Funny / Ant-Man

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Yellowjacket, meet Thomas the Tank Engine. Thomas the Tank Engine, meet the Yellowjacket.

• The entire existence of the "ant-sized" teaser.
• The existence of "ant-sized" billboards, tiny billboards that only reach the average person's ankle, advertising the movie.
• This exchange:
  Darren Cross (Yellowjacket): Do you think you can stop the future? You're just a thief!
  Scott: No, I'm Ant-Man.
  Yellowjacket: [looks at him as if to say "WHAT?!"]
  Scott: I know, wasn't my idea.
• Some Self-Deprecation on the part of Marvel Studios:
  Scott: I think our first move should be calling the Avengers. [Hank just stares at him] I know, it sounded ridiculous even as I said it.
• Scott Lang's question to Hank Pym about Ant-Man, which subtly lampshades the many name changes Ant-Man has undergone in the comics.
  Scott Lang: ...Is it too late to change the name?
• The "ANTS" TV spot. Rather dada-esque, yet gives you a good idea about what you're in for, namely, ants.
• Paul Rudd is infamous for showing a particular clip from Mac and Me whenever he goes on Conan O'Brien's show. Of course, Marvel wouldn't let him pull a switcheroo as usual... so instead they edited footage from Ant-Man into Mac And Me to make it seem like the superhero is responsible for pushing the kid in the wheelchair down a cliff.

Film:

Scott Lang/Ant Man II

• Scott's introduction. It looks like he's fighting another inmate... then they laugh and shake hands, as he's saying goodbye to the inmates.
  Scott: You guys have the weirdest goodbye rituals.
• Scott and Luis reconnect after a year:
  Scott: Hey, how's your girl, man?
  Luis: Ah, she left me.
  Scott: Oh.
  Luis: Yeah, my... ma died, too.
  [Beat; Scott gapes in awkward silence]
  Luis: And my dad got deported.
  [More silence]
  Luis: But I got the van!
  Scott: [quickly] ...It's nice!
  Luis: Yeah, right?!
• Scott is fired from Baskin-Robbins because he hid his criminal record from them. "Baskin-Robbins always finds out." Crook friend Dave echos this adding "Baskin-Robbins don't play."
  • Then there's the guy who tries to order a burger, then a pretzel from Baskin-Robbins (AKA two things that you can't get at Baskin-Robbins because it's an ice cream store). Then tops it off by asking for "whatever's hot and fresh." In true Rudd form, Scott humors him until he asks a fellow employee to take care of "the idiot" while he talks to the boss, and some viewers might think he should post this story to Not Always Right.
    Customer: I'll just do like whatever's hot and fresh.
    Scott: [Beat as Scott gives him a disapproving look while shrugging] ...Dude.
  • Look closely and you'll notice that Scott's nametag says Jack.
• Scott's first tryout of the Ant-Man suit is one funny moment after another: Luis taking his pants off ("I don't want to see this!"), Scott stumbling by an LP player needle and various stilettos, getting pursued by a hungry mouse, and ultimately crashing upon a cab. And then he grows again, baffling the driver, who is revealed to be Garrett fucking Morris, delivering a pitch-perfect reaction.
• After the trial-by-fire experience in the suit, Scott immediately rushes to put the Ant-Man suit back in Hank's vault, but is surrounded by police coming out.
  Scott: Wait, I didn't steal anything! I was returning something I stole! [gives the facial expression equivalent of a facepalm]
• When Hank's ants bring the suit to Scott's cell, he hesitates... until the ants start to form a 10-second countdown before the cops arrive.
• Hope offers tea. Scott accepts. He then sees the sugar cubes are being brought by ants and quickly declines, causing the ants to do an immediate 180.
• Scott's reaction to Hank's Rousing Speech about the nature of atonement and redemption.
  Scott: ...Damn. That was a great speech.
  • Then there's this little exchange:
    Scott: My days of breaking into places and stealing shit are done. What do you want me to do?
    Hank: [smirk] I want you to break into a place and steal some shit.
    Scott (only in the trailer): [Beat] ...Makes sense.
• The Training Montage has a lot:
  • Scott repeatedly fails to shrink in time to go through the keyhole. Cue a montage of him banging into doors, day after day, as Hope and Hank shake their heads.
    Hope: Useless.
  • Scott teasingly suggests that Hope punch his hand... only for her to punch him in the face. His expression is priceless.
    Scott: Were you even aiming for my hand?
  • He later surprises her, tries to apologize... and Hope headbutts Scott.
  • Scott gets freaked out when he's underground and swarmed by dozens of ants, causing him to revert to normal size and pop out of Pym's backyard like a giant gopher. Repeatedly.
    Scott: That was a lot scarier a second ago!
• Right after Hope and Hank begin to reconcile after decades of emotional anguish:
  Scott: This is awesome. It's awesome, y' know? You guys are breakin' down walls. You're HEALING. It's important.
  [Beat]
  Scott: ...I ruined the moment, didn't I?
  Hank: Yes, you did, yes.
• The secondary MacGuffin is, as Hank puts it, "currently collecting dust in one of Howard Stark's old storage facilities in upstate New York." He thinks retrieving it "Should be a piece of cake", and thus declares it the final phase of Scott's training. Cue a cool little sequence of Scott "parachuting" out of a plane riding on Ant-thony, but then...
  Scott: Uh, guys? We might have a problem. Hank, didn't you say this was, "some old warehouse"? It's not! [The clouds part to reveal a state-of-the-art compound with a giant “A” insignia on the roof and Quinjets on the tarmac.] YOU SON OF A BITCH!
  • Even better: The Avengers theme plays briefly as the clouds part.
  • Meanwhile, Hank is staring at the screen of the New Avengers Facility and looking at the outdated satellite images of the warehouse, with a look on his face that says "When did this happen?!"
  • Sure enough, as soon as Scott lands, Falcon flies in to investigate. Scott's first reaction is to go small, thinking his opponent can't spot anything that tiny. Except Sam has specialized tracking googles...
    Scott: [whispering to Hope and Hank] It's okay, he can't see me.
    Sam: [directly to Scott] I can see you.
    Scott: [still whispering] He can see me.
  • Scott comes face to face with an Avenger and the first thing he does is unmask and introduce himself.
    Scott: Hi, I'm Scott.
    Hope: [to Hank] Did he just say, "Hi, I'm Scott?!"
    [Hank just nods with an exasperated expression]
  • Scott is going to be completely honest about what he's doing, these are people who know what it is when lives are on the line and you need to use less-than-legal methods to save them... but first:
    Scott: First off, I'm a big fan.
    Sam: Appreciate it.
  • Sam's blank-faced reaction to tiny Scott growing back to normal-size. The first thing that raises his eyebrows is the Atrocious Alias.
  • Sam trying to hit shrunken Scott by stomping around.
  • When Scott uses one of Hope's wrestling moves against Sam, Hope is clearly impressed against her will. Her expression says "Oh, Scott actually did learn something."
  • Sam asking Mission Control not to tell Captain America that he was beaten by someone who calls himself Ant-Man.
    Sam: ...It's really important to me that Cap never finds out about this.
  • Scott's borderline giddiness that he survived the fight, entirely neglecting the fact that he won.
    Scott: Can we just talk about the fact that I fought an Avenger and didn't die?
  • Scott apologizing for every punch is somehow hilarious.
  • The whole thing goes really meta when you realize Scott flies in on an Ant-hony so that he can rob an Anthony’s (Tony Stark's) warehouse and ends up fighting another Anthony.
  • After The Falcon and the Winter Soldier ended with Sam taking up the Captain America mantle, many fans were quick to cotton on to the realization that Scott can brag about defeating Captain America.
  • The Fridge Humor of the fact that Scott is still able to find the part he was looking for. In other words, when the Avengers moved in and refurbished the warehouse, they didn’t bother removing all the stuff that had been stored in it!
• While talking with a petulant, unstable Cross over the phone, Hope tries to assure him not to get angry with her father, calling Hank a "senile old man". Hank is somewhat taken aback and glances at Scott, who in turn gives a priceless "it's cool, man, she didn't mean it" expression.
• The overdramatic sequence of Ant-Man dodging bullets while running through a model of Pym Technologies. It's not all that funny at first until you realize A) that it's a spoof of the Destruction Porn that many superhero movies are guilty of and B) it's possible that the model is there as a Shout-Out to a certain scene from Zoolander, and given that one of the tracks on the soundtrack is titled "A Center for Ants" this is very likely.
• Scott smacking Yellowjacket into a bug zapper with a ping pong paddle, followed by his response to a nearby family that saw the fight.
  Scott: It's all right!
  [cue the entire family running]
• His second freakout reaction to the entire mess he's gotten himself into (the first being before he tried to return the Ant-Man suit):
  Scott: [to Hank, taking in a breath] Who-are-you-Who-is-[Hope]-What-the-hell-is-going-on-and-can-I-go-back-to-jail-now?
  • Just before that:
    Hank: [patiently] You don't need to raise your hand.
• The scenes of Scott training underground with the swarm are shot like a jungle hero movie with thumping drums, flying through the server room is like the Death Star trench run, and Scott leading the charge across the table as Cross' lasers fly is played like the Normandy landings. Which is unquestionably cool, but you know... they're ants.

