Ant-Man is the MCU’s Most Valuable Hero
A new research study collated a few ratings from critics and box office earnings globally to determine the most valuable characters in the entire MCU and the results of the same reveal that it’s none other than Ant-Man (Paul Rudd).
As per the Critic Ratings Study‘s data, which accounts for each film from Iron Man to the recently released Multiverse of Madness, Ant-Man/Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, is the MCU’s MVP.
Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man Is The Most Valuable Hero, as per a study
Lang has the highest average monetary value per film appearance in the ever-growing and expanding franchise at $2.4 million, consistently scoring well with critics, IMDb, Metacritic, and Rotten Tomatoes. Falcon, Black Widow, Spider-Man, and Iron Man round about the rest of the “Most Valuable MCU Character” list. And why not, if it weren’t for him, time travel was just a distant dream for our MCU superheroes.
A Bit About Ant-Man’s Past
Ant-Man was created by Bob Layton, David Michelinie, and John Byrne, as he first appeared in the pages of Marvel Comics in The Avengers #181 (1979). He was just the second person to take the Ant-Man mantle in MCU and otherwise too. Since then, he has featured in solo adventures and has been a part of teams like the Heroes for Hire, Avengers, Defenders, Fantastic Four, and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Ant-Man/Scott Lang made his cinematic debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Ant-Man (2015) which was helmed by Bring It On’s Peyton Reed, written by Edgar Wright, Adam McKay, Joe Cornish, and Paul Rudd. It was the 12th film in the MCU franchise, grossing over $500 million globally and winning the Best Comic-to-Film Motion Picture category at the Saturn Awards in the same year, ie. 2016.
Rudd then reprised the role of Ant-Man in three more Marvel Cinematic Universe films including Captain America: Civil War (2016), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and later in, Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Rudd Was Laughed At When He Got Ant-Man’s Role
However, Paul Rudd was rubbed off for the role initially. He revealed that everyone thought it was just a joke and they laughed at his expense when he was cast as the Ant-Man. While in conversation with MCU actor Chris Evans on Variety, he said, “I would say, ‘I got this part, I’m playing Ant-Man,’ and then they would say, ‘Well what does Ant-Man do?’ I would say, ‘He can shrink to the size of an ant but he retains strength and he can also control ants and talk to ants.’ And people would laugh as I’d explain what the character does.”
Rudd added, “I wanted to try and make a character, a superhero, who was kind of a regular person. The whole world of it, of superherodom, seemed overwhelming and it’s like, ‘What do you do with this?’ you know, to make it identifiable. These characters are important to many people and you want to treat them with respect and want to do the character a service. And certainly, the character – when he was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee and everyone at Marvel – has been around for a while.”
His forthcoming appearance as the titular character will be in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which will hit the theaters in early 2023 as we do not have an official release date yet.
