The new Ant-Man film will be in theaters July 17, 2015. It looks to be yet another amazing offering from Marvel Studios. It’s also an important film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You may not realize it, but the Ant-Man film is about more than just entertainment. I’m going to give you a glimpse in to why the Ant-Man film is an important cog in the Marvel machine.

In The Beginning

There was Marvel comics. The greatest super heroes of all time have come from the mind of Stan Lee. He has given us such memorable characters as Spider-Man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America. For a long time, Marvel was strictly about the comics, and rather than making their own films, they licensed the rights of their characters to other film outfits. And that was okay for a while.

Marvel sold the rights of such iconic super characters as The X-Men, Spider-Man, and Punisher. However, many super heroes were passed over. I imagine it’s because certain heroes like Thor and Iron-Man were not as main stream at the time as those heroes who were picked. And that was also okay, too, because it left Marvel wiggle room for one of the greatest things it’s ever done – starting its own film studio.

Marvel Studios Takes Shape

Marvel began putting out comic book movies, and they were pretty good. The first Hulk movie was a bit of a disaster, but the second one was well done. After that came Iron Man, then Captain America, and finally, the Avengers. Each film was greeted with more acclaim than the last, and now Marvel Studios is a powerhouse in the film industry. They’ve even reached an agreement to share the rights to Spider-Man with Sony. Which is great, because Sony was ruining the iconic character.

Why the Ant-Man Film Matters

Here’s where the Ant-Man film comes into play. In the Marvel comics universe, Ant-Man was one of the original founding members of the Avengers. He’s comic book royalty. It’s unsurprising that the Ant-Man character was passed over for film licensing, considering his unique power set. Of course, lesser film studios might not be able to pull off an Ant-Man film, but Marvel can. It did. And it looks incredible.

Aside from being a founding member of the Avengers, the technology used in the Ant-Man suit has also had other incarnations. Namely, Giant-Man. Not only does the Ant-Man film finally bring one of the found Avengers back into the fold, it opens up a myriad of story line opportunities. Could we see a Giant-Man in the future? Maybe. Only Marvel Studios knows for sure, but can you imagine that? With the great things they’ve done with the Hulk and Tony Stark’s Hulk Buster armor, I can only imagine what kind of movie epicness they could accomplish with Giant-Man.

The Ant-Man film opens up other story line opportunities as well. In the standard Marvel comics universe, Ant-Man was a decent guy. In the Ultimate Marvel universe, he was a gigantic creep. When you consider that all the movies released by Marvel Studios have drawn heavily from the Ultimate Universe – Nick Fury was actually modeled after Sam Jackson when the Ultimate Universe began – there’s no telling where Marvel Studios could go with the character after this initial Ant-Man film.

The Ant-Man Film is More Than Entertainment

It’s an integral building block of the Marvel cinematic universe. I for one am extremely excited about all of the possibilities the Ant-Man film opens up for the entire universe. There’s simply no end to the possibilities ahead of us after this initial Ant-Man film release.

Marvel’s Ant-Man..Conceptual Film Test Stills/Artwork..?Marvel 2015..