Ant-Man Yellowjacket

[SomeOldGuy]

I think Cross is definitely one of the MCU's better villains.

Agreed. I thought he was instantly relatable, an everyman villain to balance out Lang's everyman hero. Just as Lang isn't a billionaire playboy industrialist or a Norse god or a super-soldier, Cross isn't another Norse god or a dark elf or a super-soldier having a bad face day. He's just that prique in the corner office, that guy who's spent years stepping on people on his way up and has no qualms about stealing others' work and lying to their face if it gets him what he wants.

Over the years I've run into more of these jerks than I can count, and watching Cross go down was extremely satisfying.

 

[The Shape]

I just wish the jump from Cross being a pissed off, ruthless, desperate businessman to actually donning the Yellowjacket suit himself (which he seemed to have masterful control of along with fight training) and becoming a full-fledged "villain" felt more natural. It happened very quickly at the end there.

 

[terry78]

I think it was just showcasing how nuts he had become. He saw Lang as the guy Pym trusted more than him, a damn convict. And he just lost it.

 

[the dmg]

I just wish the jump from Cross being a pissed off, ruthless, desperate businessman to actually donning the Yellowjacket suit himself (which he seemed to have masterful control of along with fight training) and becoming a full-fledged "villain" felt more natural. It happened very quickly at the end there.

He was already fully a villain at the start of the film when he

Spoiler

tried to shrink the guy in the bathroom, and nonchalantly flushes the gooey remains down the toilet with no ounce of remorse.

He was obsessed with proving to his mentor and father figure that he could make the Ant-Man myth a reality. This is shown multiple times.

Anyway, I thought Cross was a great villain, downright scary at parts. Well acted by Corey Stoll.

 

[chamber-music]

His whole obsession with Pym and his technology was creepy. The viral video of Cross demeanour changing when the interviewer mentioned how Cross had only adapted Hank's cold storage technology and not brought anything new or original since he took over as CEO was very telling.

As Pym said Darren was never the most stable guy to begin with.

 

[Eros]

I just wish the jump from Cross being a pissed off, ruthless, desperate businessman to actually donning the Yellowjacket suit himself (which he seemed to have masterful control of along with fight training) and becoming a full-fledged "villain" felt more natural. It happened very quickly at the end there.

wasnt much of a jump, he was already a cold blooded murderer beforehand, but he just seemed to be bad becuase he was bad. he was great to watch, but seemed like some scenes could of been added.

 

[Macho Mantis]

wasnt much of a jump, he was already a cold blooded murderer beforehand, but he just seemed to be bad becuase he was bad. he was great to watch, but seemed like some scenes could of been added.

Yeah, Cross seemed to have an interesting psychology.

 

[Wildcard]

Darren is definitely one of the MCU's better villains because he was layered & wasn't just a guy the hero had to get through to be a real hero. He was driven by real intentions & motivations that were made apparent over the film. The problem is...

Spoiler

Marvel made the same exact mistake and killed him at the end of the film.

 

[Spider-X]

I just wish the jump from Cross being a pissed off, ruthless, desperate businessman to actually donning the Yellowjacket suit himself (which he seemed to have masterful control of along with fight training) and becoming a full-fledged "villain" felt more natural. It happened very quickly at the end there.

The way I thought about it is he'd probably tested and even trained extensively in the suit at it's full size before miniaturizing it.

As a power hungry scientist/businessman you wouldn't just make a suit like that and not give it a few good test runs before moving on to the Pym particle applications.

 

[metaphysician]

Darren is definitely one of the MCU's better villains because he was layered & wasn't just a guy the hero had to get through to be a real hero. He was driven by real intentions & motivations that were made apparent over the film. The problem is...

Spoiler

Marvel made the same exact mistake and killed him at the end of the film.

Spoiler

Unless they decide they didn't. After all, he got killed via shrinking. . . and we know Scott survived it. If they really wished to bring Darren Cross back, they could, probably as part of a "save Janet" plot.

 

[Loki882]

His motivations were dull and uninteresting. He was a spoiled brat/poed a-hole with daddy issues. Or he was just crazy. Either way, boring.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Yeah to me he just came off like a low-rent Lex Luthor. I really liked the movie as a whole but I found the villain pretty weak.

