an easy way to excuse the poor treatment of female characters in it. Black Widow wasn't the name of the movie, but she still shone in Winter Soldier.

What annoys me is that they know there's an outcry for more strong and well-developed female roles in the MCU and they are satisfied in creating little ways of excusing or postponing them: Hope can't be the Wasp yet, it's too dangerous according to her father, but she gets a brand new costume AFTER the movie ends. No, Janet isn't dead, we'll PROBABLY see her someday.

I won't hold my breath.

[Forseti]

Judging from the reactions to their movies, one would think the MCU studio has entered into a contract with moviegoers, guaranteeing that each and every comic character will be featured to everyone's satisfaction.

"Unfortunately, Evangeline Lilly's Hope is a poor substitute for her mother, Janet van Dyne"

Nonsense. We've never seen Janet van Dyne before.

[Slant]

That's an easy way to excuse the poor treatment of female characters in it. Black Widow wasn't the name of the movie, but she still shone in Winter Soldier.

What annoys me is that they know there's an outcry for more strong and well-developed female roles in the MCU and they are satisfied in creating little ways of excusing or postponing them: Hope can't be the Wasp yet, it's too dangerous according to her father, but she gets a brand new costume AFTER the movie ends. No, Janet isn't dead, we'll PROBABLY see her someday.

I won't hold my breath.

There's always phase 6!

[Park Slope Pixie]

Wasp doesn't fit in Marvel's easily-comparmentalized stock female tropery at the moment. She's far too flawed, nuanced and relatable.

Have some more lukewarm Carol Corps feelgood nonsense instead.

[Blue Reloaded]

That's an easy way to excuse the poor treatment of female characters in it. Black Widow wasn't the name of the movie, but she still shone in Winter Soldier.

What annoys me is that they know there's an outcry for more strong and well-developed female roles in the MCU and they are satisfied in creating little ways of excusing or postponing them: Hope can't be the Wasp yet, it's too dangerous according to her father, but she gets a brand new costume AFTER the movie ends. No, Janet isn't dead, we'll PROBABLY see her someday.

I won't hold my breath.

What annoys me is people think that Hope was weak and not well written. She was strong, smart, and stubborn -- just like her father. She's a Executive at her father's company and the singular reason for the entire heist. The only reason she didn't put on the suit was because Hank believed he had lost his wife due to the suit's capabilities and once he found out there was a way back, Hank let Hope go.

I guess I don't know what else could have been done besides making the film titled "Wasp" and ignoring Hope and her father's personal dynamic.

[rotton]

Yeah, I couldn't care lees about this article, but I just wanted to say it would have been awesome to see Patrick Wilson in whatever role he was supposed to have in this movie.

[Punisher007]

The problem is, regardless of if she's actually dead or not, they disposed of Janet in order on Hank Pym's man-pain. And that also the reason why Hope couldn't be Wasp in THIS film (despite being the most competent and qualified character in the film). If your best excuse is "because daddy said so," then that's really freaking lame. Ironically, it would have worked better in Wright's script, since they didn't have Hope in as prominent/capable a role. So they tried to fix it, and the side-effect was her sidelining making even LESS sense here. And you can only do the whole "don't worry people, we'll get to it eventually if you just keep waiting," before people start to ask "WHEN are you finally going to get to it, because you've been saying that for years now?" People's patience only lasts for so long, and they have been very patient so far.

But of course instead of debating this respectfully, we could instead insult/question the motives of the writer for daring to have a different opinion on the matter, or not praising every single thing that Marvel's ever done.