Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
ANT-MAN
Starring Paul Rudd (Scott Lang / Ant-Man), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym), Evangeline Lilly (Hope Van Dyne), Michael Pena (Luis), and Corey Stoll (Darren Cross / Yellow Jacket) with a surprise appearance by Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / The Falcon, a special appearance by Stan Lee, appearances by Hayley Atwell (as Peggy Carter) and John Slattery (as Howard Stark), and a post-credit scene previewing Captain America: Civil War
Directed by Peyton Reed
Produced by Kevin Feige
Written by Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Paul Rudd, and Adam McKay
Music By Christophe Beck
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Run Time: 1 hour and 57 minutes
World Premier: June 29, 2015, in Hollywood, California
Opening Weekend Box Office: $57 million (North America)
Worldwide Box Office: $519 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Memorable Ant-Man Quotes
“I couldn’t have been more excited. The chance to do one of these pictures? I was like a kid in a candy store.” – Michael Douglas
“Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man could have only been made in 2006. If he had made it then … there would be an Edgar Wright Ant-Man. And it would have been a part of Phase One. And Ant-Man would have been in The Avengers. By the time we were making Ant-Man however, we were in a post-Guardians of the Galaxy world. We were in a post-Winter Soldier world. We had learned a lot about ourselves and about how to build a [Cinematic] Universe. And that was: We could play all different songs, tonally – we could bring in wildly different directors, like Shane Black versus the Russo’s versus James Gunn – but there was always going to be a sandbox. Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 has a lot to do with Tony having PTSD, and that’s about the events in The Avengers. There was always going to be a Captain America who has a history with The Avengers. There was always going to be a Thanos who was eventually going to be a ‘big bad’ in an Avengers movie. There’s a Universe outside a single film that can’t be ignored.” – Brad Winderbaum
“Paul [Rudd] had the idea of, ‘What happens when you go so small as to go Quantum?’ Suddenly the rules of space, time, and physics are not the same … That one little idea led to Ant-Man‘s ending, and also led us to feel emboldened, excited, and daring enough to go do all of the Doctor Strange stuff. And, of course, Avengers: Endgame.” – Kevin Feige
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Ant-Man Facts
Ant-Man was created by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, and Jack Kirby for Marvel Comics, debuting Tales to Astonish # 27 in January of 1962.
Director Edgar Wright was hired to write and direct an Ant-Man film for Marvel Studios in the Spring of 2006.
On July 22, 2006, Marvel Studios held its inaugural independent panel at San Diego Comic Con. Kevin Feige and Avi Arad both appeared as part of the Marvel Studios presentation along with their first three director hires as an independent film Studio: Edgar Wright (Ant-Man), Jon Favreau (Iron Man), and Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk). Kevin Feige also publicly mentioned his desire to see The Avengers assemble on-screen for the first time, hinting that the first slate of Marvel Studios films revolving around core members of The Avengers was no coincidence.
In February of 2007, Ant-Man Director Edgar Wright announced that the film was in a “holding pattern” due to script issues. Beginning in March and stretching out over the course of eight-months, Iron Man and then The Incredible Hulk were filmed by Marvel Studios; both slated for theatrical release the following year. The year 2008 saw Marvel Studios release both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk in theaters for a combined $850 million at the worldwide box office. In June, with many fans expecting an Ant-Man announcement, Marvel Studios announced a second Iron Man film for an April 30, 2010, release.
On August 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company announced that a deal had been agreed upon that would see The Walt Disney Company acquire Marvel Entertainment, complete with Marvel Studios, for $4 billion. The deal was finalized on December 31, 2009.
On July 24, 2010, Marvel Studios returned to San Diego Comic Con for what was its fourth independent presentation. On an evening that saw the cast of The Avengers (Robert Downey Jr, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, and Clark Gregg) assemble on-stage for the first time with Director Joss Whedon and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, Edgar Wright confused SDCC fans with the announcement that his Ant-Man film would not fit into the established Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity.
