Stature: 13 Facts Marvel Comics Fans Should Know About The Ant-Man Character

Marvel Comics fans should know the name Stature by now, especially with her appearance in "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." In the comics, Stature is Cassandra Lang — Cassie for short — the daughter of the second Ant-Man, Scott Lang. Like in the movies, she's the apple of her father's eye and a motivating factor in his becoming a hero. However, in the mid-2000s Cassie embarked on her own heroic journey as the superhero known as Stature.

With the superhuman ability to increase in size, Stature joined the Young Avengers, a team of teenage superheroes led by a new Hawkeye — Kate Bishop — alongside Patriot, the grandson of a super soldier. Also joining the team is a Skrull called Hulkling and the children of Scarlet Witch, Wiccan and Speed. If those names seem suddenly familiar to MCU fans, that's because they've all made their debut over the past few years, leading many to suspect that the Young Avengers could be coming to the big screen.

For now, though, we're due to see Cassie's growth into a costumed hero in the third "Ant-Man" film, so there's no better time than to dig into the character's past. With a longer history packed with more adventures than you might expect, we've found 13 facts to grow your knowledge of Ant-Man's daughter, Stature.

Marvel movie-goers may only have learned about Cassie Lang in the first "Ant-Man" film, where she showed up as the young daughter of hero Scott Lang. Casual comic fans may also know that her alter ego, Stature, is a relatively modern creation of the Marvel Comics, debuting in 2005's "Young Avengers" #6. But in fact, little Cassie Lang is no newcomer, as she made her first appearance all the way back in 1979's "Marvel Premiere" #47.

In that issue, Cassie Lang makes her debut alongside her father Scott Lang, who makes his own first appearance as the second Ant-Man. Unlike in the first "Ant-Man" film, where Lang is shown stealing the Ant-Man suit because he can't hold down a job, in the comics he goes back to a life of crime to save the life of Cassie, who suffers from a congenital heart defect. When he learns that the only doctor who can save her is being held hostage by Darren Cross, he steals Henry Pym's old super-suit to save Doctor Sondheim and cure his daughter's ailment.

After Lang becomes the new Ant-Man full-time, he inadvertently leaves Cassie with superpowers. Decades later, it's discovered that constant exposure to the Pym Particles that power the Ant-Man suit gives Cassie her father's ability to alter his size — without the need for any special equipment.

Ant-Man himself has gone by many names — including Yellowjacket, Goliath, and Giant-Man — and so too has Cassie Lang, as Stature is just one of a few superhero names that she's adopted over the years. As it happens, in the issue before she took that name, she was briefly nicknamed Ant-Girl for the obvious connection to her father's super identity.

She also has another identity known as Stinger. However, her first appearance as Stinger is not even in the main Marvel universe, Earth-616. Even longtime readers may not remember that Cassie's Stinger persona has its origins in the MC2 universe (Earth-982), as seen in the pages of "A-Next" #1, where she fights as a member of a future off-shoot Avengers team that includes Jubilee and Speedball.  

More than a decade after that appearance, Cassie Lang would officially take the name Stinger in the main Marvel Universe. This occurs after an incident in which she is kidnapped by Darren Cross in "Ant-Man" #5, leaving her without powers. Desperate to regain them, Cassie resorts to extreme measures, making a deal with the villainous Power Broker for a suit that will give her new shrinking powers. 

As Stinger, she dons her purple jumpsuit and classic Ant-Man helmet, giving Cassie the iconic Wasp look complete with bug-like wings.

Even superheroes need best friends, and comics history has given us plenty of buddy pairings, from Superman and Batman to Spider-Man and the Human Torch. Cassie Lang has her own superhero bestie — Hawkeye, her teammate and the leader of the Young Avengers. No, we're not talking about Clint Barton, but his protege, the teenaged Kate Bishop, who took up the name and title of the Avenging Archer in the mid-2000s. While Lang and Bishop had romances with different superhero teammates over the years, they always took solace in each other's friendship as BFFs.

More than just superhero colleagues, Kate and Cassie support each other through good times and bad. When Cassie has her powers taken away, it's Kate who comes to her side to remind her that she doesn't need superpowers to be special or to be a hero — something to which she could personally attest as the non-powered Hawkeye.

Given their history in the comics, it's fair to wonder if their friendship could find its way to live-action now that both are heroes in the MCU.

Comic fans familiar with Cassie Lang and her superhero alter-ego Stature probably know she's one of the earliest members of the Young Avengers. First appearing in the mid-2000s, the group has become one of the most popular teams of young heroes in Marvel Comics and is especially notable for being more than a mere collection of sidekicks. However, the Young Avengers aren't the only team that Cassie Lang has been a part of during her colorful history as a hero.

During Marvel's Civil War storyline, for example, Stature joins Captain America and fights on his Secret Avengers team. However, she's also one of the earliest members to defect, quitting the team in "Civil War" #4 after becoming disillusioned at the prospect of fighting other heroes. In the aftermath of that story, when SHIELD teams up with Iron Man to establish officially sanctioned superhero groups for every state, Stature is one of their first recruits. 

