Ranking Every MCU Phase 2 Movie From Worst To Best

After a rocky road to the big screen that had seen the project spend almost a decade in development, Edgar Wright departing just weeks before shooting was supposed to begin, with journeyman Peyton Reed quickly drafted in as his replacement and a script that was heavily rewritten at the last minute, it came as quite a surprise to many that Ant-Man turned out to be a pretty great superhero movie.

Given both the ridiculous premise of a character that shrinks down to miniature size and has the ability to communicate with ants, not to mention the comedic talent involved, Ant-Man wisely opts for a light and breezy tone that doesn't take things too seriously, giving the movie a rich vein of humour and real sense of fun. With the title hero's lack of name recognition there was always a danger that the movie would suffer from shoehorning in too many MCU references, but Ant-Man fits into the larger universe in a natural and organic way.

Unfortunately, in what has become frustratingly commonplace in Marvel Studios' output, Corey Stoll's one-note villain can be summed up as 'generic evil businessman'. However, strong performances from Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas and a scene-stealing Michael Peña elevate the material and hide the narrative shortfalls, with the depiction of the quantum realm giving the action sequences a unique visual and aesthetic style.