STATURE (Cassandra "Cassie" Lang, aka Stinger III)
Created By: David Michelinie & John Byrne
First Appearance: Marvel Premiere #47 (April 1979) (Cassie), Young Avengers #6 (Sept. 2005) (Stature)
Role: Plucky Kid, Giant Jailbait
Group Affiliations: The Avengers, The Initiative, The Young Avengers
PL 9 (96)
STRENGTH 0/11
STAMINA 1/13
AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6
DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0
AWARENESS 0
PRESENCE 2
Skills:
Close Combat 1 (+7)
Deception 3 (+5)
Perception 2 (+2)
Stealth 2 (+5)
Advantages:
Set-Up, Teamwork
Powers:
"Pym Particles"
Small Size (52) -- [53]
"Large Size- Over 100 Feet Tall"
Growth 11 (Str & Sta +11, +11 Mass, +5 Intimidation, -5 Dodge/Parry) -- (48 feet) (22)
Growth +6 (+17 Mass, +8 Intimidation, +2 Speed, -17 Stealth) -- (120 feet) (Flaws: Limited to Non-Str & Sta Increases) (6)
Speed 2 (30 mph) (2)
"Giant-Sized Fists & Feet" Strength-Damage +0 (Extras: Area- 15ft. Burst +1/2 on 9 Ranks) (4.5) -- (5.5)
- AE: "Hitting Power" Strength-Damage +1 (1)
Close Combat -1 (-1)
"Alternate Sizes"
Growth 8 (Str & Sta +8, +8 Mass, +4 Intimidation, -4 Dodge/Parry, +2 Speed) -- (24 feet)
Growth 9 (Str & Sta +9, +9 Mass, +4 Intimidation, -4 Dodge/Parry, +2 Speed) -- (30 feet)
Growth 10 (Str & Sta +10, +10 Mass, +5 Intimidation, -5 Dodge/Parry, +2 Speed) -- (36 feet)
Growth 11 (Str & Sta +11, +11 Mass, +5 Intimidation, -5 Dodge/Parry, +2 Speed) -- (42 feet)
Growth 12 (Str & Sta +12, +12 Mass, +6 Intimidation, -6 Dodge/Parry, +3 Speed) -- (48 feet)
"Small Size"
Shrinking 16 (+8 Dodge/Parry, +16 Stealth, -8 Intimidation) (Extras: Normal Strength) (48)
"Tiny Sized Fighting" Enhanced Advantages 4: Close Attack 4 (Flaws: Limited to Smaller Sizes) (2)
Movement 1 (Dimensional Travel- Microverse) (2)
Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
"Small Size" Unarmed +9 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
"Large Size" Unarmed +6 (+12 Damage, DC 30)
Giant Fists & Feet +9 Area (+9 Damage, DC 24)
Initiative +3
Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +1, Fortitude +4, Will +4
"Smallest Size" Dodge +16 (DC 26), Parry +16 (DC 26), Toughness +1, Fortitude +5, Will +5
"Largest Size" Dodge +3 (DC 13), Parry +3 (DC 13), Toughness +13, Fortitude +5, Will +5
Complications:
Responsibility (Father's Memory)- Cassie loves super-heroics ever since her father first became Ant-Man, and she strives to uphold his legacy. She died pretty much when he returned.
Relationship (Mother & Stepfather)- Cassie's other parents strongly-resist her desire to be a superhero, especially her cop stepfather.
Involuntary Transformation- Cassie has occasionally shrank against her will after feeling intense embarassment or shame.
Vulnerable (Small Size)- Despite his added defenses at small size, Cassie is highly-vulnerable to such comparatively-large targets. The smaller he gets, the more vulnerable he is- he treats all attacks from human-sized targest as Area Attacks if he is Shrinking 12 or smaller.
Vulnerable (Easy to Hit)- When fighting against a Full-Sized Cassie Lang, any character may be treated as having the Power Attack Advantage, allowing them to go +5 to damage. She's such an big target that all her vulnerable spots are enormous.
Total: Abilities: 24 / Skills: 8--4 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 52 / Defenses: 14 (96)
Cassandra Lang- From Ill Child To Teen Heroine:
-Cassie Lang has ended up being a perfect example of two things: 1) The rapid-fire nature of "Comic Book Rapid Aging Syndrome" (related to Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome), in that she grew from a young child (following Scott Lang to various books-
The Avengers, Fantastic Four, and
Heroes For Hire) to a teenager basically overnight, as soon as a writer wanted to her to appear into a pretty teenager and join the Young Avengers. And 2) The surprising number of teenage girl characters named "Cassandra" these days- at one point, Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain), and Stature here were all active simultaneously. It was a really odd coincidence, likely forged by the fact that it's a very heroic-sounding female name- it's old as hell (going to a Greek heroine from long ago), sounds both mature and divine in its full form and youthful and spunky when shortened to "Cassie". And it has the hard "C" and "S" sounds, making it a delight to say.
