Name: Cassie Lang

Superhero Name: Stature/Stinger

Created By: David Michelinie and John Byrne

Played By: Abby Ryder Fortson (child), Emma Fuhrmann (Endgame) and Kathryn Newton (Ant Man And The Wasp: Quantumania)

Powers: Trained hand-to-hand combatant, size reduction and addition due to repeated exposure to Pym Particles, communication with ants thanks to her Stinger helmet, and bio-synthetic wings, which allow her to fly when shrunk.

Mini Bio: Cassie Lang was born to Scott Lang and Peggy Rae, and from a young age was adored by her parents. When it was discovered that she had a congenital heart defect, Scott stole the Ant Man suit to try and save the only doctor who could help Cassie, Doctor Erica Sondheim, from Darren Cross, who had a similar heart condition.

Doctor Sondheim was able to save her, and as Cassie grew, she realised she wanted to become a hero, just like her dad. This dream wasn’t helped by the fact that Cassie was raised around superheroes such as the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, as Scott and her lived in their compounds while he was on their teams.

While living in Avengers Mansion, Cassie deliberately and repeatedly exposed herself to Pym Particles, in the hope that it would give her powers just like her dad’s. Even without knowing this, her mother and stepdad, Blake Burdick (who already didn’t like superheroes) were concerned for her safety and got a caught order to limit the time Cassie spent with Scott.

At just 14 years old, Cassie lost her father during the Avengers Disassembled event, and the grief took a great toll on her. She argued with her mother constantly, and planned to join the Runaways, but found out about the Young Avengers around the same time, so she sought them out instead. She partnered with Kate Bishop to find them, and the group, consisting of Iron Lad, Patriot, Hulking and The Asgardian, met for the first time in the wreckage of Avengers Mansion.

An argument about team membership ensued, and with anger, Cassie grew in size, shocking everyone, including herself. Captain America, Iron Man and Jessica Jones arrived at that time, stopping the argument, helping Cassie shrink back to normal size, and telling the teenagers to disband immediately. They didn’t listen, and Kate used some of her family’s fortune to get the team a liar and new costumes, with Cassie taking on the name Stature.

The team had their own adventures but also joined in with the Skrull battle during Secret Invasion, with Cassie eventually punching out the Skrull version of Yellowjacket. Around the same time, Cassie also joined the Mighty Avengers team and ended up splitting her time between them and the Young Avengers.

During the Children’s Crusade storyline, Cassie and the Young Avengers went back in time to the attack on Avengers Mansion, and Cassie was able to save her father’s life. But, the battle that ensued with Doctor Doom led to Cassie giving her life to stop him, leaving Scott grief-stricken and swearing revenge on Doom.

Cassie was revived years later by Doom when his moral compass was inverted, and after a reunion with her father, she was forcibly moved to Miami by her mother, in an attempt to keep her safe. It was unsuccessful, as Cassie was kidnapped by Darren Cross’ son, who was convinced that her Pym Particle-soaked heart would be the perfect thing to revive his father. Scott arrived too late to stop the transplant, but Doctor Sondheim was able to give Cassie a new heart, but the loss of the Pym Particles in her system meant that Cassie lost her powers.

Her relationship with Scott deteriorated, as she thought he abandoned her when really he was staying away to try and keep her safe. When she found out that he was actually following. her around while he was shrunk in size, Cassie became enraged, thinking it worse than Scott abandoning her altogether.

In frustration at the loss of her powers, and her dad’s failures, Cassie sought out the Power Broker, in an attempt to get her powers back. He revealed to her the true nature of her second heart transplant, and while giving her back her powers, hired her to infiltrate Cross’ company to steal data back from them. The attempt led to Cassie’s capture, and Scott teamed up with several hired supervillains to save her life. Scott took the blame for the heist and was sent back to prison.

When Cassie confessed to her mother what happened, Peggy testified on Scott’s behalf, releasing him from prison. She also realised that she couldn’t stop Cassie from going out and being a hero, so let her and Scott go out as heroes together – named Ant Man and the Stinger.

Interesting trivia: Cassie once applied to be the babysitter for Jessica Jones and Luke Cage’s baby, mostly hoping to find her way onto the New Avengers team.

First Comic Appearance: As Cassie – Marvel Premiere issue 47 (1979), as Stature – Young Avengers (2006), as Stinger – Astonishing Ant Man issue 6 (2016)

Most Common Team Ups: Young Avengers, Mighty Avengers

Comic Recommendations: Young Avengers (2006) by Allan Heinberg, Astonishing Ant Man (2016) by Nick Spencer