Later, in "Mighty Avengers" #1, the Scarlet Witch offers Stature and the newly reborn Vision spots on the re-assembled Mighty Avengers team, which they accept — nevermind that it is later revealed that Scarlet Witch was actually Loki in disguise.

In "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania," Cassie Lang and her father, Ant-Man, square off against the most diabolical villain the MCU has ever produced: Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). As odd as it may sound, the teenaged Cassie Lang was actually romantically involved with Kang for a time in the comics. It's all true — depending on your point of view. 

This connection comes from Cassie's time with the Young Avengers, where one of her teammates was a new character known as Iron Lad. While initially introduced as a mystery hero who some speculated might be related to Iron Man, it is eventually revealed that he is a time-displaced younger version of the temporal despot Kang.

That's not all — and here's where the time travel shenanigans will begin to confuse you. After a story in "Young Avengers" #5 where the youthful Iron Lad kills Kang — a future version of himself — he is forced to return to his proper place in the time stream. Before he does, he programs his armor to become a new version of the former Avengers hero Vision and gives it both his and the Vision's memories. Eventually, this new, somewhat more naive — and vaguely younger-looking — version of the Vision begins a new romance with Stature, rekindled thanks to his memories of being Iron Lad.

Kang the Conqueror wasn't the only Marvel supervillain that Cassie Lang had eyes for, as it seems her attraction to enemies of the Avengers is something of a pattern. However, like her relationship with Iron Lad — who wasn't quite Kang — her love for another of Marvel's evil tyrants isn't quite what it seems. In this case, she was smitten with Kristoff Vernard, the young ward of Doctor Doom who would later take up the mantle of the Latverian dictator himself.

You'd be forgiven if that name doesn't ring any bells, as many of Vernard's appearances were in the '80s and '90s when he was still a child. Initially, he comes into Doom's care when his parents are killed in a violent revolution. After the real Doom is apparently killed, Vernard is brainwashed by Doombots in "Fantastic Four" #278, leading him to believe he is Doctor Doom. After being defeated by the Fantastic Four, the team takes the child to live with them, where he meets the young Cassie Lang. A childhood crush soon develops between them.

As their feelings are never seriously acted upon as kids, it's hardly a romance, but an alternate future offers a glimpse of what their relationship could have been. In the MC2 universe, Vernard — now a heroic Doctor Doom — and Cassie — as Stinger — have an adult romance in the pages of "Fantastic Five" #5, where they do some pretty passionate lip-locking.

So far in the MCU, Cassie Lang doesn't seem to have many enemies or rivals, as she's just a young hero-to-be. However, in the comics, her long history has left her with bad blood for several major characters. There's one notable bitter enemy that might surprise you — Wanda Maximoff, better known as the Scarlet Witch. 

While the two haven't met on screen yet, they were acquainted in the Marvel Comics continuity. Since her father fought as both an Avenger and a West Coast Avenger, Cassie spent quite a bit of time around Wanda and her fellow heroes. That said, Wanda sparked a few company-wide events in a 1998 issue of "The Avengers" that left Cassie holding a serious grudge. In "Avengers" #500, a hero known as Jack of Hearts — who has been dead for some time — returns unexpectedly, killing Scott Lang in a scheme orchestrated by Wanda, who has begun to lose her grip on reality.

While others are able to forgive Wanda because she is revealed not to truly be in control of her own actions, Cassie never does. Still, considering that the death of her father pushed her into becoming a superhero, Cassie may also owe the Scarlet Witch something of a debt.

As Stature, Cassie Lang has the power to grow to tremendous size, much like her father. This gives her the ability to take on some of the strongest villains, but on some occasions she's used them to square off against her fellow heroes, such as during the Civil War storyline. However, even when that is over and she joins the 50-State Initiative, she has one last hero-on-hero fight when she clashes with her father's Ant-Man replacement, Eric O'Grady.

This happens at Camp Hammond, when the Initiative is training new recruits, including Stature. In "Avengers: The Initiative" #8, O'Grady begins mocking the previous Ant-Man (who is dead at the time) to curry favor with the Taskmaster — a surprising villain who joins the program — pushing Cassie over the edge. Growing to giant size, she calls out O'Grady, who super-sizes himself, unwilling to back down. What follows is a brutal hand-to-hand fight between skyscraper-sized heroes. Unfortunately, the more experienced O'Grady comes out on top.

Years later, Cassie got a kind of revenge in "Ant-Man" #3. There, Black Ant — a villainous Life-Model Decoy posing as Eric O'Grady — briefly takes her hostage. In the ensuing fight, Black Ant is no match for Cassie, who grows to a massive size and squishes him with the palm of her hand.

