In 2018, Marvel villain Ghost made their official MCU debut. For their big-screen appearance, the comic book character’s origin was reimagined for the big screen. Played by Hannah John-Camen, Ava Starr became quantum-powered supervillain Ghost after an experiment with the Quantum Realm went haywire: killing both parents and leaving her painfully intertwined with quantum energy.
But according to the book ‘The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,’ the Ant-Man character was initially set to appear in Iron Man 2. However, in the book, which details the making-of the first Marvel movie sequel, it is explained that Ghost’s backstory would have been a little different to the one we saw in Ant-Man 2.
At that time, Ghost’s appearance was closely linked to Justin Hammer, and the character was set to be another one of his creations alongside Whiplash. As with their comic book counterpaert, the character’s powers was set to come from the suit Hammer made them rather than the Quantum Realm. However, with Whiplash and Hammer already being formidable villains in the superhero movie, this idea was eventually scrapped.
Ant-Man cast member John-Camen later opened up about how she played the reimangined version of Ghost in an interview with ScreenRant, “The motivation is high-stakes, you know, she sees herself as the good guy and everyone else is the bad guy. That’s the approach I have whenever I play someone who isn’t seen through the eyes of the protagonist of the film. So to me, you’ve really got to play that desparation, the stakes of what you need, you wants, and your objective, and I’m playing it like – ‘Why shouldn’t I?’ So yeah, things aren’t black and white, theyre grey.”
By all accounts, it seems like Ghost’s addition to Ant-Man 2 rather than Iron Man 2 allowed the MCU character to be more fleshed out. Ahead of the Ant-Man 3 release date, find out more about MODOK and Kang the Conquerer so that you’re fully prepped for the new movie‘s villains.