Marvel Comics and the MCU: Who is Cassie Lang?

As we approach the release of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, there’s one Marvel character who might play an even larger role than you might expect: Cassandra Lang. While we’ve seen her briefly before, multiple promos and photos reveal that we’re finally going to see her shine in the upcoming movie.

In the comics, she has played an important role for quite some time, and now she’ll play an important role as the MCU moves into Phase 5. So let’s dive in and learn a little bit more about Cassie Lang and the ways that she’s grown through the years.

Cassie Lang

We first met Cassie Lang in Marvel Premiere #47 in 1979, but we didn’t get to know her until quite a few years later. She was reintroduced again in Young Avengers #6 in 2006.

In the comics, Cassie has worked alongside multiple super hero teams. After all, she idolized her father as he worked with the Avengers. But after his untimely death, Cassie had to stay with her mom and step-father, even though they didn’t get along. So when Cassie ran away from home, she decided to join the Runaways. But in that very same night, she learned about the Young Avengers, and sought out Hawkeye’s apprentice, the master archer Kate Bishop. Cassie was brave enough to advocate for herself, certain that she deserved a place on the team. As an argument among the teens broke out, Cassie began to grow. She grew nearly twice her size before it became clear just how powerful she was.

Cassie's Giant-Sized Secret

Her secret came to light. Throughout the many years that her father worked with the Fantastic Four and the Avengers, Cassie Lang was subjecting herself to massive amounts of Pym Particle radiation. The radiation slowly gave her the powers that Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, and even her own father, Scott Lang, used a suit to perform. Cassie didn’t need a super suit of any sort to give her the power to shrink or grow to sub-atomic and giant sizes. Cassie had the power all on her own, though she would eventually don a super hero suit that had the ability to grow and shrink along with her.

Before she ever got the chance to even come up with her own super hero name, Kang the Conquerer attacked Avenger’s Mansion. Cassie and Kate Bishop worked side by side with the other heroes to defeat Kang, and that earned her a place on the team. It was the first time she helped save the world, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last.

Stature

Soon after joining the Young Avengers, should took on the super hero name Stature. It makes sense for her character to stand tall. She’s stood her ground against villains like Kang the Conquerer, the Skrulls, and even battled the Zodiac. She stands next to powerful heroes on the Young Avengers, like Kate Bishop, Iron Lad, Patriot, Hulkling, and Wiccan. She has the ability to grow larger and shrink smaller than almost anyone with her powers.

In one devastating story arc, Cassie struggles with her power. When she learns she accidentally hurt her stepfather while in her giant form, she feels so incredibly small. She wants to just shrink into herself. But since her powers are heavily influenced by her emotions, her depression makes her literally shrink. She goes beyond sub-atomic, nearly shrinking herself out of existence. Her team has to pull her up and pull her out of herself, otherwise she would completely disappear. The team helps her grapple with the responsibility, and she snaps out of it in time to save herself and continue saving the world. That is just how powerful Stature can be, inside and out.

Not only is Stature powerful, she is clever and adaptive. In one dangerous battle against Doctor Doom, as Iron Lad slipped the Young Avengers through the timestream, Cassie Lang saw an opportunity to bring her father back to life. She gave her life to defeat Doom. Her selfless sacrifice helped save the day.

Stinger

Like most extraordinary super heroes, they don’t stay dead for long. After an inversion spell made Doctor Doom’s morality switch, he did all he could to undo his own evils. He had done countless terrible things, but when he had the power to fix one thing and one thing alone, he did the most important: He brought Cassie Lang back to life. After being revived, she tried for some time to live just a normal life — but that was never in the cards for someone so brave. It wasn’t long before she took on the name Stinger and fought side by side with her father Ant-Man.

As Stinger, she’s become even more powerful. She gained a helmet that allows her to communicate with insects, just like her father. She also gained a suit with wings, allowing her to fly just like The Wasp. With that, and her natural abilities to shrink and grow, she has helped save the world many times over. And whichever team she’s on, she’s a valued member who brings hope and light to every situation.

Cassie in the MCU

We first met Cassie Lang in Ant-Man. Scott Lang is lucky enough to have a daughter who is adventurous, silly, and twice as brave as her dad. Even without a suit enhanced by Pym Particles, and years of experience as a programmer and super hero, Cassie is always clever and compassionate. She sees how the FBI treats her father, and does everything she can to protect him. There are very few eight year olds who would see a gigantic ant in the bathtub and react as gracefully and gleefully as she did.

Cassie has always been a major part of her father’s adventures. She has been his motivation, she has helped him during Avengers: Endgame, and it seems that she will be one of the characters who kicks off the events of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. She’s already shrunk down with him before, watching a movie alongside Scott and Hope. But now, she’ll be shrinking down like never before.

Are you looking forward to more Cassie Lang in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? We’ll see her when Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania flies into theaters on February 17, 2023. Get excited with other fans at side.show/geekgroup, and don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!