By MacKenzie Cadenhead
& Sean Ryan
Illustrated by Derek Laufman
Dedication
For Miles & his pals at
the Mount Sinai NICU –MC
For Joanna, always –SR
© 2018 MARVEL. All rights reserved. Published by Marvel Press, an imprint of Disney Book
Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information address
Marvel Press, 125 West End Avenue, New York, New York 10023.
Designed by David Roe
ISBN 978-1-368-01706-0
Peter Parker was just a normal kid when
he was bitten by a radioactive spider and
became The Amazing Spider-Man! He
has super strength, can climb walls, and
can jump incredible distances. Being the
science-minded kid that he is, Peter also
made his very own web-shooters. Peter
takes his job as a Super Hero seriously
because of the lesson his Uncle Ben
taught him: With great power comes
great responsibility.
Ant-Man and the Wasp prove that big
things come in small packages. Thanks to
the incredible Pym Particles that can shrink
anything, Scott Lang can become the size
of an ant while keeping the strength of a
full-grown person. With the help of his
high-tech suit, he can communicate with
colonies of ants to enlist their help with
his super heroics. Similarly, the brilliant
scientist Hope Van Dyne uses Pym Particles
to shrink down. But her suit includes a set of
ultralight yet powerful wings and a stinger
that gets the job done.
Doctor Octopus wasn’t always a
vicious villain with four menacing metal
tentacles. He was once Dr. Otto Octavius,
a supersmart scientist. One fateful day, he
was working on his experimental robot arms
when a terrible accident fused them to his
body. The dastardly doctor has since turned
to a life of crime, controlling the metal
tentacles with his mind to stir up trouble.
Chapter
1
“Jaeger.”
“Bacharach.”
“Choi.”
“Schulte.”
The students whose names were
called stood beside their team captains,
Missy Ruiz and Flash Thompson.
“I’ll take Buck next,” Missy said. She
gave Buck a high five.
“Powell’s with me,” said Flash.
Powell joined his cheering teammates.
“That leaves Murphy and Parker,”
Coach Bennett said. He pointed at the
two boys standing on the sidelines of the
basketball court.
Donnie Murphy looked at his feet.
He didn’t like basketball. He didn’t like
sports of any kind. He hoped that if he
didn’t make eye contact he would never
be picked.
Peter Parker, on the other hand, was
eager to join a team. While Peter had
the reputation of being an uncoordinated
brainiac, he secretly loved playing
sports. He secretly loved doing anything
athletic. Because secretly, he was the
arachnid acrobat known as Spider-Man!
In order to keep his Super Hero
identity secret, Peter always had to play
down his amazing skills. But today he
just wanted to participate. Even if he
only used ten percent of his ability, Peter
knew he could be the star of Midtown
High’s PE program. And after years of
being picked last, he wanted to shine.
Peter smiled at Missy as she
considered her choice. Pick me, he
thought. Pick me!
“Murphy,” Missy said.
Peter’s shoulders slumped.
“I guess Parker’s with us,” said Flash.
Peter straightened up. He could still
show them what he could do! But as he
went to join his team, Flash blocked his
path.
Flash was the most athletic boy
at school. He was big and strong, and
though he might not have been at the
top of any class other than Gym, Peter
was eager to hear his words of wisdom.
“Why don’t you sit this one out, Parker?”
Flash said. “Hold up the wall with
Murphy while the rest of us athletes
play four-on-four. We’ll make sure the
ball never comes near you.”
This was not the pep talk Peter
was hoping for. He opened his mouth
to tell Flash that he actually wanted
to play. But before he could speak,
Peter’s spider-sense began to tingle. A
basketball was about to hit the back of
his head!
Peter’s mind raced. What should
he do? If he spun around and caught
the ball, everyone would see his quick
reflexes. Then they’d all want him on
their team! But if he caught a ball he
clearly couldn’t see, his classmates might
start to wonder how he did it. And his
secret identity as Spider-Man would be
compromised.
