Below is a breakdown of those 116 seconds. Some of it’s based on quotes we’ve heard here and there, plus a healthy dollop of inference and speculation.
Be warned there might be some minor spoilers, if we’re right…
00:12: Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is caught mid-crime. He’s a decent guy, but it seems unfavourable circumstances have turned him into a thief.
00:13: Lang’s clad in black – a stark contrast to the red and blue colour scheme he’ll sport later in the film. Lang is an electronics expert – he once helped Tony Stark install the Avengers Tower security system – and film hints at this by giving him a backpack which has a compartment for his phone (see left strap).
Electronics experts wear those backpacks, OK?
00:15: The original Ant-Man, Dr. Henry ‘Hank’ Pym, stares at a bank of monitors. There’s a lot to unpack here.
- Firstly, it’s interesting to note the mixture of old and new technology. The central console is composed of CRT monitors, blinking lights, and switches; it feels dated. It reminds me of the technology Captain America and Black Widow uncover in the secret SHIELD bunker in Winter Soldier.Was this the console that Pym used back in the days he used to be Ant-Man? Did Pym work as an operative for SHIELD? Does the terminal still give Pym a back door into SHIELD’s network?
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- If you look closely at the middle screen in the centre you can spot a man with his arm’s held aloft. Is Pym watching a live feed (cop cam?) of Lang being arrested? As Pym says to Lang in the teaser, “I’ve been watching you for a while now.” And maybe it’s all been from the comfort of his own lab – handy when you’re 70.
- But Pym isn’t stuck in the past. It’s flanked by widescreen digital monitors. He’s a brilliant biochemist, with extensive knowledge of quantum mechanics, robotics, and entomology, so it’s understandable he would embrace new technology. Maybe he keeps the central terminal since it functions as a back door into SHIELD’s (Hydra’s) extensive surveillance network. On the digital screens you can see his most famous discovery: Pym particles, a rare subatomic group of particles. The screens visualise the particles, using modelling and diffraction patterning. Is Pym still working on his serum, refining it?
- It’s a curious mix of the old and the new, establishing Pym as a man with one foot in the past and the present. We know he was a superhero, but in a time before superheroes were public (Captain America being the notable exception). Pym allows Marvel to give its cinematic universe a sense of history, and we know that both Agent Carter (Hayley Atwell) and Howard Stark (John Slattery) will cameo in Ant-Man. So expect Ant-Man to fill in more of these chronological gaps.
- Why is Pym looking for a successor? Perhaps he realises that following on from the events of recent MCU movies the public is finally ready to embrace Ant-Man.
00:26: The Golden Gate bridge, and from the trailer it seems like the bulk of the film will take place in San Francisco. Although it served as a backdrop for Ang Lee’s Hulk and X-Men: The Last Stand, it’s not yet featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Although in Iron Man 2 it was referenced as the place where Iron Man 2’s Justin Hammer gets his favourite Italian ice-cream.
00:31: Hank Pym is talking to Lang in what appears to be an office in a prison. Does Pym pull some strings to secure Lang’s early release?
It also doesn’t look like Pym is short of a bob or two; that’s a nice, expensive suit. Why’s he so wealthy? We’ll get to that in a minute.
00:34: We’ve been told many times that Ant-Man will be a heist movie, and behind Rudd in the scene to the left looks like one of those planning boards you have in pretty much every heist movie.
00:41: Pym’s workshop? Perhaps, though it looks different to the rooms he leads Lang through later in the trailer. And if you look how it’s kitted out, it’s more low-tech and less scientific than you would expect from Pym’s. It could be Lang’s.
00:47: Cassie Lang, the daughter of Scott, and the unfortunate sufferer of – at least in the comics – a congenital heart condition. In fact, it’s her ailment that drives Lang to steal Pym’s Ant-Man suit in the source material. From the trailer alone, it appears that the film will reconfigure this, with Lang being approached by Pym to become Ant-Man.