-Cassie made her debut as the young daughter of Scott Lang, who stole Ant-Man's costume and powers in order to ensure that Cassie received a life-saving operation for her congenital heart condition. Eventually, she discovers his secret identity during the course of his appearances. Eventually, however, her mother and stepfather win custody over her, as life with superheroes is deemed too dangerous. This is reversed when Scott joins the
Fantastic Four book, and she forms a friendship with Doctor Doom's former ward, Kristoff, eventually developing a crush on him. When Scott moves to the
Heroes For Hire book, Cassie helps out and starts to love the idea of being a superhero, but her mother again wins full custody. Around this time, an adult Cassie appears in the MC2 comic version of the Avengers,
A-Next, acting as "Stinger" and using shrinking powers.
Cassie Becomes Stature:
-Years later, Scott is wiped out during
Avengers: Disassembled, and a grieving Cassie rejects her mother and stepfather, becoming the superheroine "Stature", joining the Young Avengers. As the only pre-existing legacy on that book, she kind of "centers" it in the mainstream Marvel Universe, despite doing a hell of a lot of aging over the gap between
H4H and
YA. Discovering that years of experimenting with Pym Particles in secret has left her with size-changing powers, she more or less forces her way onto the Young Avengers team. Falling for her teammate Iron Lad, she is saddened to find him forced to go back to his own time and become Kang the Conqueror (whom they'd just defeated... time travel is weird). The team hangs around the outskirts of the Marvel U for a time, as their book is active during
Civil War (they're Anti-Registration, but she quits to register, desiring to fight villains instead of cops). She brawls with the new Ant-Man, Eric O'Grady, when he disparages her father within earshot, creating a massive three-way brawl with him and Hank Pym, and all have to be brought low by the Taskmaster attacking their Achilles tendons. Later, she accidentally injures her cop stepfather, and has to be brought out of shrinking herself out of existence from the guilt of it- the team reasons that as a cop, her stepdad also faces risks and responsibilities, and so too must she.
-Eventually she forms a relationship with the young version of Vision (based off of Iron Lad's mind) and takes part in more Marvel stories, culminating with the end of the "Young Avengers" concept-
The Children's Crusade. Here, they find out that her teammates Wiccan & Speed are the children of Vision and the Scarlet Witch, and Cassie goes back in time to save her father's life. Tragically, however, Cassie herself is killed buying the Witch & Wiccan time to cast a spell against Doctor Doom- the villain blasts her when she attacks him. The Vision is smashed by a returning Iron Lad for fighting his wishes to bring Cassie to the future to save her, and they opt out of rebuilding him. This move shatters the team, who scatters to the winds, popping up in assorted different books (or just disappearing altogether, as Speed, Iron Lad & others do).
Cassie's Return:
-Cassie's death hurts Scott deeply, and he goes a few years without her, becoming a major character in the process. As Scott becomes a big-time Marvel Cinematic Universe character, there's a need for his daughter to return, and so Doctor Doom, his personality reversed by the
AXIS event, undoes one of his most evil deeds, and returns her to life after being given enough energy to alter one key event. Cassie is now a supporting character in the new
Ant-Man book, acting as a normal middle school kid (... she's THAT YOUNG? Really? Doesn't look remotely that age in
Young Avengers). She is nearly killed by the machinations of the villain Crossfire, who transplants her heart into that of his own son, and Scott has to desperately find another one to rescue her- Scott is so disturbed by what happened that he leaves her, wanting to keep her out of that part of his life. Cassie is de-powered as a result, but meets with the Power Broker in order to get them back, furious at her father for abandoning her and not telling her what's happened to her powers. Scott finds out about this, and takes the fall for her when they're caught- he is arrested and the two make amends during a fight against Crossfire's son. Finally, Cassie's own mother admits that Cassie is a hero and that Scott's not at fault- Cassie and her father then become a crimefighting duo- they become Ant-Man & Stinger (giving Cassie her MC2 costume & concept, oddly enough- it's not often you see
A-Next affect the maintream universe!).
Cassie's Powers:
-Cassie takes the Pym-ish stuff, but is MUCH cheaper than the others, having very few Skills, Advantages, or Power Feats just yet, but she could... "grow" into them. Hee. I funny. She's shown to be rather powerful (doing +12 Damage is rare amongst low-level Teen characters), but almost any serious super-character would house her, with her limitations.