On July 14, 2012, Marvel Studios presented its fifth independent panel at San Diego Comic Con. The Avengers had been released earlier in the Summer to monumental critical and financial success, achieving the highest-grossing opening weekend of all-time and ultimately emerging as the highest-grossing film of 2012 and as the third highest-grossing movie of all-time. In the time since Edgar Wright appeared as part of the Marvel Studios panel at the 2006 SDCC six-years earlier, Marvel Studios had produced six motion pictures (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers) for a combined $3 billion, 813 million at the worldwide box office). At this year’s SDCC, Marvel Studios heavily promoted Iron Man 3 and announced titles for their Thor and Captain America sequels in addition to announcing that a Guardians of the Galaxy film was in active development. Finally, Edgar Wright joined Kevin Feige on-stage, where he unveiled concept art for his Ant-Man film.
In the Spring of 2013, Kevin Feige announced that the script for Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man film was once again being revised; this time to fit the film into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
On July 20, 2013, Marvel Studios returned to San Diego Comic Con and Hall H for the sixth independent presentation by the Studio there. Kevin Feige announced that Joss Whedon would be returning to direct a sequel to The Avengers with the film titled Avengers: Age of Ultron. In the Marvel comics, Ultron was created by Hank Pym; the original Ant-Man. This fact led to widespread speculation that Pym may appear in the film, but it was soon revealed that ULTRON would come to be in the MCU due to the actions of Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark instead, leaving the Pym character to debut in Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man.
At the end of 2013, Paul Rudd was cast to portray Scott Lang in Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man. A few weeks later, Michael Douglas was cast to portray Hank Pym. Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Pictures furthermore announced a July 17, 2015, release date for Ant-Man.
On May 23, 2014, Marvel Studios announced a parting of ways with Director Edgar Wright and that he would no longer direct Ant-Man. Wright had been working on Ant-Man for 8-years. Peyton Reed was hired to replace Wright as director.
On July 26, 2014, Marvel Studios held its seventh independent San Diego Comic Con presentation. Kevin Feige joined Peyton Reed, Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, and Corey Stoll on stage for an Ant-Man panel and introduced Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne. Corey Stoll was also confirmed to be portraying the villainous Yellow Jacket in Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man film.
On August 18, 2014, after more than eight-years of teases, Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man finally began filming. Primary filming took place in San Francisco, California and in Atlanta, Georgia. Ant-Man wrapped filming on December 5, 2014.
Stan Lee made his 12th MCU cameo appearance in Ant-Man, portraying a bartender during Luis’ story near the end of the film.
The first trailer for Ant-Man was released on January 6, 2015, during the premier of Marvel Studios’ and Marvel Television’s joint Agent Carter television series on ABC. That series starred Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, and Atwell reprised her role as Peggy Carter in Ant-Man in a flashback sequence to when she was the acting Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The unique marketing for Ant-Man went on to include some very clever posters featuring The Avengers and a viral campaign that saw Leslie Bibb reprise her role as journalist Christine Everhart from Iron Man and Iron Man 2 for a series of WHiH Newsfront reports focusing on Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang (among other things) to set-up the events that would play-out over the course of the Ant-Man film. Then in July, Michael Douglas rang the opening bell for the New York Stock Exchange in promotion of the film.
On June 22, 2016, Ant-Man won the Award for Best Comic-to-Film Motion Picture at the Saturn Awards.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
My Ant-Man Review
Due to the length that it was in active development, Ant-Man would have to be considered Marvel Studios’ most troubled production of Phase Two. I’m not going to get into the Edgar Wright stuff too much here. Everyone has an opinion on it, and mine is that he had 8-years to make this film and never rolled cameras, and that the notion of this film not existing within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which had just passed the Harry Potter franchise to become the highest-grossing film franchise of all-time a few weeks prior to Wright’s departure) was a foolish one.
Peyton Reed came in and took the reins of what was the MCU’s final Phase Two film, and Marvel Studios sprinkled-in some MCU magic, and we were left with a fun and entertaining movie that ended up being quite lucrative for Marvel Studios due to its small budget. With Ant-Man generating $519 million worldwide, it propelled Marvel Studios over the $9-billion mark at the worldwide box office.
