Ant-Man might not be the first Marvel Cinematic Universe character that comes to mind when thinking of the most powerful heroes of the series, but the pint-sized hero has subtly amassed one of the most impressive collections of feats of any MCU protagonist. Originally a career criminal, Scott Lang inadvertently became the successor to Hank Pym’s Ant-Man mantle after stumbling across the Ant-Man suit, leading him to eventually be recruited as an honorary Avenger. Despite his goofball personality, Lang’s prowess with the Pym’s technology is not to be trifled with.
It’s easy to forget just how talented Scott Lang is in light of his status as comedic relief and a punching bag in his own movies. Underneath all the goofiness of Paul Rudd’s hilarious Ant-Man performance is a capable former criminal, well-versed in martial arts, electrical engineering, sabotage, parkour, thievery, computer science, and so much more. Not just anyone can pilot one of Hank Pym’s size-changing suits, and the versatile abilities Scott Lang shows off throughout the Ant-Man trilogy and beyond proves why Scott Lang is the best to do so.
Around the time of the release of Avengers: Endgame, a joke circulated among the MCU fanbase revolving around Ant-Man’s ability to easily defeat Thanos by shrinking, entering his internal organs, and then violently re-forming to normal size, instantly fragging the Mad Titan. While this meme never manifested into a real scene, the closest the MCU came to such an attack was Ant-Man’s assault on Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War. Even if he doesn’t resort to quite so gruesome means, disrupting the enemy’s internals is a viable Ant-Man strategy.
It’s impressive enough that Scott is able to withstand being sent flying on one of Hawkeye’s arrows, actually managing to find purchase within Tony’s armor. But it’s even more impressive that Scott can wreak havoc on even the futuristic technology of the Iron Man suit, taunting its pilot all the while. Unfortunately, he’s ultimately unsuccessful, being ejected from the armor thanks to fire-suppressant foam, meaning this feat isn’t as noteworthy as it could’ve been.
The probability storm of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is one of the most disorienting events an MCU character has ever suffered through, right up there with Doctor Strange’s impromptu trip through the astral plane. It isn’t enough that Scott is forced to steal the power core for Kang; He also has to survive the quantum event, co-existing with hundreds of possible versions of himself all running rampant, wreaking havoc on his plans. Inspiringly enough, his love for Cassie is strong enough to get all the versions of himself to work together, forming an ant-like human tower to reach the core.
Ultimately, Scott has to be rescued by Hope to finish shrinking the core enough for retrieval, diminishing his accomplishments in the probability storm. Still, Scott’s willpower in the face of overwhelming confusion and ability to rally different versions of himself across countless probabilities speaks to his willpower and love for his daughter. Ant-Man’s mental fortitude is nothing to dismiss among his wide set of skills.
Being a former expert thief, stealth is one of Ant-Man’s greatest tools, making him a key component of the Avengers’ heist across the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline in Avengers: Endgame. Without Scott’s help, and willingness to be a test subject for the experimental time travel machine in the first place, there’s no question that the Avengers would likely have failed in this mission to retrieve the Infinity Stones. The best example of Scott’s stealth sees him pushing the limits of how small he can get before going subatomic.
Amazingly, Ant-Man is able to shrink to a small enough size to cling to Tony Stark’s beard hair while staying unnoticed, save for a small itching sensation. Sliding down Tony’s shirt, still undetected, Scott is then able to shrink himself even smaller, climbing inside Tony’s Arc Reactor. Considering Tony’s skill as a machinist, the fact that Scott is able to find ways to enter even a delicate medical device, likely carefully designed to be sealed from the outside world, speaks wonders for his ability to withstand even the tiniest of forms. While not the most flashy use of Ant-Man’s powers, it’s nonetheless impressive.
Despite gaining notoriety as one of Earth’s most valuable heroes, it’s actually Scott Lang’s past that holds one of his most impressive displays of intelligence. Not nearly as dumb as he may sound at times, Lang used his razor-sharp wit to bypass one of the most sophisticated security systems in the world in order to commit his most infamous crime. Though it happens off-screen, Scott’s success in bypassing Vistacorp’s Qubit Defense Matrix is far more impressive than it gets credit for.
Hank Pym explains to Hope why Scott’s criminal accomplishments were so impressive in a deleted scene, elaborating that “The Qubit generates a new combination every 1.5 seconds. Scott broke past it because he was able to read the pattern and predict which combination would come next.” The ability to sense a pattern in what should’ve been a random number generator is indicative of nothing less than a genius-level intellect on behalf of Scott. This accomplishment might pale in comparison to some of his Ant-Man achievements, but is worth mentioning as proof of Scott’s surprising intelligence.
