Every Ant-Man Movie Ranked

There are the famous Avengers — guys like Thor and Captain America. Then there are the less obvious ones. We're talking about the guys on the periphery. Sometimes they're less important. At other times, they're literally too small to see. They're the ones who spend time off the radar (because they're on house arrest). They're often mistaken at restaurants for Spider-Man. In a compound word, they're Ant-Man.

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is an unsung hero of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In his own franchise, the reformed convict cheerfully does the right thing. He also plays a critical role in the larger "Avengers" timeline and is passionately Team Captain America. But what are Lang's best and worst moments in the MCU? Let's rank the "Ant-Man" movies from worst to first. We'll include his appearances in other full-length feature films besides his eponymous entries — but not multiverse shows like "What If...?" 

Ready? Let's do this!

The third movie in the Ant-Man franchise is a fun, colorful fever dream that takes its audience on an action-packed trip throughout the Quantum Realm. Pretty much the whole thing is a trippy CGI attempt to express a bunch of theoretical physics concepts, with a bunch of superhero stuff tossed in for good measure.

Despite the cringy nature of some of the visuals and the overall outside-of-time flow of the story, the movie does move Scott Lang's story forward. It also successfully unpacks Janet van Dyne's (Michelle Pfeiffer) backstory and sets up Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) as Stature.

The problem here? There are too many weak spots. The story doesn't flow well (again, it's out of time, we get it, but that doesn't help the fact that it's hard to follow). The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) is forgotten until it's convenient for the story. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) is reduced to a pizza-resizing side show. Michael Peña's Luis is nowhere to be found. Bringing back Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) as M.O.D.O.K. is disturbing at best. The final straw that breaks the camel's back, though? Kang the Conqueror is the baddie. At first, this was awesome. But when Jonathan Majors exited the franchise for good, it turned the larger context of the character in the "Ant-Man" film into a big (or should we say objectively minuscule) dud. Add it all up, and this one comes in dead last.

Counting backwards, our next best Ant-Man appearance comes in the second movie in his franchise. Again, the criticism here is less "bad" and more "mediocre." "Ant-Man and the Wasp" is a fine one-off film that picks up with Lang under house arrest after "Captain America: Civil War." (More on that film in a minute.)

Unlike "Quantumania," this movie is very grounded in San Francisco. Apart from some Quantum Realm hints, the movie is down-to-earth and focused on the sympathetic and tragic cases of Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Janet van Dyne. The former suffers from uncontrollable phasing due to molecular disequilibrium (ask Laurence Fishburne's Dr. Bill Foster — it's too complicated to explain here). And Janet? She's in the Quantum Realm.

Overall, the sequel plot is fun, but it just doesn't hit home in the same way as other "Ant-Man" movie appearances. This is especially true considering the fact that this one is sandwiched between "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame" in the larger, extremely complicated MCU timeline. In context and with perspective, the stakes just feel tiny here. The only real redeeming factor is the end credits scene where Scott is stranded in the Quantum Realm during Thanos' Snap, setting the stage for his part in "Endgame." 'Nuff said.

"Captain America: Civil War" is technically the third movie in the Cap franchise. In reality, it's "Avengers: 2.5." The movie, which comes between "Avengers: Age of Ultron" and "Avengers: Infinity War," features the bulk of the Avengers team facing off against each other. It also ropes in new heroes, including Spider-Man, Black Panther, and an upstart ex-con from San Fran with a resizable suit called Scott Lang.

Lang doesn't get much screentime in this one, but he makes the most of what he does get. When he shows up at the Leipzig-Halle Airport and joins Cap and company to take on Team Iron Man, Lang has several pivotal moments. He gets into Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) armor and causes mayhem. He also shows off Giant-Man for the first time and even snaps a plane in half at one point. All around, Ant-Man's role here is all sorts of fun. It just isn't substantial enough or important enough to get higher than the middle point of the list.

There are larger MCU films, and then there are the stand-alone entries. The latter can be hard to rank high on a list like this, especially if it's an origin story. You don't know the character yet, and even the actors are still getting comfortable. Origins can also be slow and can require a lot of exposition.

Despite the uphill battle of being both an isolated standalone franchise film and an origin story, "Ant-Man" manages to hit it out of the park. The movie is just plain fun. Paul Rudd's charisma is on full display as we learn about Scott Lang's past and watch him get roped into Hank Pym's web of science and subversion. Darren Cross' role as Yellowjacket is also perfectly sized for an origin. He isn't too big or too bad to distract from the focus of Ant-Man's early story. And yet, he's important enough to bring back as M.O.D.O.K. later on (even if that wait didn't quite pay off). 

The movie also provides a digestible explanation for Pym's six-legged scientific discoveries and feels like a very complete story. 10 out of 10 for execution, acting, and all-around heart. Its only real ding is the fact that it doesn't really factor into the larger universe. Sure, Ant-Man duels Falcon at the Avengers compound, and one of the end credits scenes is completely reserved for setting up "Captain America: Civil War," but overall, the movie is too self-focused to have more than an isolated impact — which leads us to our top selection.

"Avengers: Endgame" may not be all about Ant-Man, but seriously, is there a better outing for Scott Lang in all of the MCU? The man re-emerges five years after the Snap, entering a world where he's missed both his daughter growing up and also, you know, the apocalypse.

The reason this one hits home better than Ant-Man's involvement in "Captain America: Civil War" is that it isn't just the man himself getting involved in the larger Avengers story; his tech is instrumental in kicking off the group's comeback against Thanos. It isn't until Lang shows up at the Avengers facility with a Quantum van in tow that things start moving and plans fall into place.

From there, Scott stays heavily involved in the time heist. He heads back to 2012 New York City, where he gives an alternate form of Tony Stark a heart attack by messing with his Arc Reactor. He then helps bring the Scepter with the Mind Stone back to the present Avengers HQ. From there, he joins in the final battle against Thanos. Again, this one isn't a pure "Ant-Man" movie, but it has Scott Lang's heart and talent on full display, and it's hands down his top MCU outing to date.