00:49: Our first look inside Pym tech. You can see research being conducted in the background, but if you look at the floor below, there’s an extensive server farm, which looks like it could be the location for one of the film’s heists based on footage later in the trailer. It features heavily in this teaser.
00:51: This is a strange shot. It’s a brief pan, but it appears to be a glimpse into the microscopic world where roots are as think as tree branches. Ant-Man’s peculiar powers can instantly transform mundane locations into epic backdrops.
00:53: Now this is definitely Pym’s personal lab. While the technology housed within might be state-of-the-art, it feels a bit like an old man’s shed. It looks like Pym’s become a hobbyist; it just so happens he’s also a genius.
From the corrugated metal exterior and exposed wiring, this definitely doesn’t feel like it’s within Pym Industries. This is definitely Pym’s private workshop. Also, he’s still has a fondness for ants – note the ant colony on his desk.
00:54: This looks like the reverse shot of the above.
In the background, we can see Pym’s work-bench. Contrast it with the one he’s seen working at earlier in the trailer, and this definitely feels more like that of a biochemist, especially with a rack of boiling tubes containing red and blue liquid. In the comics, Pym was able to distill his particles into a liquid, then later a gas before refining it into handy pill form.
Perhaps after some impenetrable explanation of how Pym particles function – syphoning matter of into another dimension – it’s simplified for Lang (and the audience) as the red serum makes you shrink and the blue one makes you grow (or vice versa).
Notice the buttons too – Pym has a thing for red and blue.
00:57: He we get a shot of Pym Tech. In a nice touch, Hank’s famous particle cluster has been stylised into a corporate logo. Presumably after his brief crime-fighting days, Hank used his intellect to build a successful company.
00:58: At last year’s Comic-Con, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) was described as a protégé of Pym and the man who inherits his company. In the comics, Cross is a self-made entrepreneur who founds his own organisation – Cross Technological Enterprise, a technology company that rivals the likes of Stark Industries and Oscorp. Did Pym willingly hand over the company or was he ousted by the ambitious Cross?
Who’s behind him? Is it the board or potential investors? Cross is probably pushing Pym’s technology without Pym’s expertise, creating something superficially impressive but inherently dangerous.
00:59: Is he leading the company in a dramatically different direction? Is he attracting the interest of military investors? Pym particles could be used to transport gigantic armies in a single plane. Maybe it’s Cross’ new project that leads Pym to seek out a more worthy successor.
01:00: First look at Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), the daughter of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne (Wasp). “I was raised by two superheroes,” Lilly told Empire. “So, I’m a pretty screwed up human being. I am also fairly capable, strong, and kick-ass, which is wonderful to play, but the most fun to play was just how messed up she was from being raised by two superheroes. And the clear message sent by my name is that I’m not a big fan of my father and so I took my mother’s name.”
Ant-Man is shaping up to be a film about fathers and daughters, with Hope and Pym’s relationship serving as a counterpoint to the central relationship between Lang and his daughter, Cassie.
01:04: Lang is attending what appears to be Cassie’s birthday party. Given her serious condition, does he realise this might be the last one they share? In Avengers parlance, maybe that’s the ‘push’ he needs to become Ant-Man.
Also, and this is pretty cute, look closely at the table and there’s an ant made from pipe cleaners. Aww… this might be cuter than you think. But let’s revisit that in a minute.
01:11: The first look at the Ant-Man suit and helmet, which allows its wearer to communicate with insects.
It’s unclear if it’s in the possession of Pym; we never see him present it to Lang. It’s possible it still lies deep within Pym Tech, and the first heist in the movie doesn’t involve the suit at all, with Pym and Lang using their respective intellects and expertise to break into Pym Industries and steal the Ant-Man suit.
01:19: A shot of what is almost certainly Rudd in the outfit. There’s definitely a retro feel to the suit, suggesting it might be the original Pym used back in the day. Look closely at the suit and on the belt there appears four slots (two on each side). Is this where you load the serums into the suit?
