MCU: All 6 Marvel Phase 2 movies ranked from worst to best
5. Ant-Man
Phase 2 of the MCU is mostly comprised of sequels to established characters’ opening movies, with only two exceptions: The Guardians of the Galaxy and, of course, Ant-Man. The latter was planned to be one of the first MCU movies to be released alongside Iron Man and Captain America. But as we know, those plans never came to be.
Ant-Man was pushed back multiple times because Edgar Wright, its director, had to prioritize work on other projects. Edgar even left the project just months before production started due to creative differences with Marvel, and Peyton Reed took his place. The movie’s script was reworked, and Ant-Man was finally released in 2015 after many years of being shelved. Unfortunately, the result is a movie with some glimpses of innovation that ultimately decides to play it safe.
Ant-Man has a great protagonist in the form of Scott Lang, an ex-convict who just wants a chance to prove he can still be a good dad to his daughter Cassie. Their emotional connection is the heart and center of the film with good reason. Whenever they share the screen you can’t help but smile and hope for Scott to be able to stay in Cassie’s life. There are also lovable secondary characters like Luis who not only help Scott in his journey of becoming a hero but also provoke a lot of laughs. Sadly, that’s mostly where all of the movie’s strengths lie.
Ant-Man had one of the most forgettable and one-dimensional antagonists ever. Daren Cross had pretty much the same powers as Ant-Man but decided to use them for evil… and that was it. He didn’t have proper motivations or a even great goal to achieve. Most of the time it feels like he was there just for Scott to fight someone in the third act. Besides, Ant-Man’s powers weren’t used in innovative or unique ways that could set the movie apart. Action sequences lacked creativity, and they didn’t manage to push Scott Lang to his limits, forcing him to become a great hero. Even the heist scenes weren’t interesting or thrill-inducing enough to fill that void.
Overall, there are a lot of laughs to be had with Ant-Man and its charming characters are sure to steal your heart, but that’s about it. There is nothing new in it that hasn’t been done in pretty much any other superhero movie. You can watch it once and find no reason to want to see it again, which is okay. It doesn’t mean it’s bad, but it falls short of other projects in Phase 2 of the MCU.