This article contains spoilers for Ant-Man and The Wasp.
When fighting the villains of the world, regardless of how big or small the hero, there comes a time when you need some help. When just one hero isn’t enough, you look to your friends for back-up. Team-ups have happened many times in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and they’ve been a staple of comic books for years. It’s no different in the upcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp. Ant-Man has the Wasp but before that, Hank Pym had a partner who wasn’t his wife Janet van Dyne. Bill Foster worked with Pym in the lab and in the fight against evil as Goliath. Let’s learn a little more about Foster and Goliath before we see the big man on the big screen.
Image: Marvel
Created by the comic book Godfather, Stan Lee and Don Heck in 1966, Foster first appeared in Avengers #32 (1966). Bill grew up in Los Angeles, but thanks to his brilliance he found himself at Cal Tech and working at Tony Stark’s Baltimore factory in the Research Division. It’s here working as a biochemical lab assistant to Dr. Hank Pym that he becomes involved in the superhero side of things. He helps Pym find a cure for being stuck at the height of 10-feet and is able to return him to his normal size. It’s at this point that Foster became fascinated with Pym’s work and actually duplicated Pym’s growth powers.
Image: Marvel
Bill Foster is a brilliant biochemist and one of the smartest characters in the Marvel universe. He is able to grow because he has ingested a biochemical formula containing Pym particles. He can increase his size and mass by psionically drawing extra mass from an extra-dimensional source while also gaining superhuman strength in proportion to his size. Foster is vulnerable after changing size, becoming fatigued after altering his height and mass. In the comics, he has been able to get as large as 25-feet in height.
Foster would eventually give up being a hero and hand the mantle of Giant-Man (a name he would go by after being known as Black Goliath), and Hank Pym would take back the name. It’s at this time that Foster loses his powers but still helps the Avengers and the world by joining the Centers for Disease Control. Not long after this, Foster would regain his powers and become Goliath joining a team consisting of Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Falcon, and Brother Voodoo. During the events of Civil War (the comic book version), Goliath sides with Captain America but is killed by a Thor.
In Ant-Man and The Wasp, Bill Foster is portrayed by Laurence Fishburne. This version of the character is an old friend of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and was his assistant on Project Goliath. Foster helps the film’s Antagonist, Ghost. Without giving too much away, Foster will play a pivotal role in Ghost’s story in the film.
Do you think Bill Foster will be a villain in the film? Will we get to see in as Goliath? Let us know in the comments!