Lawrence Fishburne’s Goliath made a brief appearance in Ant-Man and the Wasp as a disgruntled former colleague of Hank Pym, being the first to perfect the use of Pym particles’ applications in growth. After a career of exploring the technology, Bill Foster brags that his all-time record was a height of 21 feet tall. It’s implied that Ant-Man had far less training with becoming giant based on his reaction in Captain America: Civil War, yet he was able to triple Bill Foster’s record, growing to a staggering 65 feet.
Sustaining such a massive form with so little training speaks volumes on Ant-Man’s powers of endurance, able to quickly break records in cutting-edge uses of technology. His 65-foot-tall form in Captain America: Civil War was nothing to scoff at either, able to easily tank missiles from War Machine’s armor and crush vehicles and buildings without flinching. Admittedly, Scott slept for three days straight after the transformation, however, somewhat offsetting the significance of the feat.
Stealing from the Avengers is an intimidating task enough on its own, made all the worse in Ant-Man when Falcon comes home to roost at the worst possible time. In the resulting confrontation, Ant-Man definitively proves himself to be the stronger Marvel hero in a one-on-one duel with the winged Avenger, humiliating his future ally in Captain America: Civil War. Falcon is certainly no slouch, capable of taking down entire military strike teams on his own, scaling Ant-Man’s capabilities significantly.
In the fight, Ant-Man uses the same tactic he employs against Iron Man later one, disabling Falcon’s flight pack from the inside. This time, he’s much more successful, grounding Falcon and disrupting his magifiying goggles. Ant-Man is also able to dodge shots from Falcon’s twin machine pistols in the fray prior to landing the final blow. Even if Ant-Man is reliant on his suit, he’s still an ace pilot, capable of outclassing fellow heroes.
By the time of Avengers: Endgame, Ant-Man’s giant form had grown even further in power. Topping his former height of 65 feet in civil war, Ant-Man is able to expand to almost kaiju-like proportions in the final battle. Not only is he able to use this form to protect the other heroes, smashing through the ruined Avengers compound, but he can effortlessly take on two of the toughest villains in MCU history.
First, Ant-Man takes down a Chitauri Leviathan with a single punch, a creature which only the staggering strength of Hulk was able to harm in the original Avengers movie. As if that weren’t impressive enough, he later one-shots Cull Obsidian by sheer accident just by stepping on him. Considering Ant-Man’s giant form was enough to take down a combatant tough enough to give multiple powerful Avengers trouble at once, the unfathomable brute strength of his upgraded giant form is not to be underestimated.
Being a bullet-timer is an important benchmark of combat ability in any medium, and Ant-Man is one of the few MCU heroes to display a reaction time somehow outpacing conventional firearms in-universe. As early as the first Ant-Man, the hero comes in contact with security guards with guns, being quicky fired upon. Summoning all of his training, Scott is able to react fast enough to shrink, evade shots midair, jump through a bullet hole, and disarm his attacker after the first shot is fired.
What’s so significant about this seemingly filler action sequence is Ant-Man’s ability to quickly react to threats even from a normal size. He isn’t already small when the bullets start flying, but is able to react to the shooters at a blinding speed, even using their ammunition against them by taking the fresh entry hole of a stray round as a doorway before leaping on top of an active firearm. Ant-Man might be an unassuming hero, but being able to react to gunfire puts him on a whole other level.
With or without the aid of his Ant-Man suit, Scott Lang has quietly become one of the best martial artists in the MCU. Beyond surviving some painful-looking traditions in prison, Scott learns Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Judo and kickboxing under Hope’s tutelage, becoming proficient enough to keep up with the likes of Falcon and Black Widow in hand-to-hand combat. But his most impressive display of unarmed fighting prowess yet is his final battle with Kang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
As an ancient conqueror with a wealth of fighting experience in perfect physical condition, Kang is one of the most intimidating martial arts opponents one could ask for in the MCU. Yet Ant-Man is able to hold his own against Kang in the two’s vicious drag-down brawl, sustaining painful-looking hits without giving up. Even if he doesn’t win, needing an assist from Hope to finish the job, the mere fact that Scott was able to hold out for so long against one of the most experienced fighters in the MCU says a lot about his own fighting spirit.