Believe it or not, in the Marvel universe even being a babysitter can be a glamorous role. Agatha Harkness herself was more than a powerful sorceress and mentor to Wanda Maximoff — she was also the babysitter to the children of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. With the potential to shape the young life of a future hero, the role carries tremendous weight, and it's one that Stature almost held for a different pair of heroes. However, Cassie was less interested in guiding a child to maturity, instead asking for the job so she could worm her way into an Avengers membership.

It all happened in 2010's "New Avengers" #7, when Jessica Jones and Luke Cage are ready to get back to superhero adventuring after having a baby. Looking for someone to care for their daughter, they interview a number of applicants, including Stature. However, she eventually admits sheepishly that the only reason she is applying for the job is to get a foot in the door at the Avengers mansion — hoping to parlay it into a role on the team. Alas, Stature doesn't get the job.

When her father is killed through the machinations of the Scarlet Witch during the Avengers Disassembled storyline, Cassie Lang is inconsolable. Though she would eventually find solace — and family — with the Young Avengers in the ensuing years, she never lets go of the bitterness she feels after the loss of her father. However, Cassie gets a second chance with the help of Iron Lad, who takes her and a group of Avengers back through time in an effort to return Wanda Maximoff to her old self.

Finding themselves back in time before the death of her father, Cassie is compelled to save him from death, whisking him away into the future before he is killed. This leaves the Avengers of the past to believe that Scott has been killed by Jack of Hearts. 

As a result, history remains unchanged, but Scott returns to the land of the living in the present, where he and Cassie get another chance to be a family. In some ways, this storyline shares similarities to Cassie and Scott's relationship in the MCU, where Scott is believed to be dead for five years during the Blip, only to be brought back through the Quantum Realm.

Sandwiched between massive crossovers House of M and Avengers vs. X-Men, the "Avengers: The Children's Crusade" series sees the resurrection of Scott Lang tragically lead almost directly to Cassie's own demise. After their time-traveling adventure to restore Scarlet Witch, momentary ally Doctor Doom winds up stealing Wanda's reality-warping abilities. Armed with some of the most incredible powers he's ever wielded, Doom attempts to force the X-Men and the Avengers to join him in his quest for ultimate domination. 

As you might expect, the two groups don't play ball and instead engage in a battle with a super-charged Doctor Doom. Despite being no match for the Latverian despot, Stature attempts to take on Doom directly in "Avengers: Children's Crusade" #8 and is promptly killed. Though her father seeks revenge, it is Doom himself who returns Cassie to life.

A subsequent story in the pages of "Avengers World" #16 sees several major Marvel foes turn good, and Doctor Doom hopes to set right his previous wrongs. Chief among them is the death of Stature, which he chooses to be the one and only action he reverses thanks to the help of the Scarlet Witch's power.

We've already covered at least one alternate-universe version of Cassie Lang, the MC2 hero known as Stinger. However, Stinger isn't alone in terms of parallel world variants, and we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about the version of Cassie who resides in the Ultimate universe – Earth-1610. While originally launched to be a more realistic version of the mainline Marvel universe, as time went on, it got increasingly over-the-top, just like its Earth-616 counterpart. When they brought in Scott Lang, for example, he was introduced as part of an entire team of Giant Men, and Cassie was a member of their Giant-Women Brigade.

Appearing first in "Ultimate Comics Ultimates" #17 in 2012, we learn that she is, like her Earth-616 version, the daughter of Scott, who in this universe joins up with SHIELD alongside her father. She has quite a few adventures of her own, though, at one point winding up mind-controlled by the villainous Modi (son of Thor) in "Ultimate Spider-Man" #18 while joining a new Ultimates team that took on the Dark Ultimates in "Ultimate Comics Ultimates" #19. 

If you're looking for the weirdest version of Cassie Lang in the Marvel Multiverse, sit down and listen to this tale — specifically, "Marvel Fairy Tales." This short series, published between 2006 and 2008, is a collection of stories that fused popular Marvel heroes and villains with iconic stories and folklore from around the globe. 

Written by C.B. Cebulski, they included Marvel-ized versions of the Brothers Grimm, Little Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella, among many others. In "Avengers Fairy Tales" #4 from 2008, we find Marvel characters populating retellings of "The Wizard of Oz," while "Avengers Fairy Tales" #1 explores the world of "Peter Pan." There is also "Avengers Fairy Tales" #3, a retelling of "Alice in Wonderland," which stars none other than Cassie Lang.

In this version of the Lewis Carroll tale, illustrated by Takeshi Miyazawa, Cassie takes the role of Alice while the other members of the Young Avengers team of that era play various roles in the story. It begins with Stature's shrinking ability sending her tumbling into the same kind of rabbit hole as in the original book, bringing her to Wonderland. 

There she finds Patriot and Hawkeye taking on the roles of the King and Queen, while Tigra is the Cheshire Cat, Wiccan is the March Hare, and Hulking is the Mad Hatter, among others. Even Scott Lang pops up as the Caterpillar in what is easily one of the weirdest takes on Stature you'll ever see.