Draft:Ava Starr

Ava Starr is a fictional character portrayed primarily by Hannah John-Kamen in the the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, loosely based on the Marvel Comics character Ghost. Portrayed as the surrogate daughter of Bill Foster, Starr is recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. as an assassin codenamed Ghost after gaining intangible abilities in an accidental explosion which killed her parents. Starr takes on Ant-Man and the Wasp, eventually being semi-cured by Janet van Dyne.

She first appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and is set to appear in Thunderbolts* (2025) and the Disney+ limited series Marvel Zombies. John-Kamen's role as the character has received positive reviews with praise often given to her portrayal of a sympathetic villain.

Concept, casting, and creation
In 2016, director Peyton Reed announced that he was working on a sequel to Ant-Man (2015). In June 2017, Variety reported that British actress Hannah John-Kamen had been cast for a "key role" in the sequel then having been revealed to be titled Ant-Man and the Wasp. At the time of the reporting, Marvel Studios were keeping John-Kamen's character secret, as Variety also reported that she had been sitting down and meeting with Marvel over a period of a few month before finally accepting. On her casting, producer Stephen Broussard stated that they wanted to cast a lesser-known actress to help maintain the mystery of the character.

By July of 2017, it was revealed at the San Diego Comic Con of that same year that John-Kamen would be playing an iteration of Marvel Comics' Ghost who first appeared as an Iron Man supervillain in 1987. Upon taking the role, John-Kamen noted that since the comic version was a male, she could "start from scratch" and reimagine the character. As a Marvel comics fan, John-Kamen praised the freedom and open dialogue with Reed noting that she did not feel restricted from inputting her own ideas.

Personality and appearances
John-Kamen first appeared as Ava Starr / Ghost in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). Kevin Feige noted that because there was no tangible backstory to the character in the comics, the writers of the film "had the freedom to extrapolate [Starr] into fresh new territory". John-Kamen noted that there was "so many layers to this character" adding that "her situation is not black and white. It's not about world domination or good and evil". Feige added to this saying that Starr's need for Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne's technology is not about taking over the world but for making her tangible. Producer Stephen Broussard noted that while she "doesn't want to take over the world, or get rich", its her need for survival that makes her the film's villain. On doing her own stunts, John-Kamen noted that it was really important to her to do as much as she physically possibly could "because the character is what you bring to it". She added that, "it's not just emotional, it's also physical, especially in this Marvel Universe. We all have different powers and different styles of fighting". Additionally, RaeLynn Bratten portrays a younger version of Starr.

In 2022, during Marvel's D23 Expo panel, it was announced that John-Kamen would reprise her role in Thunderbolts* (2025). The character is also set to appear in the Disney+ limited series Marvel Zombies, continuing the story established in the What If...? episode "What If... Zombies?!".

Powers and Ghost suit
Starr's powers include being completely intangible and having the ability to walk through walls and objects. Forbes writer Mark Hughes wrote in an analysis that he felt Starr's powers served as a metaphor about "feeling disconnected from the world and from ourselves, unable to hold and touch and feel the same way, after tremendous personal loss". Her Ghost suit was described as "terrifying" and allowed Starr to become a "deadly assassin with the unique power set of intangibility" with teh suit stabilising her form and "allowing her to control phasing through any object". On the suit, John-Kamen noted,"'It's a very cool suit made of neoprene with a hood and this crazy mask. It's definitely menacing and different. I haven't seen anything like it yet in any other Marvel film. What's amazing about the suit is its construction. It's all built together with such intricate detail. It’s going be really exciting to reveal the whole thing'."

Original comic derivations
Throughout the mainstream Marvel comics set in the Marvel Universe (Earth-616), the comic supervillain Ghost first appeared in Iron Man #219 (June 1987) and was eventually drafted as a member of the Thunderbolts. The character's real name is unknown with comparisons made to The Joker, and his true origins are unclear although he has claimed to have been a technology researcher with his key driving factor being financial greed.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Ghost is a gender-swapped version of the comic version, and was ultimately done to continue the film's theme of fathers and daughters. On the swap, John-Kamen noted that its freeing to be able to take that character and go, "Yeah, that can be played by a male or female", and described it as "forward thinking". Additionally, Starr's father is named after the comic supervillain Egghead / Elihas Starr.

