Yellowjacket

"You tried to hide your suit from me. Now, it's gonna blow up in your face and destroy everyone you care about."

- Darren Cross to Hank Pym

Darren Cross was the protege of Hank Pym who became the CEO of Cross Technologies. His obsession with Pym's former design of the Ant-Man Suit led to him developing his own Yellowjacket Suit which he intended to sell to the terrrorist organization HYDRA. He was stopped and killed by Pym, Hope van Dyne and Scott Lang.

Working for Pym Technologies
"Hank Pym was my friend, and mentor, but mentors are meant to nurture their protege's potential, not stunt it."

- Darren Cross

Darren Cross graduated from MIT as valedictorian at the age of twenty. He was hired directly from MIT by Hank Pym, and for a time worked as his assistant at Pym Technologies. However, he became obsessed with learning the secrets of Pym's Ant-Man Suit, and his size-reducing Pym Particle technology.

Taking Over
"I'm the future of war!"

- Darren Cross

Over the years, Cross forced Hank Pym from his own company and took over as CEO, renaming it Cross Technologies, the company under Cross' leadership became a rival of Stark Industries under the guidance of Darren Cross. Cross continued to obsess over Pym's previous experiments that had remained hidden from the world, focusing much of his energy into understanding the science behind the Ant-Man Suit. Evenutally, Cross' obsession paid off and he was able to make his own weaponized version of the Ant-Man Suit, called the Yellowjacket Suit.

WIRED Magazine Interview
"Pym tech has yet to roll out a single new product during your time as CEO." "Is there a question?"

- James Rondell and Darren Cross

Cross gave an interview with WIRED Insider discussing his work at Pym Technologies. Cross assured his interviewer James Rondell that Pym tech was working hard with their old designs while developing a new design which would be astonishing. When Cross was asked about Hank Pym and his involvement in the company and whether or not he was pushed out of his company, he claimed he and Pym were close friends before cutting the interview short.

Reunited with Hank Pym
"Hank, will you tell our guests what you told me every single time I asked you was the Ant-Man real." "Just a tall tale." "Right, because how could anything so miraculous possibly be real."

- Darren Cross and Hank Pym

Cross organised a presentation with several potential investors for his Yellowjacket Suit, and also invited Hank Pym to witness his success. To his surprise Pym showed up and was greeted by his estranged daughter Hope van Dyne, who was now working for Cross. While giving his presentation, Cross showed off many pieces of footage believed to be of Ant-Man in the 1980's and used Pym as an example of his history with the project, which Pym continued to deny. Eventually Cross showed his guests his Yellowjacket Armor and explained its many benifits to the military, only receiving criticism from one guest.

With the guests discussing the pitch, Cross spoke to Pym in private, when Pym finally confessed that he had developed the Pym Particles and the Ant-Man Suit in the '80's. Pym warned Cross not to pursue this project any further as he believed that the technology was far too dangerous when put into the wrong hands. Cross refused to listen to reason and vowed to complete his work.

Murder
Cross sought out the guest who questioned him in the Pym Technologies bathroom, where he presented himself as friendly and understanding, handing over a paper towel for the man to wash his hands. However when the man continued to question Cross' work, Cross shot him with a gun containing the unstable Pym Particles, causing his body to shrink and collapse into itself, leaving a tiny bloody mess on the floor. Cross wiped away the mess and flushed it down the toilet.

Dinner with Hope van Dyne
Viewing the presentation to have been a success, Cross invited Hope van Dyne out to dinner with him to celebrate. There they toasted to Cross' impressive success with finally completing his experiments and Van Dyne told him he deserved everything that was coming to him.

Perfecting the Serum
With Hope van Dyne by his side, Cross continued his experiments to try and perfect his version of the Pym Particles, bringing in lambs to act as his test subjects, despite promising Van Dyne they would be using rats. The experiments continued to be a failure, with each shot of Pym Particles reducing the lambs to a tiny bloody mess on the floor. Cross refused to give up however and continued bringing in test subjects, until finally one of the tests proved successful when the lamb was reduced in live and stayed alive in a small glass container. Cross picked up the container and gave it a gentle flick, knocking the lamb off balance before he began smiling manically at his success.