Hank Pym/Ant-Man I

• Hank's conversation with Howard, Peggy, and Carson in the opening scene is intense. But there's a funny instance thanks to Howard:
  Hank: I formally tender my resignation.
  Howard: We don't accept it. Formally.
• When Mitchell Carson demands Hank's technology in 1989 and insults Pym's wife, he replies by smashing his face into the desk, resulting in a bloodied nose. 26 years later, they encounter each other again before Cross's Yellowjacket demonstration:
  Carson: How's retirement?
  Hank: How's your face?
  • When he's reacting to the bloody nose, he looks up at Howard for help, who casually replies:
    Howard Stark: Don't look at me, you said it.
    • Even before the punch is thrown, Howard clearly sees it coming, unlike Carson. He later points out that Hank did that when normal sized, “you want him to do it again when you can’t see it coming?”
  • Dude also reacts to Cross getting a similar punch later in that scene with a clear 'Yeah, I remember that...' look on his face.
  • Notably, Peggy grabs Hank and holds him back... after he smashes Carson's face. Implying that either a) Peggy didn't see it coming, or, much more likely, she decided to let him get in that one shot.
• The very fact that Hank Pym went through such an absurd, ridiculous chain of street informants that he knew would get word of the safe to Scott. For such a relatively serious, stoic old mentor, this helps remind you that underneath all that, this is Ant-Man, the most ridiculous, outlandish superhero there is, and beneath the grim exterior, of course Hank really is an eccentric, batshit-insane old man whose bizarre plans are juuust Crazy Enough to Work.
• While guiding Scott through his jailbreak, the two have this exchange:
  Hank: Put your foot on the central node and mount the thorax.
  Scott: Are you kid— how safe is—?!
  Hank: Just get on the damn ant, Scott!
• Despite taking a bullet in the shoulder, things are looking up for Hank Pym. The particle tech is safe, he's reconciled with his daughter, and there's a renewed possibility that he can locate Janet. Then he finds Scott and Hope making out in the next room. He tersely asks to be shot again.
  • When Scott tries to talk his way out of it by saying Hope came on to him, this exchange happens:
    Hank: Scott?
    Scott: Yeah?
    Hank: You're full of shit.
    Scott: [no change in tone] Oh yeah.
  • Adding to this is Hope's incredulous expression to Scott throwing her under the bus.

Darren Cross/Yellowjacket

• When Hank punches Darren, Darren can't help but be impressed by how much it hurt:
  Darren Cross: Wow! ...I mean, I saw that punch coming a mile away, but I thought it'd be weak and pathetic!
• Thomas the Tank Engine vs. Yellowjacket.
  • Just the idea of a fight scene taking place in something as saccharine as a Thomas & Friends toy set is ridiculous in of itself.
  • As Thomas is about to collide with Yellowjacket, the camera suddenly cuts to the actual scale, and the dramatic train collision becomes a very anticlimatic scene of a toy train falling off its tracks.
  • Having Thomas try and run the bad guy over is ten times better than an automobile!
  • Also, the utter humiliation of getting owned by the most cheerful train in fictional railroad history is pretty damn hilarious.
  • A little later, Yellowjacket picks up a train car and hurls it at Ant-Man, who smacks it away. The car goes flying...but instead of crashing, burning, and exploding, it harmlessly clatters to a stop on a nearby windowsill because it's, you know, a toy train.
• When Scott tries to shrink and break into Yellowjacket's back panel, Darren Cross gives him a verbal eye-roll response before swatting him away: "It's titanium, you idiot!"
• Darren's offhand mention of doing morning meditations. It's such a succinct joke about Silicon Valley executives' New-Age Retro Hippie habits.
• Cross' extremely nonchalant reveal of his plans to sell the Pym Particles to HYDRA as if he was at a board meeting. He coupled this by saying how they really cleaned up their image since the last time.
• Scott and Yellowjacket end up fighting in a briefcase, during which Scott triggers Siri on an Apple iPhone... Doubly funny since this is Cross' iPhone which means that one of the more amoral MCU villains is a fan of The Cure.
  Yellowjacket: I'm gonna disintegrate you!
  Siri: Now playing "Disintegration" by The Cure.
• The sheer Serious Business that is fighting in the briefcase. The scene at one time changes outside the briefcase while Disintegration plays as a muffled song. Then the briefcase falls unceremoniously into a pool of an unsuspecting family having a barbecue, interrupting them. And after Yellowjacket pops out and threatens them, there is a small, silent cut of Scott popping out of the water, interrupting the ominous orchestra for a second.

