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New 'Ant-Man' trailer offers first look at bad-guy Yellowjacket in action

Stellar effects, a "suit"ably intimidating nemesis, and just a few jokes show that "Ant-Man" could be one of summer's most entertaining films.

Michael Franco
Freelancer Michael Franco writes about the serious and silly sides of science and technology for CNET and other pixel and paper pubs. He's kept his fingers on the keyboard while owning a B&B in Amish country, managing an eco-resort in the Caribbean, sweating in Singapore, and rehydrating (with beer, of course) in Prague. E-mail Michael.
Michael Franco
2 min read

Ant-Man might be a tiny superhero, but Marvel is certainly putting a big promo push to get the news out about his film which premieres on July 17. First there was the 10-second insect-sized trailer released for the film at the beginning of this year. That was followed a few days later by a normal-sized teaser. In keeping with the pattern, Marvel released another brief teaser yesterday, and today we have the second full-length peak at the movie, which the filmmakers are calling "Trailer 1."

In it we see even more slickly produced action sequences and less of a focus on the personal life of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd). In the film, Lang is tapped by Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to don his supersuit and become Ant-Man.

Also, even though Marvel released a still image of Ant-Man's nemesis, Yellowjacket, earlier this month, this is the first time we see the character -- who is the alter ego of Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) -- in action. And it definitely look likes Ant-Man is going to have his work cut out for him.

"Hank Pym's Ant-Man suit doesn't have a single weapon, whereas Yellowjacket is armed with plasma cannons," director Peyton Reed recently told Entertainment Weekly. But then he then added: "Ant-Man is very fast when he's small. Also, when he shrinks, he increases his density, so he's got increased strength."

While the appearance of Yellowjacket in the trailer is new, something that continues from the first teaser is the use of humor throughout the film in a way that's reminiscent of "Guardians Of Galaxy." Lang is still shown poking fun at the name of his super-self (something he did in the first teaser) and he's seen cooing dad-like at one of his ant helpers. A few other scenes show that Marvel won't be taking the Ant-Man story all that seriously -- including a moment where Lang is belted in the face by Pym's daughter, Hope Van Dyne.

That mix of humor, along with stellar special effects and the heart-tugging backstory of Lang's ill daughter and his time in prison might just mean that "Ant-Man" has all the right stuff to make the story of a little superhero earn big at the box office this summer.