- "Hey, if the job goes bad, you know I got your back, right?"
"Don't worry. It's not gonna happen." - ―Luis and Scott Lang[src]
The Robbery of the Pym Residence was a robbery job taken by Scott Lang following his release from prison. However, it was actually set up by Hank Pym to test Lang and make him steal the Ant-Man Suit.
Background[]
- "Old man have safe."
"And he’s gone for a week."
"Alright. There’s an old man, he’s got a safe, and he’s gone for a week. Let’s just work with that." - ―Kurt Goreshter, Luis and Scott Lang[src]
Having taken an interest in Scott Lang, Hank Pym decided to test his skills to determine whether he was the right person in his endeavours against Darren Cross. To that end, Pym arranged for a large amount of money to be delivered to Emily, as well as the instructions that he would be absent of the Pym Residence for several days. Emily relayed this information to her boyfriend, Carlos, and it was eventually conveyed up to Luis, Lang's best friend, via Ernesto. Luis then shared this tip with Lang.
Initially, Lang was reluctant to accept to perform the robbery as he wanted to remain on the right side of the law in an attempt to be able to be his daughter Cassie again. However, due to being in dire need of money and unable to find a steady job that could provide for child support, Lang saw no other choice but to accept Luis' suggestion to infiltrate into the Pym Residence and steal whatever Pym was hiding in his safe.[2]
Robbery[]
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Scott Lang breaking into the Pym Residence
- "There's a fingerprint lock on the door."
"It's got a what? Ernesto didn't tell me nothin' about that. Aw, man, are we screwed?"
"Not necessarily." - ―Scott Lang and Luis[src]
Along with Luis, Kurt Goreshter and Dave, Scott Lang drove close to the Pym Residence, and had Kurt sabotage both telephone landlines and cell service in the area to make sure that no distress call could be made during the robbery. Lang then approached the residence's premises and swiftly climbed up the wall. He then proceeded to climb the building up to a window, and deployed a device to shut down the house's alarm.
Lang then entered the house and quickly made his way to the basement, only to face a door with a fingerprint lock. Even though this was not expected, Lang did not give up and was able to recreate Hank Pym's fingerprint by laying a band of adhesive tape on a door knob to copy it on a disc of heated glue. The trick worked perfectly and Lang was able to enter the basement, where he then discovered the main obstacle between him and his objective: a safe made by the company Carbondale.
Scott Lang discovers the second vault doorway
Since he knew that such a safe could be cracked by cooling the metal to freezing temperatures, Lang was able to pierce through the door to access its mechanisms. He then poured water inside the mechanisms which he froze thanks to liquid nitrogen, causing the ice to expand and exert tremendous physical constraint on the metal, which eventually yielded. As a result, the door of the safe collapsed, enabling Lang to access its content.
Hank Pym watches Scott Lang's successful break in
However, once inside the safe, Lang was upset as the safe did not hold any cash money or jewelry as he and his friends had expected. Lang could only find a strange suit, which actually was the Pym's Ant-Man Suit, and decided to take it anyway even though he did not understand its extremely important value just yet before leaving the house. Unbeknownst to Lang, the whole robbery was watched by Pym, using surveillance cameras planted on ants scattered across the house.[2]
Aftermath[]
- "You don’t have many options right now. Quite frankly, neither do I. Why do you think I let you steal that suit in the first place?"
- ―Hank Pym to Scott Lang[src]
Even though he was disappointed by the result of the robbery, Scott Lang decided to try out the suit he had stolen in an attempt to figure out its value. He was therefore extremely surprised when he activated the suit's capabilities and got shrunk to the size of an insect. It was only at this moment that Hank Pym contacted Lang, and then followed his first use of the suit with amusement, promising that he would soon contact Lang again.
However, Lang was so scared by the suit's capabilities that he decided he did not want anything to do with it. He thus promptly returned to the Pym Residence in an attempt to put it back in its place. However, this time, he was arrested by the police who had been alerted by Pym's daughter Hope van Dyne. Pym later met with Lang as he was in custody, and offered him a way out by bringing the Ant-Man Suit back to him. In the next day, Pym congratulated Lang for the robbery, expressing his admiration for Lang's idea to freeze the safe's door.[2]