History YMMV / AntMan1

* HePannedItNowHeSucks: A bizarre case where the movie wasn't even panned, as childhood Marvel fanboy Creator/GeorgeRRMartin got quite a few people on his case for saying he'd long since gotten bored of superheroes and villains having the same powers, despite otherwise loving the film (and he'd earlier complained about Ant-Man not being a founding Avengers member like in the comics). [[http://grrm.livejournal.com/435595.html It can be read here]].

* MoralEventHorizon: Darren Cross intending to sell his Yellowjacket suits to [[spoiler:HYDRA]]. While he was already a BadBoss and has no qualms of killing his men to get Scott, the fact that Cross is going to sell his technology [[spoiler:to a high-profile terrorist organization that attempted to murder millions of people]] shows that he crossed it. Even before this, it's clear there's no redeeming him after he murders a guy and flushes his shrunken remains down the toilet. This shows just how dangerous his reach can be.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Shares a [[BaseBreakingCharacter/MarvelCinematicUniverse page with the rest of the franchise]].

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Darren Cross is somewhat divisive amongst the MCU's stack of usually mediocre villains. Those who dislike him see him as a painfully generic CorruptCorporateExecutive whose type is a dime-a-dozen in superhero media, as well as blatant rip-off of [[Film/IronMan Obadiah Stane]], a much better regarded villain. Meanwhile, those who like him, or at least consider him to be a little better than the average MCU villain, cite his [[EvilIsCool awesome suit]] and Creator/CoreyStoll's [[LargeHam entertaining performance]] as points in his favor.

* MoralEventHorizon: See [[MoralEventHorizon/MarvelCinematicUniverse here]].

* MoralEventHorizon: Darren Cross intending to sell his Yellowjacket suits to [[spoiler:HYDRA]]. While he was already a BadBoss and has no qualms of killing his men to get Scott, the fact that Cross is going to sell his technology [[spoiler:to a high-profile terrorist organization that attempted to murder millions of people]] shows that he crossed it. Even before this, it's clear there's no redeeming him after he murders a guy and flushes his shrunken remains down the toilet. This shows just how dangerous his reach can be.

** Luis recounting the TraumaCongaLine he's gone through in the time Scott had spent in jail while still expressing pride that he still has his van also becomes quite tragic in lieu of [[spoiler:Thanos destroying it during the final battle in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'']].

* SpiritualAdaptation: The heist scene at Pym Tech is probably the closest thing we get to a live-action ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'' movie.

** Darren Cross's defeat shows his body contorting and deforming as he slowly shrinks into nothingness at the end of this film. The trailers for ''Film/AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania'' reveal that not only did Cross somehow ''survive'' this, but that he's been reconstructed into the supervillain MODOK.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Hope Pym comes under this, by resenting her father for keeping her from lethal technology. Marvel has a record of fractured families and Hank Pym was too busy [[ParentsAsPeople grieving to care for his daughter]], but still to not see your scientist dad's point about the dangers of tech he pioneered is high-rate stubbornness.

** [[spoiler:More so an organization than a person, but equally unexpected, HYDRA's involvement with Cross dramatically increases the stakes of the movie]].

* SugarWiki/DevelopmentHeaven:
** For a lot of the scenes where Scott is shrunk down, the background plates are actually "macro sets" painstakingly constructed down to the last detail and shot with miniature [=4K=] cameras with the only artificial element added in post being Scott himself.
** The tank bursting through [=PymTech's=] wall was achieved through CGI. But, to make sure they made it look right, the team built a full-sized mock-up and crashed it through a wall to get an accurate reference.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** Early on, people were confused by the fact that someone as old as Michael Douglas was cast as Hank Pym, and that Scott Lang seemingly was the first person to don the Ant-Man suit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film later confirms that Hank ''was'' the original Ant-Man in the MCU back in the '60s through the '80s, and that he was a founding member of the early Avengers Initiative with Janet. He's been given an AgeLift in contrast to the Avengers' generation, and is now retired; givng a good in-story reason for Scott to succeed him.
** Early on there were fears that Wasp would be left out of the movie, due to early promotional materials simply listing Janet as believed dead. This turned out to not be the case and it was confirmed that Janet was the Wasp back in the '60s through the '80s. Kevin Feige mended this further by [[http://screenrant.com/marvel-cinematic-universe-wasp-confirmed/ confirming]] that Wasp will appear in the movie and will be seen in the future MCU movies after Creator/EvangelineLilly signed a multi-picture contract with Marvel.
** Those who complained about Falcon being underused in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'' were fairly pleased to see him appear in this movie and get into a skirmish with the title hero.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** At first it seems that Scott lying to Baskin-Robbins and getting fired would be a perfect example since he just got out of prison and needs a job to pay child support. But it's actually a subversion. Scott said no one else would hire him, meaning he applied to other jobs honestly or applied to jobs that did background checks, but either way was turned down for his criminal record. Hence why he was desperate enough to lie to Baskin-Robbins.
** Hank Pym has profiled Scott as a potential thief to use the Ant-Man suit in a heist, to keep the Pym technology out of corporate hands. This is because Scott went to jail for exposing white collar crime. Scott in the meantime is trying to avoid going back to the criminal life, because he wants to go straight for his daughter's sake.\\
'''You'd Expect''': That Hank would call up Scott for an interview, and give him a test: break into his house and steal a valuable suitcase, or do some other sort of audition. If he succeeds, Scott gets the job. If he fails, Scott technically hasn't committed a crime and would keep his mouth shut because he is against white collar crime, and people using dangerous technology.\\
'''Instead''': Hank pays several people to spread a rumor that reaches Scott's ears, about a valuable safe in his house. Scott breaks in, tries on the Ant-Man suit, and he gets arrested when he breaks in again to return it. Hank helps bust him out, while posing as his lawyer, but it means that Scott is pretty much forced into the position and remains in hiding as a fugitive from the law and from his daughter's stepfather Paxton. When they do the heist, a suspicious Paxton recognizes Hank and nearly thwarts the whole deal. Paxton also arrests Scott later when the latter fights the Yellowjacket.

