Yellowjacket (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

"You tried to hide your suit from me? Now, it's gonna blow up in your face and destroy everyone you care about."

- Darren Cross to Hank Pym "I'm gonna disintegrate you!"

- Darren Cross to Ant-Man during their first fight "Sorry, sweetheart, you have to help Daddy pay for his mistakes."

- Darren's last words moments before he shrinks uncontrollably and disappears into nothingness Darren Cross (also known as Yellowjacket) is the main antagonist of the 2015 Marvel superhero film, Ant-Man. He used to be Hank Pym's former assistant until he forced him out of his own company and took Pym's place as CEO. Since then, he has been planning to revolutionize the future of warfare and espionage with an advanced weaponized version of the Ant-Man Suit: code named the Yellowjacket.

He was portrayed by Corey Stoll.

Information
Darren Cross is a former protege of Hank Pym and the CEO of Cross Technologies; a rival corporation of Stark Industries. He later becomes the supervillain Yellowjacket.

Assistant to Hank Pym
Darren Cross graduated from MIT as valedictorian at the age of twenty. He was hired directly from MIT by Hank Pym, and for a time worked as his assistant. However, he wanted to learn the secrets of Pym's Ant-Man Suit and his size-reducing Pym Particle technology, only for Hank to repeatedly shrug off his curiosity and insist that no such thing existed. Cross became obsessed with proving the Pym Particle existed and at some point, he forced Pym from his company, Pym Technologies, and took over as CEO, renaming it Cross Technologies. Ever since he put all of his efforts towards re-discovering the Pym Particle.

Present Day
In the film, Darren shows Hank his new project: a weaponized version of the Ant-Man Suit, codenamed the Yellowjacket. Which he wants to spread around the world to revolutionize the future of warfare by selling the suit to the highest bidder. However, he has yet to replicate the Ant-Man's Pym Particle technology into the prototype so that it's safe for human use, as it degenerates the cellular structure of living organisms, turning them into a pile of lifeless genetic material. Hank, horrified at the danger the new suit poses, chooses prisoner Scott Lang to become the new Ant-Man and steal the Yellowjacket from Darren before it is perfected and unveiled to the world.

Eventually, Darren finally duplicates the Pym Particle technology into the Yellowjacket, albeit an imperfect version that drives the user insane when worn for too long. However, Darren does not realize this, thinking he perfected the suit, and visits Pym at his house to gloat and kill him. However, he is unable to do so when he realizes his assistant, Pym's daughter, is also present. Realizing his former mentor might intend to use his own Ant-Man Suit to stop him, he instead invites Pym to the unveiling ceremony to prevent him from doing so, while also increasing security. When Ant-Man breaks into Cross Technologies and attempts to steal the suit, he is instead captured by Darren, who reveals he knew about their plan and intends to sell both the Yellowjacket and Ant-Man suits to HYDRA, represented by former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Mitchell Carson, while maintaining the monopoly on the particle used to fuel the suit. He then shootsHank in the chest but Hank survives. When Ant-Man breaks out of the trap, Darren attempts to escape in a helicopter with the Yellowjacket; but Ant-Man follows him as Cross Technologies and it's research is destroyed by bombs planted by Ant-Man earlier.

With no alternative, Darren dons the Yellowjacket suit and fights Ant-Man inside the helicopter, eventually duelling in a briefcase which falls out of the helicopter, landing in a pool. Rising from the water, Yellowjacket is about to attack the owners of the house, but is incapacitated by Ant-Man, who swats him into a bug zapper. However, Ant-Man is arrested before he can destroy the Yellowjacket suit. Enraged at Scott for losing his company and driven insane by the imperfect shrinking formula, Yellowjacket arrives at Scott's home and attempts to kill his daughter, but is stopped by Ant-Man and Paxton. After a fierce fight with Ant-Man, Yellowjacket prepares to kill both Paxton and Ant-Man's daughter, but Ant-Man defeats him by shrinking to subatomic size and sabotaging the wiring in the Yellowjacket suit, causing Yellowjacket to shrink uncontrollably until he is ripped apart.