Confronting Pym
Cross travelled to the Pym Residence with the intent of killing Pym after he told his former mentor of his success. When he arrived, he found the door unlocked and overheard Pym speaking to Hope van Dyne and Scott Lang before discovering plans throughout the house for what appeared to be an elaborate heist into Pym Technologies to steal the Yellowjacket Suit. Before Cross could study these plans further, he was interrupted by Hank Pym. Not wishing to raise suspicion, Cross greeted his friend warmly and invited him to the presentation of the Yellowjacket as Cross' greatest achievement, which Pym accepted. With his mentor agreeing to come, Cross left the house.

As Cross drove home, he phoned Hope van Dyne in an attempt to keep them unsuspicious of his discovery and told her that he had just seen Hank Pym, asking her where she was, to which she lied and claimed to be at her home. In an attempt to sabotage Pym's heist plans, he ordered her to increase security at Pym Technologies ahead of the Yellowjacket presentation; she agreed.

Selling the Yellowjacket
As the day finally arrived to present the Yellowjacket Suit to his investors, Cross found Hope van Dyne walking through the Pym Technologies corridors where she had been sabotaging the inner workings of the building ready for the heist. Not wishing to let Van Dyne believe he was aware of her plans, Cross nervously smiled and asked her opinion on how he looked in his suit. When Hank Pym arrived at the facility, Cross invited him into the presentation room for a private discussion. Once Cross, Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne were alone in the presentation room, Cross' bodyguards held them at gunpoint and Cross revealed that he had known all along of Pym's plans. He then waited for Scott Lang to dive into the glass case to steal the Yellowjacket Suit and trapped him inside, removing the suit beforehand, mocking Lang for his failure. They were then joined by Mitchell Carson whom Cross introduced as the representative from HYDRA. Pym attempted to convince Cross not to sell the suit to them, but Cross refused to listen and threatened to kill Pym. However Lang was able to break free; he and Van Dyne began fighting Cross' guards, Cross managed to shoot Pym in the shoulder during the chaos before escaping via helicopter.

Fighting Ant-Man
"Did you think you could stop the future with a heist?!"

- Darren Cross to Scott Lang

Cross took the Yellowjacket Suit in his suitcase and made his way to his helicopter on the roof. As he began to escape Cross witnessed an army of ants coming towards him, led by Scott Lang, Cross began firing his gun wildly in an attempt to kill Lang but only succeeded in killing one of the ants carrying Lang. This only served to anger Lang who managed to get onboard the Helicopter and knock out Cross' guards, Cross managed however to kick Lang out of the helicopter but he held on by grabbing the seatbelt. He taunted Lang for attempting to stop his plans with a heist to which Lang clarified that it was never a heist, which confused Cross and caused him to look back on the building. Cross watched in shock as Pym Technologies along with his research of the Yellowjacket was destroyed by the explosives Lang put in earlier. With no other choice and his plans ruined, Cross put on the Yellowjacket Suit and prepared to fight Scott Lang on his own terms. The pair began fighting each other, shrinking down to size and increasing back to size again, Cross' suit proved superior to Lang's due to the mounted cannons on the back, however due to Lang's extensive training with the Ant-Man Suit, he managed to keep Cross back. Eventually they caused damage to the helicopter and forced it to crash land. As they fell they tumbled into Cross' suitcase and fought a battle inside. The pair landed in a family's swimming pool where Cross regained his size and threatened to slaughter them. Scott Lang defended them however and after a brief confrontation, Lang managed to throw Cross into a bug-zapper, seemingly overcharging the suit and killing him. While Lang was being arrested by local police-officers who were unaware of the situation, Cross awoke from within the bug-zapper, with his suit burnt and his body wounded but very angry and seeking revenge on those who destroyed his plans.

Death
"Sorry, sweetheart, you have to help daddy pay for his mistakes."

- Darren Cross' last words

Cross travelled to the home of Scott's ex-wife Maggie Lang and took their daughter Cassie Lang hostage, waiting for her father to come to rescue her. It did not take long for Scott to arrive and confront Cross as the pair engaged in a brutal miniature fight on Cassie's toy train-tracks, throwing sections of the train at each other. Lang called for reinforcements from his army of Ants who attacked Cross, before Lang was able to throw him into the train tracks, causing him to be run over by Cassie's toy.

