Selling Marvel's future slate is not a hard job. Another Avengers, Captain America vs Iron Man, Guardians Of The Galaxy 2; their names alone would get most people on board. Even Doctor Strange has a distinct feeling of logical progression. Ant-Man, however, is trickier proposition. It's another unknown property, but this one comes with an unfortunate handicap. The on-the-nose name, the idea of a shrinking man; it all feels a little silly. Tell a regular guy on the street it's coming next year and they'd think you were having a laugh. It comes across as stupid, an idea you laugh at rather than with. To succeed at the box office Ant-Man needs to rise above a name that sounds dumb to the general public and justify its existence. Guardians Of The Galaxy combatted its anonymity by positioning itself as in on the joke, but a talking tree isn't on the same level as tiny Paul Rudd riding an ant. Ant-Man will inevitably follow the same tact as James Gunn's film, but in this case it's got a much bigger hurdle to jump.