Personality
"I'm gonna show you just how insignificant you are."

- Yellowjacket to Ant-Man.

Darren Cross is an extremely cruel, ruthless, and uncharitable businessman who is willing to use Hank Pym's Pym Particles as a weapon. He is a man who believes that his ends justified the means and would easily attempt to use anything in order to gain his final goal of miniaturizing organic matter, including using lambs to shrink even if the end result was a failure and once this was accomplished Cross had no qualms about flicking the successfully shrunk lamb in its container as a mere plaything. He was a good person when he started working for Pym as his protege, but that changed when Cross became obsessed with the Pym Particles and the Ant-Man Suit. As Pym pointed out, Cross was basically what Pym used to be like in his youth and originally thought he was the son he never had.

"The process is highly volatile. If one isn't protected by a specialized helmet, it can affect the brain's chemistry. I don't think Darren realizes this, and, you know, he's not the most stable guy to begin with."

- Hank Pym to Scott Lang.

Cross had no problems with murder, as he killed Frank for questioning the Yellowjacket Suit's safety using a Shrink Gun, attempted to kill Pym out of jealousy and anger, and Cassie Lang and Jim Paxton when they got in the way. He was also willing to sell the Pym Particles and Yellowjacket Suit to shady businessmen-like HYDRA. As a man of extreme caution and intellect, he was able to deduce and plan ahead of his enemies, like when he set a trap for Scott Lang, Pym and Hope van Dyne after the latter attempted to steal his suit. As Yellowjacket, he became crazy after losing Pym Technologies and being electrified by a fly-light trap. He attempted to kill Ant-Man with no restraint, as he unintentionally killed his bodyguards and the pilots during the helicopter fight with no regard for his own action, and was willing to use Cassie Lang as a hostage to get to her father.

Family

 * William Cross - Cousin

Allies

 * Cross Technologies - Company
 * James Rondell - Interviewer
 * HYDRA
 * Mitchell Carson - Buisness Partner
 * HYDRA Buyer † - Buisness Partner

Enemies

 * Ant-Man / Scott Lang - Enemy and Killer
 * Hank Pym - Mentor turned Enemy
 * Hope van Dyne - Assistant-turned Enemy
 * Stark Industries - Business Rivals
 * Frank † - Associate-turned Victim
 * Ant-thony † - Victim
 * Cassie Lang - Hostage
 * Jim Paxton
 * Gale
 * Maggie Lang

Quotes
"Did you think you can stop the future?! You're just a thief!"

- Darren Cross to Scott Lang/Ant-Man during their battle

"Imagine.... a soldier. The size of an insect."

- Darren Cross presenting the Yellowjacket

"Now where did you go, little guy? There you are!"

- Darren Cross as he attempts to kill Scott Lang/Ant-Man during their final battle

Trivia

 * In the original comics, it is Hank Pym who is Yellowjacket after giving up the Ant Man mantle to Scott Lang & Darren Cross in turn is a separate villain who had no association with the original Ant Man, who happened to be Scott Lang's first enemy.
 * The Yellowjacket Suit was partially inspired in the Eric O'Grady's Ant-Man Suit in the comics. Eric O'Gradyis the third person to inherit the Ant-Man mantle, after Hank Pym and Scott Lang.
 * The Yellowjacket Suit is named after a Yellowjacket wasp, the common name in North America for predatory wasps of the genera Vespula and Dolichovespula, that are known simply as "wasps" in other English-speaking countries.
 * The Killer/Purple Man also has a similar death. He also has insane death screams and was crushed by his suit.
 * Despite that Cross is introducing the Yellowjacket suit for Mitchell Carson and HYDRA representatives and mentioning its name, the mentioning is briefly, because Cross didn't adopted the alias of his suit just as Hank did with the Ant-Man suit.