Look out for the little guy.
With the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, we now have a completed Ant-Man trilogy! My MCU ranking isn't happening until the end of the year, so I thought I'd just rank the Ant-Man films for now. These aren't the strongest films in the Marvel canon, but they're always fun and refreshing. Paul Rudd brings a comedy to the MCU that no one else does, so that's just entertaining. That said, here's my ranking of all three Ant-Man movies.
3. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
I liked Quantumania. I thought it was fun. But as an Ant-Man movie, this film has a lot of problems. Why would you introduce Kang, the next big bad of the MCU, in a franchise that's primarily smaller-stakes comedy? That doesn't make sense, and it results in major tonal issues. Kang himself is incredible and it points Phase Five in the right direction, but Quantumania feels like a movie simply made to set him up, and it's not a very satisfying conclusion to the Ant-Man trilogy at all.
2. Ant-Man and the Wasp
Ant-Man and the Wasp is a solid sequel. I feel very similarly about the first two Ant-Man movies. I think this one has a lot of new things to offer. Finally seeing the Wasp in action is cool. I love that it goes small and light-hearted after the gigantic, emotional ride that Infinity War was. The story and villain...meh. The comedy is great. The characters are fun. But it isn't one of Marvel's strongest stories. It's a lot of fun, and that's really all I want from my Ant-Man movies.
1. Ant-Man
The first Ant-Man felt like Marvel doing something a little bit different. After going big with Avengers: Age of Ultron, they scaled it down and made a small superhero movie that was incredibly funny. Paul Rudd is the perfect actor to play this ridiculous character because of his natural comedic timing and charisma. It's a heist movie, which is just a different route than anything the MCU has ever done. The ant-sized stakes and action just make for a fun, entertaining watch every single time. This movie is so much fun, and, in my opinion, one of the most underrated movies in the MCU.