The Single Biggest Mistake Each MCU Film Has Made
10. Ant-Man: The Villain Problem
The Movie:
Ant-Man was never going to be easy to accept since Edgar Wright departed from it, but while it could've been a masterpiece, the film we got was still jolly good and made for an infectiously fun and pleasingly low-key superhero movie.
Ant-Man is an interesting case, since despite being such an enjoyable and lovable movie there are a few glaring issues. The TV-movie style directing, Evangeline Lily's charisma-free performance as Hope as well as the Pym family troubles and random romance are jarring, but the biggest issue is this terrible villain.
The MCU villain problem is an unfair criticism, since most of the villains in the franchise are no worse than average, but Iron Man, Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange and this movie did suffer from poor villains.
Often, a good villain is actually half the battle, since they provide the stakes and obstacles in the narrative. With Yellowjacket, a truly dreadful antagonist that even director Peyton Reed didn't like, the film was robbed of potential stakes.
Ant-Man is a ton of fun, but Yellowjacket, who's devoid of personality and menace, makes the film far less tense than it could have been. Yellowjacket is basically a repeat of Obadiah Stane, but he is, if possible, even worse.
Yellowjacket truly sucked and if it wasn't for Thor: The Dark World's Malekith, he would be the worst MCU villain of them all.
Fix:
Make this villain less sleep-inducing.