Ant-Man: 13 Obscure Easter Eggs & References You Probably Missed

Quite who the bad guys were working with or for in Ant-Man is somewhat convoluted. Obviously Darren Cross was out for his own personal gain because his brain was all imbalanced from too many Pym Particles ("this is your brain on drugs"), but supposed SHIELD agent Mitch Carson turned up as a secondary antagonist working with HYDRA (allegedly reformed, but undoubtedly not), alongside a character with a Ten Rings tattoo.

Coupled with that is the fact that in a flashback sequence, Hank Pym is seen fighting the Russians (and preventing a Russian missile from killing everyone in another). But to add further confusion to the pot, the flashback that initially shows off Pym's powers seems to be set at an early Ten Rings base, suggesting that the Russians and the Ten Rings were somehow in cahoots.

And increasingly confusingly, that suggests that Pym and SHIELD knew about the organisation well before Tony Stark encountered them in Iron Man. Presumably his father never thought it was important to warn him to look out for them.