Lang attempted to shrink and sabotage Cross's suit similar to how he had sabotaged Sam Wilson's wing pack. However, he discovered the mainframe on the Yellowjacket suit was encased with a shell of titanium, which could not be penetrated unless the Ant-Man Suit's regulator was deactivated; this would put Lang in danger of shrinking indefinitely. Frustrated by his inability to kill Lang, Cross attempted to attack Cassie while she was being protected by Jim Paxton. This left Lang no other choice but to turn off his suit's regulator and sacrifice himself by shrinking into the Yellowjacket Suit and damaging its internal mainframe. The suit then collapsed into itself and crushed Cross' body into thin air, imploding and finishing him. Lang was briefly teleported into the Quantum Realm, before finally being able to return to his normal size.

Personality
Darren Cross is an extremely cruel and ruthless businessman who is willing to use Hank Pym's Pym Particles as a weapon. He is a man who believes that his ends justifed the means and would easily attempt to use anything in order to gain his final goal of miniaturizing organic matter, including using lambs to shrink even if the end result was a failure and once this was accomplished Cross had no qualms about flicking the successfully shrunk lamb in its container as a mere plaything. However he was a good person when he starting working for Pym as his protege, but that changed when Cross became obsessed with the Pym Particles and the Ant-Man Suit. As Pym pointed out, Cross was basically what Pym used to be like in his youth and originally thought he was the son he never had.

Cross also had no problems with murder, as he killed a man who questioned the Yellowjacket Suit's safety using a Shrink Gun, attempted to kill Pym out of jealousy and anger, and Cassie Lang and Jim Paxton when they got in the way. He was also willing to sell the Pym Particles and Yellowjacket Suit to shady businessmen like HYDRA. As a man of extreme caution and intellect, he was able to deduce and plan ahead of his enemies, like when he set a trap for Scott Lang, Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne after the latter attempted to steal his suit.

As Yellowjacket, he became crazy after losing Pym Technologies and being electrified by a fly-light trap. He attempted to kill Ant-Man. He also was willing to use Cassie Lang as a hostage to get to Scott.

Powers
"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

- Scott Lang


 * Size Reduction: Using the original Ant-Man suit and Pym Particle formula as a start up point, Cross developed a new suit which allows him to reduce approximately to the size of an ant. He also still maintains his regular sized strength and durability when shrinking.
 * Flight: The suit has the power of flight.
 * Energy Pulse Stinger: The suit has two tentacle-like 'stingers' on the back which can fire intense energy blasts.
 * Superhuman Strength: The suit grants the wearer superhuman strength while shrinked.

Abilities
"Well, they don't draft the stupid kids first."

- Darren Cross


 * Genius Level Intellect: Darren Cross graduated from MIT at only twenty years old and was impressive enough to be recruited by genius Hank Pym to work for him.
 * Master Scientist: Cross was recruited by Hank Pym to work at his company, Pym Technologies as his personal assistant and one of the lead scientists. Over time, he became obsessed with replicating Pym's Ant-Man Suit, and managed to create his own version, the Yellowjacket Suit.
 * Expert Businessman: Cross was able to oust Pym from Pym Technologies and become its leader. Though the company had not presented a product in some time, Cross assured, in an interview, that its shareholders were satisfied.

Allies

 * Cross Technologies
 * James Rondell - Interviewer
 * HYDRA
 * Mitchell Carson - Business Partner

Enemies

 * Scott Lang/Ant-Man - Killer
 * Hank Pym - Mentor turned Enemy
 * Hope van Dyne - Assistant turned Enemy
 * Stark Industries - Business Rivals
 * Cassie Lang - Hostage
 * Jim Paxton

Trivia

 * In the comics, Darren Cross was a technology industrialist whose heart was failing, so he murdered homeless people and took their hearts to keep himself alive. Scott Lang fought Cross when he kidnapped Specialist Erica Sondheim, the only person who could cure Lang's daughter, Cassie. When Lang and Cross fought, Cross died of a massive coronary.