Heartwarming / Ant-Man and the Wasp

"Your pain. I can feel it. I think I can help you."

• The first scene with Scott looks like he's on a heist, but then it turns out that he's playing "thief" with Cassie. He constructed an underground tunnel out of cardboard boxes, staged events like a puppet of Anton the Ant telling them where to go and an escape slide that goes down the stairs and into the back yard. It's absolutely adorable.
• Scott may have lost his mind a little bit under house arrest, but at the very least he's gotten incredibly creative about having fun with Cassie, going to such extreme lengths as creating a massive ant-like tunnel for them to explore and play in.
• Despite once again being labeled as a criminal, Scott is still considered a hero in the eyes of Cassie. In fact, she is inspired to be a hero like her father when she grows up.
• Scott's relationship with Maggie and Paxton has improved to the point that he hugs both of them whenever he sees Cassie.
  • In addition, neither of them holds Scott's home-arrest situation against him (nor the Accord violation that led to it), quite the contrary, they take his side on what they see as the FBI's excessive intrusions into his life (including Paxton, who's still a cop). It's clear that, like Cassie, they too see him as a hero worth looking up to.
  • Heck, Maggie isn't just quietly on Scott's side, she furiously calls out the FBI agents every time she sees them in Scott's home and accuses them of harassing him. Seeing her sticking up for Scott, especially after she was so cautious about letting him back into Cassie's life in the previous film, shows how much better things are between them.
  • This Scott/Paxton family is a notably sweet and mature portrayal of a spouse/ex friendship as there is no hint of bitterness and jealously over losing Maggie for the former or her lingering feeling for Scott in the latter; For all intents and purposes, Scott now has a caring big-brother in Paxton, who he dearly loves as much as his ex-wife.
• More Fridge Heartwarming than anything, but Hank's days as Ant-Man were obviously long over and he admitted so in the first movie... and yet he was still making a new Ant-Man suit, that was almost complete, as if he needed two or three days more to finish it. Scott might have been under the impression that Hank and Hope hated him now, but they never actually said that. Given all that, and that they've kept tabs on him closely enough to program an ant to replicate his routine perfectly, it seems obvious that they had always planned to get back in contact with him as soon as his house arrest was over.
  • Similarly, Scott keeps a secret cell phone hidden behind a light switch to contact Hank and Hope when needed, showing that he still wanted to keep in touch with them in some way.
• Luis, Kurt, Dave, (and Scott, albeit from home) started a business where they, as former thieves, honestly and sincerely offer home security by using their existing knowledge of home invasions. They don't even lie about how they know a home's weak points. Their business is literally called "X-Cons."
• Judging by Scott's reaction when he talks to Hope regarding helping Captain America, it appears that while he is guilty that his actions led to her and Hank being on the run, he does not regret helping Captain America doing the right thing.
• According to Luis in the second trailer, Hank has finally found a way to enter into the Quantum Realm, making it one step closer for him to reunite with Janet.
• Bill genuinely takes interest in Scott's ability to become Giant-Man and is amazed at growing to 65 feet (Bill's record was 21 feet). Scott, who never gets much praise from Hank, seems pleased to have this acknowledged.
• When trying to figure out how to locate the missing lab, Scott reveals he never really destroyed the original Ant-Man suit. What really seals it is his reason for not destroying it: it was Hank's life work. It wasn't Scott's life work, yet he had the empathy to recognize the sentiment behind it and how much it meant to Hank.
• While Bill does get annoyed by Cassie’s "emergency", he never interrupts the conversation between her and Scott, even though Scott is his prisoner.
  • Immediately after, as Hank is apparently having an heart attack, after a moment of hesitation Bill takes the box with the pills he needs. Turns out it's a Wounded Gazelle Gambit from Hank (the box contains a few ants that grow big as soon as it's opened) but it's telling that Bill wouldn't let Hank die like that if it was true, and apparently didn't even think it could be a trap.
• When Ava wants to use Cassie as a hostage, Bill tells her that, while he wants to help her, he'll immediately stop if she lays so much as a finger on Cassie.
  • The fact that Ava actually respects his wishes and leaves Cassie alone also counts.
    • Watch Ava's expression carefully after Bill rebukes her. She looks visibly horrified at what she had just proposed. It goes to show that unlike Cross Ava has a good heart and would never hurt a child if it weren't for the constant pain she's in.
  • We get to see the start of Bill's and Ava's relationship in a flashback. He hands her a teddy bear and her hands phase right through it. He smiles and reassures her, "It's okay. Try again." Theirs absolutely is a loving father-daughter relationship.