Luis, Dave, Kurt

• When Luis goes on his long-winded recollections, the people he describes all mouth his slang-filled dialogue no matter how hilariously out of character it is, such as the Falcon, Stan Lee, and that classy journalist woman. They all use Luis' mannerisms, too.
  • Also, how he goes off on a tangent each time. The first time, it's about how a girl involved in the story was the first set of breasts he ever touched, and the second time, it's about his thoughts on modern art.
    Scott: It's the wrong details. Okay? That has nothing to do with the story.
  • The fact that Luis - a zany, down-on-his-luck thief - apparently spends his free time attending elegant wine-tasting events and art galleries. Not only that, but he is incredibly well-versed in both subjects, commenting on the wines and paintings like a true connoisseur.
• The Once More, with Clarity for the first of these episodes revealing that Pym bribed the housekeeper to spill that story.
• Scott's friends segueing into a discussion about Titanic when Scott explains that he's going to use cold to break through a vault made from the same metal as the actual Titanic.
  Scott: You remember what that iceberg did, right?
  Luis: Yeah man, it killed DiCaprio.
  Dave: It killed everybody.
  Kurt: It not kill the old lady. She still throw the jewel into the oceans.
  • Doubly hilarious because they've just summed up the whole three-hour, fourteen-minute movie in a few seconds.
• Scott realizes they need more people to pull off the plan, and indirectly references his roommates. Hank instantly loses his shit; "No, no! No, no, no, not those three wombats! No way." Cue the trio drinking tea at that very table.
  • And Luis' eloquent expression of gratitude to Hank and Hope after being welcomed back to their "spooky ass house."
    Luis: Thank you for the coffee, ma'am. It's not too often that you rob a place and then get welcomed back. I mean, 'cause we just robbed you!
  • Luis reacts to Hope:
    Luis: I'm good, I'm good, I'm just excited. And plus, your girlfriend's really hot [Hope looks up in surprise] so, that makes me nervous too... and you are very beautiful, ma'am.
    Hank: [muttering] Oh my lord...
    Scott: She's not my- [Luis just keeps talking]
  • When Hope and Hank are expressing doubt that the three can handle the heist:
    Hope: [to Scott] You know that he was arrested for stealing a smoothie machine, right?
    Luis: Two smoothie machines.
    Hope: Are you sure they can handle this?
    Luis: Oh, we can handle it, we're professionals!
    Hank: You'll forgive us if we're not instilled with confidence...
    Dave: Well, hey, everybody, just kick back and relax a little bit! Man, we know our business. We broke into this spooky-ass house, didn't we?
    Hank: I let you.
    Dave: Well... one could say that I let you let me.
  • Later, Scott, in his suit, explains things will get weird. Luis reacts with "Daddy don't get scared!" Only to be baffled once Scott vanishes. And screaming when he sees Ant-Man on his shoulder!
    Scott: I thought daddy don't get scared?
  • The gang's reactions to their buddy in a cool-ass motorcycle suit vanishing?
    Kurt: [freaking out] This is the work...of g-gypsies!
    Dave: That...that...that's Witchcraft!
    Luis: That's some David Copperfield shit, right there!
    Dave: That's some kind of Wizardry!
    Kurt: [distant] SORCERY!
  • Then Hope and Hank have to calm the gang down. How? With Xanax and a long-winded lecture about the science behind the Ant-Man suit. It knocks them right out.
• Luis wants to blend in undercover by whistling, while Scott points out what a bad idea that is. Cut to Luis undercover whistling "It's a Small World After All".
  Scott: [during Luis' initial pitch to whistle] No! No whistling; this is not The Andy Griffith Show!
  • Get it? "Small World"?
• Scott's gang retreating from their The Cavalry moment during the climax because of the small army of cops outside of the house Lang and Cross are fighting in. With a very well applied Overly Long Gag.
  Luis: Back it up, now.
  Dave: Mmmhmm.
  Luis: Just back it up.
  Dave: Yup...

