Spoilers ahead if you haven't seen Ant-Man and the Wasp yet.

Here's a non-spoiler where Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp is concerned: Scott Lang is no scientist. Paul Rudd does a fantastic job as Lang, the everyman character who's a reformed thief-turned-Avenger (in training). But while Ant-Man might ultimately save the day in Peyton Reed's sequel, he doesn't do it alone. By his side are a team of super-scientists who put their natural-born talent and their life's work on the line in order to stop ne'er-do-wells from putting a kibosh on our heroes' last-ditch rescue attempt. And though the "bad guys" include some run-of-the-mill black market dealers, they also include some super-science folks of their own. With so many scientists, running around, it might be difficult to keep track of them all, which is why we're going to break them down a bit.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is essentially a heist movie mashed up with a rescue mission. This crossover works well to keep things light and breezy even as the relatively small cast of characters kick the proverbial can/McGuffin down the road to keep the plot moving along. You've got the white-hat scientists of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope Van Dyne/Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) trying to rescue Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm, while the scientifically super-powered Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) attempts to steal their tech to achieve her own goals. Dr. Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne) plays a pivotal role, as does the relatively more obscure Dr. Elihas Starr (Michael Ceveris) and his wife, Catherine (Riann Steele).

If you're a fan of the original Ant-Man and/or this sequel, you probably don't need a refresher on the Pym / Van Dyne team-up, but those other names might be a little less familiar. That's why we'll be breaking down their comic book counterparts to see just how much the MCU changed in their transition to the big screen. Heads up, this is your last spoiler warning!

Dr. Bill Foster

The movie does a solid job of laying out the background for Drs. Foster and Pym: They used to work together, didn't get along, and went their separate ways. The details of their partnership's dissolution may vary depending on which ego-centric doc you talk to, but the Marvel Comics nods are undeniable.

Created by Stan Lee and Don Heck way back in 1966, Bill Foster started his comic book life in Los Angeles' Watts ghetto, only to make his way to Caltech, earn a PhD in biochemistry, and marry his childhood sweetheart, Claire Temple. (Don't look for any Marvel MCU/Netflix crossovers though.) Foster worked indirectly for Tony Stark for a time before becoming Dr. Hank Pym's lab assistant. And that's where all the size-changing trouble began.

In addition to helping Pym (a.k.a. Ant-Man, Giant-Man, and Goliath) deal with his Pym Particles problems, Foster ended up acquiring the size-changing abilities himself, becoming Black Goliath; he eventually took on the Goliath and Giant-Man monikers as well. Foster took on another alias, that of Rockwell Dodsworth, during the "Civil War" storyline in which he sided with Captain America's anti-registration contingent. He was felled by a Thor clone by the name of Ragnarok (who has a bonkers origin of his own).

The MCU's treatment of Dr. Foster was only a little bit more than a cameo appearance since he's mentioned as part of the "Goliath" project, and also acts as the surrogate father for Ghost / Ava Starr; he's been trying to help cure her ailment for the last 20 years or so. He was less of a villain than an obstacle to be overcome in Ant-Man and the Wasp, though it seems like the scientists patched up differences at the movie's end. The door is definitely open for him to return and perhaps he'll have a hand in helping rescue Scott Lang from the Quantum Realm now that Pym and the Van Dynes have been dusted. Will we get to see Foster in full Goliath mode? Time will tell!

Dr. Elihas Starr

For another scientist with an Ava / Ghost connection, the future is less sunny. A quick name-drop in Ant-Man and the Wasp revealed the source of Ghost's phasing powers and her parentage, that of Dr. Elihas and Catherine Starr. In the movie, Elihas' quantum tunneling research lab in Argentina explodes while running an experiment, and the Starr family is wiped out in the blast ... except for young Ava. She gained the ability to phase in and out of existence and between states of matter, which came at the cost of great pain and a life spent under the control of S.H.I.E.L.D. until she took her Ghost persona solo. In the comics, the Ghost character is quite different and relies mostly on tech-based abilities, but Starr's character is even more different still.

Elihas Starr is better known in the Marvel Comics as the villain Egghead. And if you guessed that this character is a brainy mad scientist whose head is shaped like an egg, you win! This 1962 creation from Lee and Jack Kirby was more than happy to sell national secrets to the highest bidder and put his scientific expertise to not-so-good use for well-paying crime lords. His first test was to go up against Ant-Man and compete against him for the loyalty of ants (I kid you not), but his vain and greedy approach backfired. He became somewhat obsessed with Ant-Man and the Wasp, going to such lengths as tricking them into believing Spider-Man was after them by using false messages communicated with ants under his control, and making a mind-controlled wax android that could battle Giant Man. (Methinks the MCU was better off leaving most of this insanity behind, how about you?)

Unable to defeat Pym on his own, Egghead often teamed up with other supervillains or hired them outright in order to do his dirty work. Eventually his schemes backfired ... literally; Egghead's energy blaster exploded when Hawkeye fired an arrow, jamming the weapon's barrel as the villain pulled the trigger in an attempt to kill Pym. RIP Egghead, at least until Arnim Zola tries to clone you again.

Did we miss any silly super-scientists? Let us know in the comments!