Ant-Man Movies in Order: Scott Lang Movie Guide
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been one of the fastest-growing fictional universes in history. Starting relatively modestly, the franchise has since inducted four different phases of a single narrative saga with phase 5 starting soon, with dozens of movies, and even more characters. One of them is Scott Lang, the superhero Ant-Man, who is now an important part of the MCU and the topic of today’s article.
When Ant-Man first appeared in the MCU, he instantly became a fan-favorite character, mostly due to Paul Rudd’s amazing interpretation. In this article, we are going to bring you a chronological list of all the Ant-Man movies within the MCU, with a guide to each of them and some additional information.
Since the focus is on Ant-Man, we’re going to list just his individual movies, and not the ones where he appeared as a supporting character, in a cameo role, or as part of a group. If you want a complete watch order of all MCU movies where Ant-Man has appeared, you can check our whole MCU watch order.
How Many Ant-Man Movies Are There?
As of the time of writing this article, there are three Ant-Man movies in total. The series of Ant-Man movies started in 2015, and the third movie was released on February 17, 2023. Ant-Man however appeared in loads of other MCU projects due to the general audience reacting very well to the character.
Ant-Man Movies in Order (at a glance)
The story of Scott Lang is that of a “reformed” criminal who decides to do just “one more heist” and stumbles upon an opportunity that will change his life forever. Ever since the introduction of the character, people loved Paul Rudd’s interpretation and were excited to watch him in 2 movies, with a third on the way.
- Ant-Man (June 29, 2015)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp (June 25, 2018)
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (February, 17, 2023)
Are Ant-Man movies connected?
All three Ant-Man movies are connected. The movies have the same characters follow the same chronological timeline and are set in the same continuity. However, it’s important to note that the third movie was part of phase 5 of the MCU, unlike the prior movies.
Do You Need to Watch the Ant-Man Movies in Order?
The story of Scott Lang in the MCU has been told in the proper chronological order, meaning that you need to watch the movies in the order they were released in.
Ant-Man Movies in release date order
The list is going to include all the Ant-Man movies that have, so far, been released as part of the MCU. The list is, as we have said, going to include just the individual Ant-Man movies, without those where Ant-Man appeared as part of a group or not as the main character. We’re going to bring you some basic production info and an overview of each of the movie’s plots.
Ant-Man (2015)
Director: Peyton Reed
Screenwriters: Edgar Wright, Joe Cornish, Adam McKay, Paul Rudd
Release Date: June 29, 2015
Starring: Paul Rudd (Scott Lang / Ant-Man), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym), Evangeline Lilly (Hope Van Dyne), Corey Stoll (Darren Cross / Yellowjacket)
In the late 1980s, Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) as Ant-Man was one of the people who led S.H.I.E.L.D. However, his colleague, Carson, wanted access to the Pym particle, which Pym refused. The resulting conflict caused Pym to stop collaborating with S.H.I.E.L.D.
Nowadays, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has just come out of prison and is trying to be honest about meeting his daughter again. His background makes it much harder and he is forced to do one last blow to have any chance. The goal is an old millionaire’s house.
Lang succeeds with the help of his companions, but Lang finds only one suit. He takes it and tries it. It turns out that it reduces the wearer and that Hank Pym orchestrated the burglary to test Lang.
Pym’s own use of the suit has given him physical injuries and he needs Lang’s help to break into Pym’s former company, where successor Derren Cross (Corey Stoll) tries to rediscover his mentor’s intention to sell it to HYDRA, Nazi Germany’s research organization.
Lang, Pym, and Pym’s daughter, Hope, are forced to work together to train Lang to use the suit and to steal a component that makes it possible to get into Cross lab but which is located in Avenger’s headquarters.
Cross succeeds with the invention that enables him to make his own costume, something that Pym and Lang discover when they are already in the lab.
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Director: Peyton Reed
Screenwriters: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari
Release Date: June 25, 2018
Starring: Paul Rudd (Scott Lang / Ant-Man), Evangeline Lilly (Hope Van Dyne / The Wasp), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym), Michelle Pfeiffer (Janet Van Dyne), Laurence Fishburne (Bill Foster), Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr / Ghost), Walton Goggins (Sonny Burch)
Nearly two years after his illegal activities as a superhero in Captain America: Civil War, Scott Lang still has a few days to go before his ankle bracelet can be removed and he can leave his house. Hank Pym and his daughter Hope van Dyne have in the meantime been working on a tunnel to the subatomic world.
