By The Scarlet Avenger

So it seems all this excitement about the upcoming Avengers movie is hitting full stride. We have Captain America: The First Avenger front and center followed by Thor this year. Those two movies are the latest in the set up for next years Avengers epic. (The first being Iron Man)

We’ve seen the full cast recently at the latest San Diego Comic Con, as Robert Downey Jr was joined on stage by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk, Scarlett Johansson as Natalia Romanoff/Black Widow and Clark Gregg as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson.

With all the hoopla surrounding the movie, a couple of questions or characters remain unanswered…where are the Wasp and Ant Man? I bring this up cause I am a life long Avengers fan, and as a life long fan I need to address the absence of two founding members of the group. Now, it seems that the movie is geared more towards the Ultimates group rather than the actual Avengers from the Marvel Universe proper. But even in the Ultimate Universe, the founding 5 are present.

What’s even more peculiar is the fact that there hasn’t been much of a mention on this front from comic book fans or the studio. That’s not to say that the cast of The Avengers is finalized, but to not here anyone talking about it is a little weird.

A couple of years ago, it was rumored that Eva Longoria was being considered for the part of Janet Van Dyne (Wasp), but nothing came of it. There’s also an Ant Man movie in the works, but there doesn’t seem to be the tie in hoopla that Thor and Captain America have. Now, people will say “Well, the X-Men movie didn’t have all the original members in it when it was released in 2000. Well, that is true, but that movie wasn’t produced by Marvel, so you expect a little more cohesiveness to the Avengers film under the Marvel/Disney house. Being an Avengers diehard, I obviously would like to see the film be as close to the comics as possible. And with the main villain in the Avengers being Loki, it would be ironic if the Wasp and Ant Man are not in the film, as Loki was the villain responsible for the Avengers forming in the first place.

Of course, having characters as Black Widow in the movie reeks more of star power and sex appeal, also slight establishment from the Iron Man movie. Same goes with Hawkeye, although one of my favorite Avengers (Thor all the way!) and an extremely popular character. To have both those characters and not two of the founding members seems hard to swallow. Janet Van Dyne and Henry Pym would bring an incredible dynamic to The Avengers, a married couple super hero-ing on the greatest team of Super Heroes…think of the possibilities. Just go back and read some of those classic Avenger books to see the drama those two brought to the series.

So in capping this article, I urge all Avenger fans to start clamoring for Wasp and Pym to appear in The Avengers movie. In my opinion it won’t be a real Avengers movie if the original 5 are not present.

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