10 Riskiest Superhero Movie Castings Which Paid Off
9. Paul Rudd - Ant-Man
Paul Rudd seemed to be very comfortable spending a career making Judd Apatow comedies and not deviating too much from the goofball role he played in most of them. So when Rudd was confirmed to be playing the titular role of Ant-Man in December 2013, he created quite the storm on social media.
While casting an actor more associated with comedy had been done with Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy it had not yet been released so adding Rudd's name to the MCU seemed to be another massive risk. When Edgar Wright, who had got the wheels in motion for the debut of Ant-Man on the big screen, announced he was leaving the project in May 2014 this only added to the sense of doom surrounding Paul Rudd's superhero film.
Ant-Man was released later the following year, and Rudd was quickly recognised as the best part of a fairly standard origin story which could have very easily been a disaster with the frantic behind the scenes drama. Since Rudd has been able to truly shine in the ensemble Avengers films and has, despite only having played the character for five years, become a beloved character in the MCU.