Early life
Ava Starr was born to S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist Elihas Starr. After getting kicked out of the organisation by his colleague Hank Pym who claimed Elihas stole his research, Starr witnessed her father's name being smeared in the scientific community. Continuing his research with Quantum technology, Starr was caught in an accident in her father's laboratory. While the explosion killed her parents, Starr gained molecular disequilibrium and the ability to become intangible, with the first-aid responders unable to touch her.

Placed in an orphanage, Starr was approached by her father's ex-colleague Bill Foster who promised to find a way to cure her and became a father figure to her. He also developed a quantum chamber which could stabilize her body.

S.H.I.E.L.D. assassin
Recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D. by Foster, Starr is observed as a potential asset. She is trained as an agent to allow her to take on threats which could prove too difficult for normal operatives. Under the codename Ghost, S.H.I.E.L.D. developed Starr a suit to allow her to harness her abilities which allowed her to phase through objects and walls and turn invisible. In exchanging for working for them, S.H.I.E.L.D. promised Starr that they would cure her.

After the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., Starr was taken back in by Foster and the two began researching a cure for her condition after she began to deteriorate.

Fighting Ant-Man and the Wasp
In 2018, Starr tracked down her father's old colleague, Hank Pym, who was building a quantum tunnel to find his wife, Janet van Dyne who was previously lost to the Quantum Realm. She attacks Pym's daughter, Hope van Dyne and steals the final piece in completing the tunnel off her, while also stealing Pym's mobile laboratory. Pym, Van Dyne and Scott Lang track Starr down, only to be incapacitated and held captive by her. After waking up, Foster and Starr explain their plan to rescue Janet before them and extract her quantum energy to permanently fix Starr's displacement.

After the heroes escape, Starr initially decides to threaten Lang's daughter much to the dismay and disapproval of Foster who says he will not help Starr if she touches her. She ends up tracking down Lang's colleagues and interrogates Luis who tells him where Pym's mobile laboratory would be. After tracking them down, she steals the mobile laboratory off the FBI and attempts to ready the chamber with Foster to extract Janet's quantum energy. Defeated by Pym, Van Dyne and Lang, Starr and Foster fails to extract any energy and Starr watches as Janet is reunited with her family. Janet apologises to Starr expressing sympathy, and uses her quantum powers to momentarily heal Starr. Starr later escapes with Foster.

Finding a cure and the Blip
Pym, Janet, Van Dyne and Lang later attempt to retrieve quantum energy for Starr's condition. However, the Pym family fall victim to the Blip, leading to Lang being trapped in the Quantum Realm, preventing Starr from receiving any help for five years.

By 2023, Starr's DNA was harvested by former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury and used by the skrulls Gravik and G'iah.

Reception
John-Kamen's role as Starr in Ant-Man and the Wasp received generally positive reviews with critics often praising her portrayal of Starr as a sympathetic villain. Empire writer Dan Jolin praised John-Kamen's portrayal calling it "semi-etheral" and added that he enjoyed her "sympathetic motive". Forbes writer Mark Hughes praised John-Kamen's "right blend of distress, rage, and mystique" which he stated worked together to make the villain "intimidating and wicked while never losing sight of her humanity so we can still sympathize with her even while we recognize she must be stopped". We Live Entertainment writer Aaron Neuwirth also praised John-Kamen's role adding to the theme of "personal survival as opposed to world-threatening destruction". Rolling Stone writer Peter Travers praised John-Kamen's unexpected gravity, while The Independent writer Geoffrey Macnab also praised the film and called John-Kamen promising. In a retrospective analysis of the Ant-Man film villains, Collider writer Liam Gaughan felt that Starr was a more more empathetic antagonist in contrast to Darren Cross and Kang the Conqueror and found that it was a "contrast to the wackier vibe of the story".