'Natural Enemy' acts as another entry point into the small world of the insect-themed hero

With Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man less than a year from release, it’s time to start building up the stature of the company’s premier miniature hero. In addition to a new comic series launching next year, Marvel announced plans Tuesday for Ant-Man: Natural Enemy, a prose novel centering on the character.

Written by crime novelist Jason Starr, Marvel describes the novel's Scott Lang as “an ex-con, single parent and part-time superhero … settling in to a new city with his teenage daughter, Cassie.” While this fits with the comic book mythology of the character, more or less — Cassie was traditionally portrayed as a preteen for much of Scott Lang’s initial superhero career before his temporary death in 2004, and has herself been dead since he returned to life — this description might, more importantly, point toward the status quo for the Paul Rudd version of the character in Peyton Reed’s 2015 movie.

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