I enjoyed Ant-Man for what it was, but it was my least-favorite Marvel Studios film at the time of its release. Of course, in those days, the worst Marvel Studios movie was for me, better than the best movie from several other franchises, so don’t interpret that as me not being a fan of this film! Ant-Man actually holds a sentimental place in my heart, as it was the first MCU film that I saw in the theater with my son and daughter, as they’d finally reached the age where my wife and I felt comfortable taking them to the theater this Summer. My little boy was borderline obsessed with Ant-Man. This was a Marvel character that he always thought highly of, probably only second to Spider-Man for him at the time. The trailers really excited him and our theatrical experience with him was perfect! He had so much fun with this movie, and he dressed as Scott Lang / Ant-Man for Halloween later this year.
I thought Ant-Man was funny and I really enjoyed all of the special effects that pertained to Scott Lang’s shrinking and the way we got to see things from his viewpoint. All of that was extremely well done and the scene in which he first dons Pym’s suit and shrinks was my favorite scene in this movie. Ant-Man also had a ton of heart to go along with the laughs and adventure however, as this film’s main focus was on family, which I connected with. Ant-Man is not a film about Scott Lang trying the save the world, or the Galaxy, or the Universe. It’s about Scott Lang trying to rise above his own past and his own shortcomings to be a better father, and in the process, he just so happens to become a superhero!
Before I really delve further into Ant-Man, I have to say that I thought it was a great choice for this film to center around Scott Lang as the titular hero as opposed to Hank Pym. I think that Ant-Man as a concept is a cool Marvel character, but I am not a fan of the Hank Pym character in the 616 Marvel Comics continuity, and he was even worse in the Ultimate Comics continuity! I am a person that has no tolerance for violence against women, and unfortunately for the character, that is something that Pym has been associated with in both Marvel comic book Universes as it pertains to his tumultuous relationship with Janet Van Dyne. Beyond that, he’s been often presented as a moody, whiny, and sleazy character that has at times flirted with outright villainy. Pym created Ultron in the comics, and while reigning as one of the Marvel Universe’s greatest minds, Pym is also a sort of mad scientist that oftentimes puts his own pride and selfish ambition ahead of the greater good. Hank Pym is a really difficult character to root for, and an easy character to hate, so I was thrilled that Ant-Man was not a Hank Pym movie.
Scott Lang on the other hand may be a reformed villain, but he is far more likable than Pym and a far more enjoyable character to read. Scott’s daughter Cassie has been a prominent member of The Young Avengers in the comics, and theirs is a wonderful (if not tragic at times) father-and-daughter relationship. I thought Paul Rudd was a case of perfect casting to portray Lang, and I was actually surprised by the physical shape that Rudd got himself into for this film out of commitment to the role. Rudd was as funny and as likable as I expected him to be. Even the crimes he was imprisoned for were Robin Hood-like ordeals that could be interpreted by many as heroic deeds. Rudd’s greatest shortcoming was actually that carrying out those deeds cost him his marriage and precious time with his beloved daughter Cassie, and as I mentioned earlier, Lang’s heroic journey is more about being a better father to Cassie; being the hero that she already thinks he is.
Obviously, I had no high expectations whatsoever for Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. I thought he did a good job of being likable enough despite his manipulative tendencies though. Paralleling the Scott / Cassie relationship, this film about fathers and daughters also applied to Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne. It was about Hank coming clean with his daughter and about her learning to forgive her father for his years and years of lies due to the well-meaning intentions behind them. You could certainly see Hank’s selfishness during this film and understand why Hope resented him, but the filmmakers tried to peel back Pym’s layers in a way that (unlike the comics) allowed Pym to come out of everything at the end as a good guy that just made a lot of poor decisions after the presumed death of his wife Janet. In these ways, the Marvel Studios team did about as good as they could in making a very unlikable character likable, and I loved the added touch of Hank and Janet working for S.H.I.E.L.D. as Ant-Man and The Wasp in the days before Nick Fury.