Pym’s wife Janet seemed lost thereafter defusing a nuclear bomb in 1987, but after Lang managed to make it back in his battle against Darren Cross, Pym and Van Dyne regained hope that they could bring her back. Lang also appears to have become quantum entangled with Janet during his subatomic journey.
This allows her to leave messages in his dreams. For Pym, this is confirmation that Janet is still alive. Pym and Van Dyne kidnap Lang and convince him to help them. Pym still needs a part to make his tunnel to the subatomic world function properly.
He hopes to buy it from black market dealer Sonny Burch. Burch nevertheless smells money himself and tries to steal Pym and Van Dyne from their technology. As his men and Van Dyne (in a Wasp suit) fight over Pym’s part and lab, which has been reduced to the size of a moving box, a woman emerges whose body is constantly switching between solid and transparent.
She runs off with all the technology. Lang, Van Dyne, and Pym turn to his former colleague Bill Foster, who helps him locate his lab. Once they find it, the transparent woman imprisons the three. She explains that her name is Ava Starr. She is the daughter of Elihas Starr, another former colleague of Pym.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Director: Peyton Reed
Screenwriters: Jack Kirby, Jeff Loveness
Release Date: February 17, 2023
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors
The third Ant-Man movie once again returns with our favorite heroes as they explore the Quantum Realm. After tragedy has struck, Scott Lang will be forced to make a deal with the devil, introducing a new villain to the MCU, Kang the Conqueror.
Scott Lang’s daughter, Cassie, was working on a secret project with Hank on communication with the Quantum Realm. Janet, who has spent decades in the Quantum Realm, shut it down due to the dangers. Cassie’s machine malfunctions and sucks all of the Ant-Family members, including Hank’s lab and the intelligent ant colony, into the Quantum Realm.
After being sucked into the Quantum Realm, Scott and Cassie find themselves separated from Hope and her parents and encounter a civilization of Freedom Fighters led by a woman named Jentorra. Meanwhile, Hope and her family meet Krylar, Janet’s former lover, and learn that the Conqueror is aware of their presence in the Quantum Realm. As Scott and Cassie are attacked by the Conqueror’s army, Scott meets an old foe, Darren Cross.
Darren Cross turns out to be a deformed man named MODOK, who turns out to be Scott’s former enemy, and reveals that he is the one who sent the Ant-Family to the Quantum Realm. Meanwhile, Hope’s group learns that Kang is behind their troubles and how Janet once worked with him to fix a ship’s power core. However, she discovers that Kang has destroyed multiple timelines and escaped with the power core.
Kang reveals that he was exiled to a place outside of time and space by an unknown group, who sabotaged his ship and power core. Janet worked with the citizens of the Quantum Realm to resist Kang, who wanted her access to Pym particles. MODOK captures Scott and Cassie and introduces them to Kang, who wants Scott to use his Pym discs to shrink the power core back to its regular size. Scott deals with a probability storm and uses multiple versions of himself to reach the center of the core, where he and Hope shrink the power core back to its normal size.
Kang takes Janet and Cassie captive, and reveals his plan to use an army he built in the Quantum Realm to kill those responsible for exiling him, including different variants of himself. Cassie escapes and rallies other freedom fighters to fight against Kang. Scott and the Ant-Family arrive to help stop Kang, and Cassie defeats MODOK. Kang enters the battlefield and kills many freedom fighters, but Hank arrives with his ant army, overwhelming Kang’s forces. Darren sacrifices himself to damage Kang’s defenses and seemingly kill him.
anet told the group that they could escape the Quantum Realm using Kang’s power core. After they returned, Kang showed up and overwhelmed Scott in a battle that led to Ant-Man destroying the power core. Hope prevented Kang from escaping through the portal, and when he tried to stop the Pym discs from destroying the core, he blew up with it, seemingly defeated. Cassie tracked Scott and Hope’s signals back to the outside world, while Scott returned to his normal life, but couldn’t shake the feeling that Kang’s warning might have had some truth to it.
Where to Watch Ant-Man movies?
You can watch both Ant-Man movies on the Disney+ streaming platform. The third movie in the series, titled Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, is not available anywhere at the moment due to not being released yet.
Will There Be More Ant-Man Movies?
With the Ant-Man trilogy now seemingly completed, we don’t have any information regarding the continuation of the series. So far, Ant-Man’s solo story seems to be over but he will certainly appear in the upcoming MCU projects.
