12 MCU Villains That Were Wasted

In Ant-Man, the diminutive hero, Scott Lang, squares off against Darren Cross, a corrupt businessman who stole shrinking technology from Lang's mentor, Hank Pym. With this tech, Cross intends to build an army of miniature soldiers called Yellowjackets, which Pym believes will cause worldwide chaos.

Even though Cross is a pretty two-dimensional villain in the comics (and he has pink skin for some reason), fans were reassured when Corey Stoll was cast in the part. With his performances in work like House of Cards, Stoll proved he could turn a villainous role into a complex, three-dimensional character.

But as soon as he appears in Ant-Man, it's clear Stoll is playing Cross as generically evil as possible. In every scene, Stoll is shouty, angry, over-the-top, or a combination of the three. Even though he's portraying Cross accurately to the source material, you'd assume Stoll would've elevated the material he was given.

Also, Yellowjacket is probably the worst example of a common trope in the franchise - evil twin syndrome. Despite all the success of the MCU, many of the films have the hero going toe-to-toe with a wicked version of themselves, which comes across as lazy and unoriginal.