  • Despite her admitting to have been trained to be a spy and assassin and having killed people, Ava never kills or causes any lasting damage in the whole movie (except for possibly Burch's FBI mole).
• When Janet takes over Scott's mind, the first thing she does is talk about how proud she is of Hank and Hope, and it's clear that she never stopped loving either of them.
• As preparations to save Janet are underway, Hope confesses to Scott that as much as she wants to see her mother again, she's worried that Janet has forgotten her. Scott points out that this isn't the case- thinking of his daughter was the only thing that kept him going while in prison, clearly showing that he knows how much parents care for their children. The best part? Scott's completely right, as when Hank brings Janet home, one of the first thing she says is that she wants to go back to their daughter.
• Upon seeing her father being Ant-Man again, Cassie helps him to keep it a secret from the FBI. After the agents leave, Cassie has a heart-to-heart talk, even admitting that she wants to be a hero like him. Through his conversation with his daughter, Scott realizes that he must atone for mistakes and once again breaks house arrest to rescue the Pyms.
  Cassie: You can do it. You can do anything. You’re the world’s greatest grandma.
  • Especially heartwarming, given in the comics, Cassie is a superhero named Stature to honor her father.
• The first time after Scott sneaks back into his house before the FBI arrives, Jimmy genuinely thinks the agency just made a mistake and apologizes to Scott for troubling him. As they're leaving, he even tells Scott he's proud of him for serving his sentence as ordered and they'll be back shortly to remove his tracker.
• Hope and Luis having a friendship moment in the car where Luis compliments Hope's suit and she thanks him with a smile. Later, Hope even trusts him enough to go get the lab back while she rescues Scott.
  Luis: By the way, I love that suit.
  Hope: [smiles] Thanks, man.
• When Scott becomes Giant-Man, he loses a lot of energy, which ultimately causes him to collapse into the bay where he may suffocate/drown. Hope doesn't hesitate to save him, delegating the job of getting the lab to Luis while she gets Scott. When she gets him out of the water and back on dry land, she's so happy he's safe that she kisses him for the first time in the movie.
• Hank neutralises Bill by surrounding him with giant ants but doesn't hurt him and the two have a grudging heart to heart, Bill wishes Hank luck in getting Janet back and Hank promises that he will help Bill cure Ava and work as partners again.
• Janet's reunions with Hank and Hope is just as tearful and touching as you'd expect a thirty-year absence to be. Bonus points for Lilly, Douglas and Pfeiffer's performances, which sell the scenes completely only with their face expressions and body language.
• Janet immediately sees Ava's condition and uses her healing powers to stop Ava’s phasing, effectively returning her to normal. It is immediate and without prompting. Thirty years of isolation and this woman is still a stellar hero.
  • Hannah John-Kamen declared that her own feelings are showing up on-screen, as "I actually literally felt like Michelle Pfeiffer had eased my pain and calmed me," given shooting with an actress she admired made her more nervous than all of Ghost's stunts.
  • The effect might be temporary as The Stinger has Scott going into the Quantum Realm to get more quantum healing particles for "their new ghost friend." The fact that they're helping her after everything she did is also heartwarming though.
• Bill refusing to abandon an injured and unused-to-solidity Ava to the police, even after she'd pitched a fit and knocked him clear across a room.
  • Ava's reason for trying to get Bill to leave her count as well. She insists that because she's "hurt people" while Bill hasn't, he should walk away and save himself from being associated with her. And when Bill insists on staying with her, she hugs him. It seems that Bill has become a father-figure to Ava in the years that they've known each other.
• The end of the movie sees Scott, Hope and Cassie enjoying a movie at a drive-in... in a shrunken car with a laptop as the movie screen, thus fulfilling Cassie's wish at the beginning of the movie that she could experience being shrunken with her father.
• While under the influence of a truth serum, Luis is asked where Scott is, and immediately (in his own circuitous manner) starts discussing his friend's emotional state. It's a funny scene for sure, but it also shows how deeply Luis cares about his friends.
• Bill acting solely to help Ava. Despite his deep hatred for Hank, this never plays a part in his actions, and his only concern is helping the daughter of a former friend. He is also adamant on no one else getting hurt, acting as Ava's Morality Chain.
  • From his reaction to Hank's words, Bill knew that Ava's father was actually a traitor, and never told her. Since he doesn't have any hidden plan or agenda, the only reason for it must be to spare her further suffering and leaving her with a good memory of her father.

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