...and Everyone Else

• When Scott arrives at Cassie's party and she runs to tell her mom, then comes back:
  Cassie: [cheerfully] Mommy's so happy you're here, she choked on her drink!
• Cassie's reaction to her vaguely nightmarish birthday gift.
  Cassie: He's so UGLYYY! I LOVE HIM!
• When Paxton is having dinner with the family, he gets a text about Scott's escape, informing him that Scott's 'lawyer' is Dr. Hank Pym. As he's getting up to go, Cassie asks if he's going to arrest her dad. Trying to be as diplomatic as he can, he chooses his words and says he just wants to help him. Her response?
  Cassie: I hope you don't catch him. [angriest glare a little girl can give]
  [Paxton shrugs, as if to say "that's fair"]
• The Chekhov's Gun that is Hank's keychain.
  Hank: It's not a keychain.
  • The reaction of the cops outside, especially Paxton's:
    Paxton: It's total chaos here! Multiple shots fired...
    [Hank's 'keychain' drives through the wall several stories up and crashes down in the midst of the squad cars]
    Paxton: [no change in tone] ...And there's a tank.
  • In general, just the not that surprising at this point revelation that Hank Pym carries a miniaturized tank with him at all times on the off chance he ends up in a situation that demands the use of one.
  • Luis using it in his airtight excuse to escape the cops in the van, while Paxton yells at him to desist.
    Luis: It's too loud! There's a tank! Can't hear you! [slams van door]
  • And the fact that, when restored to full size, the keychain, ring and all, is similarly scaled up.
• When Paxton and his partner nearly blow the heist, Dave swipes the patrol car and takes it for a joyride as a distraction. When Dave safely gets back to the van, he and Kurt start to boast about how slick they were before Dave inadvertently hits the "La Cucaracha" horn, alerting Paxton to who's in the van.
  • The excuse Dave gives when Paxton closes in on arresting him and Kurt.
    Dave: Some black guy who looks exactly like me attacked us and locked us in this disgusting van.
• During the battle, both an ant and said Thomas the Tank Engine get enlarged during the final fight.
  • "That's one messed-up looking dog!"
  • Cassie gets a pet at the end of the movie, and feeds it under the table like a dog. It's the now-enlarged ant.
  • Thomas ends up blasting through the front of the house and falling onto his side on the lawn in front of dozens of startled police. He stays that way for the rest of the fight, with his eyes moving back and forth the entire time.
• As Falcon is searching for Ant-Man and mentions to someone that they're looking for a guy with powers, they're told they'll have to be more specific, "We got guys who jump, we got guys who swing, we got guys who climb up walls..."
• When Carson mocks Pym and brings up Janet in the intro just before he gets his nose broken, you see Howard close his eyes in disbelief as if he's thinking "My God you're stupid."
  • After Pym breaks his nose, Carson looks at Howard in disbelief. Howard's only response? "Don't look at me, you said it."
• Just at the end, Scott thanks Paxton for everything he does for Cassie, which he states is his pleasure - but he adds that this last part, keeping him out of prison on a technicality, he did for Scott. After a beat, Scott is clearly inwardly appreciative, but chooses to reply:
  Scott: This is awkward.
  Paxton: [without hesitation] Yeah.
  Cassie: [grinning] Yeah.
• This movie delights in showing the most action packed fight scenes one second and then zoom out to show it from outside the fighting. Dramatic turns to hilarious extremely fast when Scott throws Thomas at Yellowjacket in an incredible feat of strength only for the movie to remind us that it's a plastic toy as it goes flying to land "tick tick" on the windowsill.

DVD extras

• "Vista Corp Heist" shows the footage of Scott's burglary of Vista Corp. At the end, the footage from the poolside camera skips ahead to a crew trying to tow the half-submerged car out of the pool. However, the tow line simply pulls off the bumper, which smacks into the camera, cracking it. Someone swears, then the car falls the rest of the way into the pool and he swears again.

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