Despite being a member of the most popular cinematic posse in modern filmmaking, the MCU, all of the noise surrounding Ant-Man’s impending release has been rather muted. But with just over a month until it hits, Marvel has decided to increase the promotional campaign for Ant-Man by reminding us of his famous brethren.
There’s nothing like relying on your famous pals to elevate your own status, is there? Marvel Studios wasted no time in reminding us of their prior accomplishments, and this TV Spot for the Paul Rudd-led adventure gives us a glimpse of Captain America’s shield, Iron Man posing, Thor’s hammer, Hulk screaming and Groot and Rocket going berserk, all against the tease, “The Marvel Universe Is About To Get A Lot Bigger.” You see what they did there? It’s because Ant-Man’s really small, but still deadly. Funny stuff.
The fact that the above line is read by Michael Douglas, who is starring in Ant-Man as Hank Pym, makes it umpteen times cooler. Each additional dose of Ant-Man footage that is released increases my confidence in the project. While we were all obviously disappointed in Edgar Wright’s departure from the project last year, Peyton Reed still appears to have created a stylized and unique superhero adventure, plus Paul Rudd’s irreverent comic tone looks like it will mix perfectly with this peculiar blockbuster.
It also helps that expectations for Ant-Man are relatively low. Having pretty much dominated the blockbuster landscape over the last few years, movie experts have been looking for the one film that could slow Marvel’s progress. Most of them are adamant that Ant-Man won’t be able to match the studio’s recent box-office successes. Which is almost certainly true, when you consider that Guardians Of The Galaxy took in $775 million and Age Of Ultron is now just shy of $1.5 billion.
However Ant-Man won’t be measured on such a scale. As long as it’s interestingly put together, entertaining, and shows potential that Ant-Man will bring a fresh new dynamic to the universe, while also returning a healthy amount at the box office, then Marvel will be confident that his appearance in Captain America: Civil War will elevate the character even further. And even if it fails, Rudd is still likely to appear in further ensemble pieces like Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 & 2. We just won’t be privy to any more solo adventures from the character. All of that will be decided when Ant-Man is released on July 17. Are you on board?
