Ghost (Ant-Man and the Wasp)

Ava Starr, aka Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), is the tragic (later redeemed) main villainess from 2018's Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Backstory[]

Ava Starr is the daughter of Catherine and Elihas Starr, the latter having worked with Dr. Hank Pym and Dr. Bill Foster on harnessing the powers of the Quantum Realm. Ava's backstory revealed that her father was fired by Pym for attempting to steal his plans, but Elihas was successful in the theft and managed to recreate the Quantum Realm. However, his impatience and ambition led to the Realm becoming unstable and set to explode, and despite Elihas' attempts to warn Catherine and Ava to run, Ava stayed with her father. This prompted Catherine to return for her daughter, only for her and Elihas to both perish in the explosion.

As for Ava, her cells became immensely unstable and caused her to have the ability to walk through solid objects. She was taken in by Foster, and later performed missions for SHIELD, doing so while donning a suit that was able to stabilize her abilities. However, during the period that SHIELD had fallen, Ava's condition began to threaten her life, and she and Foster worked to cure her.

Events[]

Ava turned heel entering the events of the film, as she resorted to sinister methods in her quest. She was first shown watching Ant-Man (Scott Lang), Wasp (Hope Van Dyne--Pym's daughter), and Pym, and it was during Hope's encounter with criminal Sonny Burch that Ava, known as Ghost (name provided by Scott) appeared and fought both Hope and Scott before taking the portable-sized lab. The villainess later held all three of them captive, and it was during this point that Ava was unmasked for the first time and revealed herself as Elihas Starr's daughter, while also blaming Pym for her parents' deaths and her affliction.

After Foster revealed his alliance with Ava/Ghost, their game plan was revealed: they planned to take Janet Van Dyne's (Hank's wife and Hope's mother, who was lost in the Quantum Realm 30 years prior) quantum energy to cure Ava, who was willing to risk Janet's life to save her own. After the trio escapes due to Pym faking a heart attack, Ava considered going after Scott's young daughter, Cassie, to get Scott to comply, only for Foster to flatly refuse. Ava later appeared while Scott's partners, Luis, Dave, and Kurt, were encountered by Burch and his men regarding Scott's whereabouts, and later went to the wooded area and regained possession of the lab.

The film's climax saw the heroes, along with Luis, battling Ghost and attempting to regain the lab, which ended up in Burch's possession. An enlarged Ant-Man found Burch on a tour boat and easily took the lab from him; however, his large size caused him to faint, but he was rescued by Hope. Luis' attempt to retrieve the lab was thwarted by Ghost, who enlarged the lab and went inside the Quantum Realm to again attempt to heal herself at Janet's expense. However, Ant-Man and Wasp appeared and shut off the realm, leading to Ghost fighting the pair again. At that moment, Pym returned from the Quantum Realm having successfully rescued Janet, who spotted Ava and voluntarily gave some of her energy to stabilize her, but only temporarily. Ava and Foster were last seen in an alley hiding from authorities after escaping with the heroes, with Ava willingly giving Foster a chance to leave her behind, as she had felt remorse for hurting others during her quest and was willing to face the consequences, only for Foster to stay with her. The film ends without revealing Ava's fate.

Trivia[]

Hannah John-Kamen also appeared as the evil Yasmin Blake in BBC's Death in Paradise, and appeared in the big screen earlier in 2018 as villainess F'Nale Zandor in Ready Player One.