That was just one of the nice little MCU tie-ins that Ant-Man boasted. There were others such as the Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter and John Slattery as Howard Stark cameos at the beginning of the film (which I must point-out featured some phenomenal de-aging technology for Michael Douglas’ Hank Pym). This was actually our first (and only to date) time seeing Hayley Atwell and John Slattery together on-screen and this was a fun little sequence to show Pym’s fallout with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Stark Family. The best cameo was yet to come though, and that was Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson / The Falcon! It was a huge moment to realize that Hank Pym had unknowingly sent Scott Lang on a prove-yourself-mission to The Avengers Compound! The brief showdown pitting Ant-Man against The Falcon was a lot of fun, and this entire scene ended up having GIANT implications for Civil War!
As I understand it, Scott Lang’s partners in crime Luis, Kurt, and Dave were a mixed bag for some people. Certain racial stereotypes offended a lot of people and I understand where that may have made for uncomfortable and aggravating viewing for those people. Not to be an apologist, but Marvel Studios began making huge strides in diversity and inclusiveness following the release of this film, which if industry insiders are to be believed, was a direct result of Kevin Feige splitting away from Marvel Entertainment and CEO Ike Perlmutter. These castings were what they were, and personally, I was highly entertained by these three characters, with Michael Pena’s Luis damn near stealing the film with his comedy! The way Luis tells his stories have become the stuff of legend within the MCU fan community and all three of these guys had big parts in the Ant-Man sequel and crucial parts in Scott Lang’s story.
Two more characters that I thoroughly enjoyed were Cassie Lang and believe it or not, Ant-Thony! The ants were wildly entertaining and dare I say cute in this film! Seeing Scott bond with them and grow to appreciate their contributions to his exploits was great, but no one left the impression that Ant-Thony did! It was heartbreaking when Ant-Thony was killed in action, and kudos to Marvel Studios for making me care about an ant! As for Cassie, Abby Ryder Fortson was not only adorable in every scene she was in (the ugly rabbit stuff was especially great), but she was the character that grounded Scott Lang and gave him conviction. Their scenes together were so very moving, and I loved the family dynamic throughout this movie. On that note. I do want to throw out kudos to Marvel Studios for not taking the easy way out by making Bobby Cannavale’s Jim Paxton the stereotypical “evil stepparent.” With divorce as frequent as it is these days, a lot of children have stepparents, and a lot of those stepparents love their stepchildren as if they were their own. Marvel Studios toyed with making Paxton unlikable from Scott’s point of view, but by the end of the film, Scott openly endorses Paxton and thanks him for being a father for Cassie while he was in jail. I thought that was great.
As for the villain of Ant-Man, this was a bust for me. Corey Stoll was another in a growing line of disappointing Marvel Studios villains such as Ivan Vanko (Iron Man 2), Aldrich Killian (Iron Man 3), Malekith (Thor: The Dark World), and Ronan (Guardians of the Galaxy), and honestly, even Thanos had been largely a disappointment up to this point in time. I have always defended Marvel Studios on the villain front, believing that their films are traditionally more about the hero than the villain, and while I do believe that’s true, strong villains like Loki, The Winter Soldier, and ULTRON made their respective films better, and perhaps a stronger villain would have made Ant-Man a better film as well. I will say that the Yellow Jacket costume looked great though, and the fight between Ant-Man and Yellow-Jacket in Cassie’s bedroom was one of the highlights of the film.
At its core, Ant-Man was a heist movie more than a superhero movie, and that made it really unique within its genre, following in the tradition of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (a sort of spy thriller) and Guardians of the Galaxy (a Space Opera). At the time, it felt like a miracle that this film finally got made, and though it wasn’t my favorite, I am really glad that it did get made, as since its release, Scott Lang has become one of my favorite Marvel Studios characters and I’m really excited about the MCU future of Cassie as well!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of Ant-Man:
Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man
Michael Pena as Luis
Ant-Man vs The Falcon
Ants!
Family Dynamic
Shrinking Effects and the Ensuing World Scott Inhabited
Howard Stark and Peggy Carter Cameos
Journey into the Quantum Realm
Mid-Credits Scene Promising The Wasp
Post-Credits Scene Previewing Captain America: Civil War
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:
Ant-Man and The Wasp. Hank Pym. Janet Van Dyne. Pym Industries. Hope Van Dyne. Scott Lang. Cassie Lang. Darren Cross. The Yellow Jacket Suit. The Sokovia Accords (credits).
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