Cassandra Lang

Superherobox|

caption=Cover art for "Young Avengers Presents" #5.
Art by Jim Cheung.
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Stature
real_name=Cassandra "Cassie" Eleanor Lang
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut=(as Cassie Lang) "Marvel Premiere" #47
(as Stature) "Young Avengers" #6
creators=David Michelinie
John Byrne
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances= Young Avengers
aliases=Giant-Girl, Titan
powers=Ability to shrink and grow in size|

Stature (Cassandra "Cassie" Eleanor Lang) is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. She is the daughter of the late Scott Lang (the second Ant-Man). Cassie Lang is a member of the Young Avengers and . She has the same powers as her father, the ability to shrink and grow in size, but lacks her father's helmet which allowed telepathic communication with insects. However, she manifested her powers much later than her first exposure to Pym Particles.

Fictional character biography

Ant Man's daughter

Cassie Lang was introduced to the Marvel Universe as the ill daughter of Scott Lang. Her congenital heart condition forces her father to steal Henry Pym's Ant-Man equipment and Pym Particles, which he uses to rescue Doctor Sondheim, the only doctor able to cure Cassie's condition, from Cross Technological Enterprises. [http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/1365914.html#cutid1]

After the divorce of her parents, Cassie lives for most of her childhood with her father, whom she loves and admires greatly. She is fascinated by his life as a superhero once she learns of it, and generally has a good relationship with his colleagues; when she was younger, she even called Tony Stark 'Uncle Tony'. However, her mother and stepfather fear that his life as an Avenger was unsafe for a child, and they claim custody over Cassie.

Cassie is separated from Scott, and as a result she grows more and more bitter towards her mother, and even more so towards stepfather, Blake Burdick. As a police officer, he can not stand the world of superheroes the young girl loves, and he tries unsuccessfully to keep Cassie and Scott apart. For years, Cassie visits her father whenever possible, much to her mother and stepfather's chagrin, until the events of "Avengers Disassembled", when Scott Lang is killed due to the actions of an insane Scarlet Witch.

Cassie retreats into herself, blaming Blake for being unable to understand her as her father always did. Blake Burdick tries unsuccessfully to be a caring stepfather, and is sometimes distant toward her, seeing his stepdaughter as a "less than brilliant" girl. Some time after her father's death, Cassie plans on running away to Los Angeles to join the Runaways, but sees the "Young Avengers" on television before she leaves and subsequently changes her plans.

Young Avengers

Iron Lad, a younger version of classic Avengers foe Kang the Conqueror, desperate for help against his future self after learning what he will become, uses the Vision's database, stored in the remains of his synthezoid body, to track and recruit young superpowered individuals connected to the Avengers' history. Cassie was not one of the individuals on the list. In fact, attracted by her father's career, she had stolen Pym Particles to use on herself several times over the years, but they never seemed to give her powers— until a sudden mood swing caused her to grow in size in front of the Young Avengers. Later, she learned she could also shrink, much as her father did.

Iron Lad assures her that if Vision had known she had developed powers, she would have been part of his plans for the Young Avengers. She is formally invited to join the team. She suggests she take the name Ant-Girl, while her teammates informally dub her "Giant-Girl" for a short period; she ultimately adopts the codename Stature. Besides being able to change size at will, she also grows or shrinks due to emotions. Her body has reacted to anger and guilt, metaphorically reflecting her being a "" about her family issues.

After deciding to continue her life as a superhero, Cassie overhears her stepfather talking to her mother. They suspect that she is secretly Stature, but refuse to believe it. Later, Jessica Jones talks to Cassie's mother and confirms Cassie's dual identity. Cassie's mother is overwhelmed by this news and begs Jessica not to tell her husband about this; she was also worried that although Cassie was cured of her heart condition, her heart might not be able to handle the strain of continuous size-changing.

When Jessica Jones asks Cassie, "And there's no part of you that wants to go back to having a normal life?", Cassie replies, "Ms. Jones, my dad was Ant-Man. I never had a normal life." ["Young Avengers Special" #1]

In the "Civil War" limited series, Cassie, along with her fellow Young Avengers, had joined Captain America's resistance to the Superhero Registration Act. She and the rest of her team were staying at a , while Nick Fury arranges new secret identities for them. During this time, she participates in a rescue effort of Captain America, when Iron Man seemingly springs a trap at Yankee Stadium: all escape. When Goliath is killed by a clone of Thor and Young Avengers teammate Wiccan is captured by Iron Man, she decides to leave Captain America's side, citing her reasons as being a desire to fight villains rather than cops and other heroes. ["Civil War" #4]

The Initiative

Cassie then joins the , as a trainee.

Cassie, along with fellow Initiative members Dusk, Tigra, Silverclaw, and Araña, were ensnared by the Puppet Master. ["Ms. Marvel" vol 2 #18] . Although she (along with others) was mindcontrolled into fighting Ms. Marvel, she was eventually freed and restored to normal. ["Ms. Marvel" vol 2 #20]

Her time at Camp Hammond brought her in to contact with her father's successor as Ant-Man - Eric O'Grady. O'Grady made several disparaging remarks about her father, not realizing that she was within earshot. This caused a literally giant-sized brawl between the two as both grew to their giant forms. After O'Grady picked up a bus and hit Lang with it, Henry Pym intervened, also growing to his giant form. Taskmaster broke up the fight by attacking their now giant-sized achilles tendons, bringing all three crashing to the ground. ["Avengers: The Initiative" #8]

Later, Cassie is visited at Camp Hammond by the Vision, who disguises himself as Tony Stark in order to take her out on a date. Vision confesses that he shares Iron Lad's attraction to her, and hopes that she can love him. Cassie is unsure of her situation, but open to the possibility. The two fight off an attempt by A.I.M. to steal the Vision. ["Young Avengers Presents #4]

Cassie accidentally injures her step-father Blake, while stopping the Growing Man. Her guilt causes her to shrink and the other Young Avengers attempt to snap her out of it before she shrinks into non-existence. She comes to terms with the responsibilities and risks of her position as part of the Young Avengers and the Initiative, reasoning that Blake also understands the risks as a policeman. ["Young Avengers Presents #5]

ecret Invasion

Stature fought against the Skrull invasion of Manhattan as part of the Initiative. ["Secret Invasion" #3]

Powers and abilities

Cassie has the ability to increase and decrease her size. She can become roughly 40 feet tall and can shrink to the size of an ant. Her abilities seemed to be fueled by her emotions. She grows when she gets angry and shrinks when she feels guilty. Cassie seems to have become more powerful since first demonstrating her powers, as she has in recent issues surpassed the size she previously grew to.

Other versions

MC2

In MC2, Cassandra, now a doctor, operates under the name Stinger on the group A-Next. Although she is the oldest member of A-Next, in her mid-20s, and the only one on the original team with a professional life and a scientific background, she is still doted on by her father, who constantly worries about her newfound superhero life. She possesses many abilities originally engineered by Henry Pym, including resizing, flying, communication with insects, and firing bioelectric "stinger" blasts (as well artificial "stingers" sedative darts), all based on her costume and helmet. She does not seem to be capable of increasing her size and strength, unlike her main continuity version.

Popular culture references

*Cassie is referenced in the mc chris song "Nrrrd Grrrl": "Wanna conquer her like Kang, When you kiss like Cassie Lang". [Ward, Chris. "Nrrrd Grrrl." Lyrics. "mc chris is dead." mc chris LLC, 2008.]

References