Also, it looks like Ant-Man’s standing in a bathtub. Is he testing the suit or escaping?
01:22: It looks like this shot follows on from the last. If he is in the bathtub, where’s he going to go except down the plughole? This could lead onto a memorable, if pretty disgusting, sequence.
Look at the background. Bathtubs are gross.
01:22: Michael Peña plays Luis. Here he’s wearing a Pym tech security badge. There’s the server farm again. What information is it containing? Do they just need to wipe it?
01:25: Using Pym’s cybernetic helmet, Ant-Man calls in a flying ant for help. At this scale, it’s striking how it resembles a chopper as it lands, throwing up a cloud of dust.
01:26: Lang in prison. The uniforms bear CDCR – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation – telling us the location of his confinement. Lang’s a fighter. This scrap probably takes place just before Pym visits Lang for that much-needed pep talk.
01:27: People run from what might be the campus HQ of Pym Industries. Look at the fountains, using Pym particles as a decorative modern sculpture. It’s unclear what they’re running from, but with the police waiting outside, it’s likely a threat.
01:28: It’s a short trailer, and it doesn’t dwell on specifics, but it does its best to emphasis this is a story about a man trying to save his daughter. Lang isn’t trying to save a city or the planet. It’s an appropriately small-scale and intimate through-line for Ant-Man.
It might be nothing, but look closely at Cassie’s wallpaper. There’s a picture of a fairy with wings. I don’t know whether it’ll be a recurring conceit or cute motif, but I wonder if Lang ability’s to shrink in size and fly on a winged ant will somehow combine with Cassie’s love of fairies.
01:29: Ant-Man takes out one of Pym Techs security guards. Ant-Man is known for retaining his strength in miniaturised form, but here it looks like the suit and serums grant Lang super-strength in his natural state. That’s one hell of a throw.
01:30: The Marvel six-pack puts in a cameo. Maybe he is strong enough to throw a dude through a window.
Hope’s in the foreground. The trailer shows her training him. Has she inflicted this wound? We know Lang is estranged from the mother of his daughter. Is there room for romance between them? Will Lang help reconcile Hope with Pym? There’s a lot of family drama going on in Ant-Man.
01:31: This is one of the more baffling shots in the trailer. Everything else seems to take place in California, but this fleeting shot depicts a more exotic locale that’s hard to identify. Middle-East? South America? It’s a sandy, tropical mansion protected by tanks.
The flag hung above the main archway bears crossed rifles, stars, and a sword. Could this be the location of a nefarious investor in Pym Tech? Alternatively, it’s possible this could be an extended flashback sequence, depicting one of Hank’s earlier outings as Ant-Man.
01:31: Cross’s gets angry like CEOs tend to do in movies. He’s not been described as an out-and-out villain; he’s being presented more as an ambitious man, but perhaps Pym choosing a new successor in Lang tips Cross over the edge, becoming Yellow-Jacket, a villain who uses Pym’s tech as the basis for a new suit.
01:32: Another shot which tries to convey the unique aspects of Ant-Man’s powers. You can see he’s running at full speed and headed for the crack under the door.
01:33: Ant-Man escapes from what looks like the server farm in Pym Tech. Ant’s are at home in farms, after all. It also showcases how the mundane can take on a more cinematic, spectacular dimension when seen from this perspective.
01:34: What better getaway vehicle for a heist movie than a flying ant. Look at the bottom of the frame, some barbed wire gives a sense of scale.
01:36: Another one of those shots which shows how the microscopic world of Ant-Man can transform the perception of the world around him. The server farm behind him looks like a cityscape at night.
That’s what we spotted in the first teaser trailer for Ant-Man. Did you spot anything else? Let us know in the comments down below. 
Daniel is IGN’s Games Editor over in London. He writes about movies, too. You can be part of the world’s most embarrassing cult by following him on IGN and Twitter.
The Breakroom 
There is a great breakdown of the trailer here: http://c.mily.co/vq4b8f. Pretty much scene for scene.
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