Could he risk it? No. The only choice
was to let the ball hit him. Peter braced
for impact.
Suddenly, Flash reached out and
caught the ball. “That was a close one,”
he said. “Like I was saying, stay out of
our way, Parker. Wouldn’t want that big
brain of yours to get hurt.”
Flash laughed and joined the rest
of the boys and girls on the court. Coach
Bennett blew his whistle and started the
game. Peter walked over to the sideline
where Donnie Murphy had already sat
down.
Donnie relaxed against the
gymnasium wall. “Lucky we don’t have
to play, huh?” he said.
Peter watched as Flash tossed the
basketball into the net. SWISH!
“Yeah.” Peter sighed. “Lucky us.”
Chapter
2
Despite the morning’s basketball
bust, Peter’s afternoon was looking
up. It was time for the school science
fair. This year it was being held at
Empire State University, and the real
scientists who worked there would be
the judges. At stake was the coveted
Big Apple Science Trophy. Peter knew
the competition would be fierce. But he
also knew how hard he had worked
on his project. He was confident he
&nb
sp; had a shot at winning the top prize.
“I’d like to see Flash Thompson do
something like this,” Peter mumbled to
himself, steaming all over again as he
remembered how Flash had sunk shot
after shot in PE.
“What was that?” asked Aunt May.
She had come all the way from Queens
to see her nephew in scientific action.
“I said, uh, thanks for coming to
this,” Peter replied.
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything,”
said Aunt May. “Although I must
admit, I don’t entirely understand what
your project is about.” She pointed to
the large tub of water that Peter was
wheeling into the science fair room.
Inside the tub were four long metal
poles connected by wires.
“I call it A New Kind of Current,”
Peter said. “I’m showing how we can
create electricity by using water’s
natural movement. I got the idea after
we went to the beach and the waves
kept pushing me back out of the water.
There’s a lot of power in those waves! So
for my project I figured out how to take
that power and turn it into electrical
energy.”
Aunt May raised her eyebrows.
the bad guy is in the Agatha Twisty
mystery I’m reading.” She squeezed her
nephew’s arm. “Peter, I
am very impressed.”
Peter blushed. For
a moment all thoughts
of Flash Thompson
and basketball were
forgotten. Until . . .
“Excuse me. Coming through!”
said Flash. His shirt was untucked
and his hair was a mess. The normally
cucumber-cool athlete was anything
but as he stumbled into the fair room
carrying a glass case and some index
cards.
Flash dumped his stuff on the table
next to Peter’s. Peter rolled his eyes.
He wondered what on earth Flash
Thompson could be presenting at the
science fair. How many basketball
players it takes to screw in a lightbulb?
“Oh, hey, Parker,” Flash said, as
he glanced up from his project. “I had
to run here from basketball practice. I
was worried I’d be late.” Flash looked
around. Though it was cool in the fair
room, he continued to sweat. “Yikes,
there’s a lot of smart stuff in here.”
Peter smiled. “There sure is.”
“Wow,” said Flash. “I didn’t know
water could make electricity. Your
project looks great!”
“Thanks,” Peter said. He looked at
the jumble of papers on Flash’s table.
He knew he was being unkind, but he
was still hurt by Flash’s rude behavior
in gym class that morning. It felt good
to be better than Flash at something.
Trying not to snicker, Peter asked,
“What’s your project?”
Flash showed Peter his note cards.
To Peter’s surprise, they had drawings
of different types of ants and captions
about their special skills. Inside the
glass case was a habitat with hundreds
of ants. Peter was impressed.
“I call it Heavy Lifting: The Ant,”
Flash said. “I like ants, you know?
They’re, like, superstrong.”
Peter couldn’t believe it. “It looks
like you put a lot of effort into your
project,” he said.
“I’ve been working on this for
weeks,” Flash replied.
