ant-man

Disney's 4.2 billion dollar purchase of Marvel Entertainment is expected to close this week. With that kind of price tag, Disney's latest acquisition, announced back in August, is heftier than originally planned as Marvel's stock rose by 40% since the announcement, according to a Hollywood Reporter article.

Some of the Marvel properties, such as Spider-Man, are already locked into long term deals with rival studios, but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of potential in Marvel's vault.

Disney's doing good, and with that 40% bump in the sticker price, Marvel's healthy, too. So now the question is which one of Marvel's 5,000 plus characters is going to the big screen? Iron Man's first movie took in $572 million, despite being considered a B-list superhero, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Based on the response to the Iron Man 2 trailer debut at Buttnumbathon earlier this month, the sequel will likely do just as well, if not better.

So which will it be? Ant-Man? The Runaways? Dr. Strange? What Marvel superhero would you most like to see brought to the big screen? Inquiring minds want to know.

We ran a poll on Cinematical asking readers for their most anticipated Marvel title and Ant-Man came in dead last. Seems a lot of people aren't all too familiar with the character, and so the mighty (and geeky) Elisabeth Rappe came to the rescue with this fantastic beginner's guide:

On Monday, my esteemed colleague Peter Martin ran a poll asking just which Marvel movie / character you were most excited to see onscreen. As of Tuesday morning, Ant-Man was actually winning, prompting Erik Davis to ask me if I'd put together a guide to this offbeat Avenger. Or did he ask me because Ant-Man was dead last, as he is right now? I can't remember -- it was 7am and I hadn't slept because I plan to do that when I'm dead ... but hey, whatever the reason, now you'll have an Ant-Man guide!

As you know, Ant-Man has attracted the talents of Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz). But the sad truth is that Wright has a lot more fans than the erstwhile Avenger, and a lot of moviegoers will be scrambling to catch up. Since the movie is a long way off, you've got time to catch up and scour some back issues. That way, when Ant-Man finally does hit theaters (hopefully in time for him to join the upcoming Avengers movie), you'll be an expert, able to lord your continuity knowledge over all those moviegoers who think it's part of the Cornetto Trilogy.

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