In 2017, after the MCU delivered two painfully by-the-numbers Thor movies, Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok brought a zany comic sensibility and a bright visual style to a franchise that was in desperate need of reinvention. If there’s another Marvel solo franchise that could use this treatment, it’s Ant-Man.
The first two Ant-Man movies have been agreeable summer blockbusters, working as both crowd-pleasing Paul Rudd comedies and middle-of-the-road superhero adventures. The Ant-Man franchise has yet to deliver a truly must-see movie, but a third entry is in development, so it’s not too late. So, here are 10 ways that Ant-Man 3 can be the franchise’s answer to Thor: Ragnarok.
Find A Visionary Director
Peyton Reed has done a fine job of directing the first two Ant-Man movies, but his skill-set is suited to studio comedies like The Break-Up and Yes Man. He won’t be turning out a quirky, unique, dazzling movie like Thor: Ragnarok any time soon.
It might be time to let another director take a crack at the Ant-Man mythos through fresh eyes. The most obvious choice would be Edgar Wright, but after Marvel edged him out of the first Ant-Man film, it’s unlikely he’d want to work with them again.
Go Big
From Iron Man 3 to Captain America: Civil War, the third entries in MCU solo franchises tend to go bigger and bolder than their predecessors. Thor: Ragnarok was no different, taking viewers on an intergalactic adventure with both familiar and fresh faces.
The first couple of Ant-Man movies have been small-scale antidotes to the kind of city-totaling spectacle seen in larger movies like The Avengers, but after two films, the Ant-Man franchise should go bigger than ever.
An Exciting Team-Up
One of the primary selling points of Thor: Ragnarok is that it teamed up Odinson with the Hulk. This could be the key to getting Marvel fans excited for Ant-Man 3: pairing the title character up with a beloved Avenger.
There are plenty of Avengers who would be great to see in a team-up with Ant-Man, like Doctor Strange or Spider-Man or War Machine — or even the Hulk himself, after his taco-based generosity towards Scott Lang in Avengers: Endgame. The possibilities are endless.
Test The Hero
The main reason why Thor: Ragnarok got audiences more invested in the God of Thunder than ever before is that Taika Waititi put Thor through the ringer. He took away his hammer, his kingdom, his eye, and his father, leaving him with nothing to lose (or so he thinks).
Much like Thor’s godly powers got him out of any danger in his early MCU appearances, Scott Lang has been able to coast on quippy one-liners. The Ant-Man movies play it safe. Scott should face some real tests in the threequel.
Revamp The Supporting Cast
One of the cookie-cutter elements of MCU solo franchises is the supporting casts that surround the heroes. Everyone has a love interest, a comic relief friend, a mentor etc., and they’re usually the least interesting characters in the movie. Thor: Ragnarok cut the dead weight from Thor’s supporting cast, like Darcy Lewis, and replaced them with fascinating new characters, like Valkyrie and Korg.
Ant-Man 3 can do something similar: keep the greats, like Hope and Luis, but revamp the rest. After her five-year age jump in Avengers: Endgame, Cassie can finally become Stature on the big screen.
Memorable Villains
The MCU as a whole has been criticized for having a “villain problem,” but the Ant-Man movies haven’t helped. In the first one, Yellowjacket was the same kind of greedy corporate suit who will stop at nothing to increase his stock price that we’ve seen in countless generic action movies. In Ant-Man and the Wasp, the use of two villains (Ghost and Sonny Burch) meant that neither one was developed enough to really stand out.
The third Ant-Man movie can recover from this by giving audiences really memorable villains, like Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok did with Cate Blanchett as Hela and Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster.
Self-Parody
The Ant-Man films already have a lot of self-parody. In fact, a ton of MCU movies do. Bathos is one of the franchise’s favorite forms of currency.
But Thor: Ragnarok brought the self-lampooning to entirely new levels that Ant-Man 3 should match. A Rick and Morty writer, Jeff Loveness, was recently hired to write Ant-Man 3, so the meta-ness should come pretty naturally.
Explore The Weirder Corners Of The Universe
From the garbage planet Sakaar to the hellish domain of Surtur, Taika Waititi took Thor fans to the weirdest corners of the character’s world in Ragnarok. The most interesting part of Ant-Man’s world is the Quantum Realm.
Maybe the third movie can take us into that bubbled city glimpsed at in Ant-Man and the Wasp. The Easter eggs are a lot of fun, but they’re useless if future movies don’t explore them.
Make It A Team Movie
Some Marvel fans have theorized that, across Phases 4 and 5 of the MCU’s master plan, a few different Avengers teams will crop up, like the Young Avengers and the A-Force.
With their setup in San Francisco, Ant-Man and the Wasp can set up the West Coast Avengers. Just as Thor: Ragnarok brought together “the Revengers” in time for the final battle, Ant-Man 3 can be a team movie in the vein of a mini-Avengers epic.
Let Paul Rudd Have Fun With It
Part of what made Thor: Ragnarok so fun was that Chris Hemsworth seemed to be having a ball in every scene. After two movies (and two Avengers movies on top of that) of looking bored with the character and uncomfortable playing him, Hemsworth finally started having fun — and so did the audience.
Paul Rudd already looks like he’s having a ton of fun in the Ant-Man movies, but if there are any creative restrictions on him whatsoever, Marvel should remove them.