True fact: there are more than 10,000 species of ants in the world, but to the best of natural history’s knowledge, only one of them uses the shower. And here he is: Ant-Man, Scott Lang’s soon-to-be superhero alter ego, suited up for the first time and preparing to go on a journey into smallness, in an exclusive image debuting in the new issue of **Empire. Click on the image below to make him bigger again. Behind that mask, Dumas-style, is Paul Rudd. Alongside Michael Douglas’s scientist Hank Pym, he’s the heart of Peyton Reed’s film and **Empire **caught up with the director on set in Antlanta (yup, they’ve officially renamed it) to find out what happens once the shrinking starts. “The tone of the film is unique,” Reed tells us. “It has drama, it has comedy, it had a hero with a shitty van and a cut under his eye.”
Pym, of course, is the inventor of the suit, the man who discovered the particles that let him shrink objects and people down. He recruits Scott for a heroic heist that will let them both save not their own world, but everyone else’s. And for Scott, whose criminal record is lengthening, it’s a chance for him to be the hero his daughter sees.
They’ll have to deal with Corey Stoll’s Darren Cross, who has his own plans for the tech with his more nefarious alter ego Yellowjacket. Also along for the ride are Evangeline Lilly, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Abby Ryder Fortson, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, Wood Harris, Gregg Turkington, T.I., and John Slattery, who returns as Howard Stark in flashbacks.
Signalling the end of Marvel’s phase two, Ant-Man arrives in UK cinemas on July 17 for the world’s tiniest party. Pick up the March issue of **Empire **for more from the Ant-hill, as well as news from across the pond at Avengers: Age Of Ultron HQ.