** During the briefcase fight scene, Darren accidentally causes an iPhone to play "Disintegration" by Music/TheCure when he makes a threat to disintegrate Scott. Cue the films ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'', where the former has [[spoiler:Thanos using a BadassFingersnap with the Infinity Gauntlet to turn half of all lifeforms into ash]], and the latter [[spoiler:revealing in its [[TheStinger stinger]] that Hank, Hope and a recently rescued Janet were some of those unfortunate victims]].

* GeniusBonus: Longtime comic book fans will probably realize that the Quantum Realm that Scott enters [[spoiler:when he shrinks to a vanishing point as the Wasp did]] is also known as the Microverse in the comics. Shrinking is the primary method of entering the Microverse. This means that there is a very good chance that [[spoiler:Wasp is still alive]] and that [[SequelHook a sequel might]] feature an appearance by certain characters from [[ComicBook/{{Micronauts}} this particular Marvel comic]].

** Luis' EstablishingCharacterMoment has him tell Scott that despite the break-up with his girlfriend, the death of his mother, and the deportation of his father, he still had his van. Cue ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', where [[spoiler:the FinalBattle has Thanos throws a double-edged sword at the Quantum Realm teleporter housed inside that van, blowing the vehicle up]]. Could also be seen as FunnyAneurysmMoment.

** In this film's 1989 prologue, Hank Pym remarks that Howard Stark's attempt to replicate his Pym Particles was incredibly poor and that no one will get the formula for them so long as he lives. [[spoiler: In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', a past version of Thanos is able to get his hands on the Pym Particles through capturing Nebula, and successfully reverse-engineers them to get himself to the future and nearly wipe out the whole universe. This also all happens after Hank had already been dusted by the current version of Thanos.]]

** Inverted in the mobile game ''Marvel Strike Force''. In the film, going subatomic is treated as a very serious situation and nearly impossible to undo. In the game however, Ant-Man can ''shrink his opponents out of existence'' for a FinishingMove.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: The film was expected to be the MCU's first ever critical and/or box office failure, mostly due to its infamously TroubledProduction, the character's obscurity and hard-to-sell concept, Creator/PeytonReed's mixed track record with previous films, and concerns over Creator/PaulRudd's ability to draw crowds since a few films he starred in prior either underperformed or flopped. It was revealed later that the movie was considered such a long shot even within Marvel Studios that they didn't bother to sign Creator/MichaelDouglas to a multi-picture contract (as is standard with Marvel actors), and it took several more months after the film's release to get him to do so. Once again though, doomsayers' predictions didn't come to pass, and the film was well received when it came out -- while its opening weekend is the second-lowest for an MCU movie (behind ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk''), it made its budget back ''very'' fast, being the #1 film at the U.S. box office over its first two weeks (beating out ''WesternAnimation/{{Minions}}'' on its second weekend and ''Film/{{Pixels}}'' on its first) and staying strong worldwide for a total gross of $519 million. The movie was successful enough to get a sequel in Phase Three, namely ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp''. Between ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' and this, it just proves what comic fans have known for decades: never bet against Marvel.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:
** During the briefcase fight scene, Darren accidentally causes an iPhone to play "Disintegration" by Music/TheCure when he makes a threat to disintegrate Scott. Cue the films ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' and ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'', where the former has [[spoiler:Thanos using a BadassFingersnap with the Infinity Gauntlet to turn half of all lifeforms into ash]], and the latter [[spoiler:revealing in its [[TheStinger stinger]] that Hank, Hope and a recently rescued Janet were some of those unfortunate victims]].
** Inverted in the mobile game ''Marvel Strike Force''. In the film, going subatomic is treated as a very serious situation and nearly impossible to undo. In the game however, Ant-Man can ''shrink his opponents out of existence'' for a FinishingMove.

** A bizarrely one-sided one with fans of ComicBook/BlackWidow. Widow's fans desperately want her to have a solo movie in the MCU and have chosen Ant-Man as a designated punching bag for the crime of not being Black Widow (which was exacerbated when Edgar Wright left the project and the search for a new director began, whereas Widow didn't have a movie), despite the fact this film was in works before they even introduced Black Widow.

* FridgeBrilliance: At first, it might seem like a throwaway gag that Luis seems to have such an extensive knowledge of art. It makes more sense once you realize that he's a professional thief, and thus would have a good reason to have more knowledge of valuable works of art than your average Joe.