The upcoming, real-world version of Scott Lang’s memoir Look Out for The Little Guy! gave an in-universe reason for the book’s existence, along with revealing three heroes who publicized the events of Avengers: Endgame.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania might not be everyone’s favorite MCU movie, but most agree that it brought some cool things to the table. Case and point, Look Out For The Little Guy!, the autobiography that Ant-Man himself, Scott Lang has written in the film, will soon be a real book that fans can actually purchase.
Since Endgame, several characters in the MCU seem to have detailed knowledge of how events went down in its climactic battle. Many viewers were left wondering how civilians would have access to that information and it appears that Marvel may have developed an answer.
Ant-Man’s Memoir Was Ordered by 2 Big Name Avengers
A new excerpt has been shown (via Marvel.com) from Look Out For The Little Guy!, revealing the three Avengers that were behind the in-universe publicity stunt.
The book is a personal memoir of various MCU events through the eyes of its “author” Scott Lang aka Ant-Man (played by Paul Rudd).
In the opening of Lang’s book, he elaborates on how it came to be. As it turns out, two of the original Avengers, Bruce Banner and Clint Barton, personally approached Scott to provide the people of Earth with specific details of what happened during events like the Blip and the Battle of Earth.
Despite the size-changing hero’s status as “an ordinary guy,” the Avengers put their trust in him to tell the world their story:
“In a word, I’m an ordinary guy who’s been thrust—more than once—into extraordinary circumstances.
And I know that still doesn’t completely answer the question of why I wrote this book.
The simple answer is, 'The Avengers asked me to.'
One day, 'Bruce the Hulk' Banner and Clint 'Hawkeye' Barton took me out for lunch. They said they were concerned that the world didn’t really know what had happened with Thanos and the Blip and our long struggle to finally put things right again.”
But why specifically was Scott chosen? As Clint put it, Lang has still “got one foot in their world,” by which he meant that with his plucky, everyman nature and friendly demeanor, Scott still knew how to connect and appeal to the average Joe Schmoe in the MCU:
“At first, as I usually do when confronted with heavy topics, I made a joke: 'I’m pretty sure at least half the world knows what happened.'
Bruce responded that yes, of course, billions had experienced these jarring and mind-bending events, but they didn’t know the full story behind them. And ultimately, that’s what people need the most to get through and get past traumatic events: a narrative that helps it all make sense.
'Okay,' I agreed. 'Solid plan. So who are you going to get to tell that story?'
Clint answered, 'You, Scott. You’re the guy who got scooped up in all this pretty recently. You’ve still got one foot in their world. And you’re a guy everyone likes . . . and trusts.'
And Bruce sealed the deal: “'t’s tough stuff, and no one knows how to keep it light like you.'”
And so, Scott was promised by his fellow heroes that he’d have access to a variety of resources, videos, documents, and the ability to conduct interviews so that he could get the job done:
“Well. I still had tons of doubts. I was hardly an eyewitness to almost all that history. I hadn’t been around for the Battle of Wakanda, or any of the events that led to Thanos gathering the various Infinity Stones.
But pretty much immediately, I knew what my answer would be. As far as I’m concerned, when the Avengers ask you do to a job—any job—you say yes. So I did. Two quick handshakes (Bruce—now permanently in his Hulk body—made sure to keep his 'not too firm'), and it was settled. They’d supply me all the archival footage and documentation, take me anywhere I needed to go, and let me ask as many questions as I needed.
The only thing is, it wasn’t actually 100 percent settled for me—on the inside. From the confidence peak of having two amazing Super Heroes place their trust in you, there was a frighteningly steep plummet into self-doubt.”
Still, the budding author was nervous, since he didn’t feel at all self-assured in his ability to accurately convey events. Moreover, he felt incredibly underqualified. He also recalled the events that lead up to his being incarcerated, prior to the events of 2015’s Ant-Man, as evidence for his doubt in himself:
“Even with their sensible reasons, the whole affair just stirred up a question that’s been burning inside me most of my adult life:
Why me?
I’ve been asking myself that since before I even met the Avengers. Back when I was working at VistaCorp, why was I the only one who couldn’t sleep at night after learning of all the money they were stealing from customers? Why did I basically give up my job, give up my marriage, and spend three years in San Quentin, just so I could play Robin Hood?
And finally—and this one still smarts—when VistaCorp’s nasty business became public to the world, why was I the one who ended up going down for it?
I don’t know the answers to these questions. And perhaps I never will.”
Previously, Peyton Reed, who directed all three movies in the Ant-Man trilogy, mentioned the reasoning behind Look Out For The Little Guy!:
“As we see Scott at the beginning of 'Quantumania,' he’s sort of looking to the past, he’s looking in the rear-view mirror a little bit. He’s actually written a book. He was chosen by the Avengers to write the official account of the battle against Thanos, and also to tell the story about how he became a hero.”
Scott Lang’s Book Looks To Be a Fun Read
Look Out For The Little Guy! will indeed hit bookstore shelves and online retailers soon. It’s an extremely clever move on Marvel and Disney’s part to have an actual, in-universe book that was written by a character in one of their movies literally be made available for everyone in our world to read.
The memoir, which is being published by Hyperion Avenue (a Disney-owned imprint) will reportedly not only explore the events of Avengers: Endgame, but also dig deep into what makes Scott Lang tick.
Lang has had an exciting journey since his first MCU appearance in 2015 and he’s been involved with several battles, both tiny and massive. So, Look Out For The Little Guy! will provide fans an exciting opportunity to learn his full story as only he can tell it.
It’s also interesting to note that this isn’t the first time in the MCU that Scott has stepped up to enlighten the people of Earth-616 on the Battle of Earth. Ms. Marvel Episode 1 establishes that Lang guested on a fictional podcast called This Powered Life where he broke down the fight during an interview entitled “Big Me, Little Me - A Scott Lang Interview.”
Look Out For The Little Guy! will be on sale starting on Tuesday, September 5.