As Flash set up his project, Peter
returned to his table and pouted.
If Peter wasn’t welcome to play
basketball, then Flash shouldn’t be able
to do science. Peter thought he’d rather
be in a big Super Hero fight than watch
Flash beat him at the science fair, too.
Little did he know his wish was
about to be granted.
Chapter
3
In another corner of Empire State
University, Hope Van Dyne stood before
a giant husk of corn in the lab where
she and Scott Lang worked. She had
encountered enormous vegetables
other times when she shrank down to
her Super Hero form, the Wasp. But in
those cases, the vegetables were normal
size, and Hope was super-small. Today
was different. Hope was currently
regular-human size. And this corn was
as big as a minivan.
“It worked!” Hope said. She clapped
her hands in excitement. “We’ve
successfully altered the Pym Particles
into Gigantor Particles. Usually they
allow us to shrink down to insect size,
but today we’ve made them do the
opposite—grow organic material bigger!
This could be the answer to world
hunger. Imagine if we could grow fields
of giant corn. Or apples.”
“Or pizza!” Scott chimed in. Scott
was Hope’s partner in the lab—and in
battle—as the Super Hero Ant-Man.
her eyes. “Or pizza.” She walked over
to the particle spectrometer at the far
end of their lab. She pulled a canister
from its base and made sure the lid was
shut tight. “This is just our first test.
We still have to make sure the organic
compounds maintain their atomic
structure when enlarged.”
“Which is science talk for big corn
same as little corn?” Scott asked.
Hope nodded and tossed him the
canister.
“That canister contains the only
collection of Gigantor Particles that can
enlarge organic matter,” she explained.
“This is one of the most important
scientific breakthroughs in generations.
We have to keep it safe. In other words,
don’t open it.”
Scott fastened the canister to the
holster of his Ant-Man suit. “You can
count on me,” he said. “Or my name
isn’t—”
BOOM!
The door to the lab burst open
and a menacing man with four metal
tentacles pushed through the doorway.
“Doctor Octopus!” Scott shouted.
A tentacle shot into the room and
snatched the canister containing the
Gigantor Particles from Ant-Man’s suit.
“The one and only,” the Super
Villain said as an evil grin spread
across his face.
Chapter
4
Ant-Man and the Wasp stood
opposite the sinister scientist, stunned.
“The Gigantor Particles belong to
me now,” Doctor Octopus said. “I will
use them on myself, and then there
will be no stopping me! I will be huge,
and the world will be mine to do with
as I wish!”
Doc Ock’s metal arms flailed around
the laboratory. Wasp and Ant-Man
jumped out of the way just as one
crashed down between them. Ant-Man
shrank down to his ant size, while the
full-size Wasp flew over to confront
the villain.
“The Gigantor Particles are
experimental,” she said, trying to stay
calm. “We don’t know how they work on
humans yet. You’re putting yourself in
danger if you open that canister.”
“Silly insect,” Doc Ock said. “I don’t
need you to finish this work. I have the
superior scientific mind. I will make
these particles perform perfectly. And
then I will squash you like the bugs
you are.”
Doc Ock froze. “Wait, there’s only
one of you? I thought there were two.
Where did the other one go? Where is
the little ant boy?”
“That’s Ant-MAN to you!” a tiny
voice said from the tip of a tentacle’s
pincer. It held the canister of Gigantor
Particles. Ant-Man pried the claw open
and the canister fell to the ground.
“Noooo!” Doctor Octopus cried. He
reached for the plummeting particles,
but he was too slow.
“Gotcha,” the Wasp said. She’d
shrunk down now, too. She caught the
canister before it hit the floor. Then she
flew out of the laboratory with it.
Ant-Man followed on foot.
Doctor Octopus came right behind
him.
The chase was on!
Chapter
5
Three judges stood before Flash’s
ant project.
“Sometimes even the strongest ant
needs some help,” Flash said. “Sure, he