Publisher Marvel Comics Abilities S.H.I.E.L.D. training First appearance Marvel Team-Up Vol. 3 #21 Creators Robert Kirkman, Andy Kuhn | Alter ego Mitch Carson Played by Martin Donovan Movie Ant-Man | |
 | ||
Created by Robert Kirkman (writer)
Andy Kuhn (artist) Similar Hope Pym, Cassandra Lang, Eric O'Grady, Darren Cross, Jasper Sitwell | ||
Agent Mitchell "Mitch" Carson is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Contents
The character is portrayed by Martin Donovan in the 2015 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Ant-Man.
Publication history
Created by writers Robert Kirkman and Andy Kuhn, he first appeared in Marvel Team-Up Vol. 3 #21.
Fictional character biography
Mitch Carson was a high-ranked S.H.I.E.L.D. security agent. He had killed his father when he was fifteen years old and many others after that. He had, however, never been caught for any of those crimes and managed to find employment with S.H.I.E.L.D.
Carson was part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team that took the Iron Maniac into custody. The alternate Stark was held alongside the Life Model Decoy (LMD) of Diamondback. His body somehow adapted to the sedatives used, and he attacked the agents watching him, then activated the LMD coercing it to help.
Carson was supposed to become the wearer of the newest Ant-Man suit made for S.H.I.E.L.D. by Hank Pym. The suit was thought to be stolen, but it actually disappeared by accident when Agent Chris McCarthy tried it on. Chris was later killed during a Hydra attack on the Helicarrier, and it was then that Eric O'Grady took the suit for himself.
Carson was determined to find the suit and bring in whoever stole it. During his mission to capture the new Ant-Man, he was heavily burned in the face during a fight with him. After that, it did not take long for Carson to find out that the new Ant-Man was actually O'Grady.
Eventually, Carson used an older Ant-Man suit and managed to confront and capture O'Grady. Instead of bringing him to justice, however, Carson planned to torture him. Carson confessed his crimes but before he could kill O'Grady, Iron Man arrived and intervened. Seeing Carson in the Ant-Man suit while torturing O'Grady, Stark fought and defeated him. Carson was arrested for attempted murder and stealing the Ant-Man suit.
Powers and abilities
Carson has S.H.I.E.L.D. training, specifically in firearms/explosives, espionage, intelligence gathering, and hand-to-hand combat.
He gained access to an old Ant-Man suit and used it to shrink and take out Eric O'Grady wearing more advanced G.I.Ant-Man suit.
Film
Martin Donovan portrays Mitchell Carson in the 2015 film Ant-Man. In the film, he is the head of defense at S.H.I.E.L.D. but is also secretly a member of Hydra. When Hank Pym finds out that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been trying to replicate the Pym Particles from the Ant-Man suit, Pym, Peggy Carter and Howard Stark confront Carson. During the meeting, Carson insults Janet van Dyne at which point Pym punches him and resigns from S.H.I.E.L.D. Years later, Carson makes a deal with Darren Cross of Pym Technologies to obtain Darren Cross's shrinking technology. Carson and a small group of Hydra agents, alongside a Ten Rings operative, inspect Cross's prototype while Cross had Pym and Hope van Dyne are brought in. He watches as Cross has Scott Lang trapped. Carson is openly scornful of his old associate, but his triumphant attitude is cut short when Lang breaks free and attacks the assembled group. During the confusion, Carson escapes with Cross's imitation formula while being attacked by ants. Ant-Man director Peyton Reed has revealed that the film originally ended with Mitchell Carson being apprehended by Ant-Man: "At the end of the movie he gets away and has these Cross particles, and there was a sequence where Ant-Man has an encounter with him. But then for a couple reasons, it felt like maybe we should leave those particles out there. In that original thing, he took Martin Donovan out and got the particles."