 

[Wildcard]

Spoiler

Unless they decide they didn't. After all, he got killed via shrinking. . . and we know Scott survived it. If they really wished to bring Darren Cross back, they could, probably as part of a "save Janet" plot.

True, that's a good point. Would be nice to see something to that effect happen so we can see more of him. And c'mon, that suit was just badass. t:

 

[DaddlerTheDalek]

I don't think he was weak. Yellowjacket was way more fleshed out than those villains you mentioned.

Darren Cross motivation is clear and is shown to be incredibly ruthless.

Spoiler

His goal is to get revenge on Hank and prove he is superior to him.

The character adopted Ultron's relationship with Hank Pym from the comics

Darren Cross is a surrogate son to Hank but Hank has pushed him away to keep his Ant-Man technology from him. Hank also lied to Darren for years saying the technology was just a rumour. Cross felt betrayed and abandoned so forced Hank out of his company. Cross has been taking Hank's technology and improving it as he believes he is better than Hank but is really just bitter.

He is selling the Yellowjacket suit. By having the Ant-Man suit there is no competition for his suit. Cross says this in the movie.

Cross keeps the Pym Particles because the suits need them to work. If he controls the supply of Pym particles he controls the people using his suits. It is leverage and makes him powerful. This is said in the film.

Cross wants to kill Hank because he has been made crazy from to much Pym particle exposure, because Hank is trying to stop him and because of his surrogate daddy issue with Hank.

Pretty much this. [BLACKOUT]Especially the Ultron analogy.[/BLACKOUT]

 

[PelvicSorcery]

He was a little generic, but not as bad as people are making him out to be. Frankly I forget the details about some of the MCU villains a week after I watch their films, but Cross was pretty memorable to me. I mean, he threatened to kill a little girl and literally led lambs to the slaughter...

The final battle was also memorable because of The Cure, Thomas the Tank Engine, etc I guess that doesn't have much to do with him, but a good battle helps in making a memorable adversary

 

[Mike Murdock]

literally led lambs to the slaughter...

I loved that, "What's the difference?"

 

[The Guard]

What an awful, awful villain. Completely generic and rendered with a complete lack of subtlety. Just awful.

 

[747]

Not awful, not great. But I really enjoyed Stoll's performance.

 

[CaptainWagner]

Cross was definitely one of the MCU's better villains. A good arc and complex motivations, plus an excellent design. Unfortuantly, he still suffered from the agonizing refusal to put any sort of investment into the villain's story whatsoever that has plagued so many Marvel films. Basically, if it doesn't progress the plot, Cross doesn't get a chance to do much of anything to make him memorable. [BLACKOUT]And the decision to kill him off makes this even worse. Sure they can bring him back if they want, but why is Marvel so intent on not leaving the villains alive?[/BLACKOUT]

 

[Mike Murdock]

I suppose they want Scott's identity to stay a secret?

 

[The Guard]

Cross was definitely one of the MCU's better villains. A good arc and complex motivations, plus an excellent design. Unfortuantly, he still suffered from the agonizing refusal to put any sort of investment into the villain's story whatsoever that has plagued so many Marvel films. Basically, if it doesn't progress the plot, Cross doesn't get a chance to do much of anything to make him memorable. [BLACKOUT]And the decision to kill him off makes this even worse. Sure they can bring him back if they want, but why is Marvel so intent on not leaving the villains alive?[/BLACKOUT]

What arc did he have, exactly?

What complex motivations?

The man was basically just "crazy" and "evil" and desired money and power, and there was a smidgen about maybe not feeling worthy of Hank. None of it well executed or explored, or presented in a particularly interesting manner. Even the performance was rather one-note and medicore.

And he was barely a threat. The stakes in this movie were almost nonexistent. He killed what, one person and damaged some children's toys? I didn't feel like Scott was ever legitimately in danger. Did he even get a scratch?

It's a little sad to hear people talking him as one of Marvel's "top" villains. That says something about the state of their villain-work of late.

 

[JtheDreamer]

What arc did he have, exactly?

What complex motivations?

The man was basically just "crazy" and "evil" and desired money and power, and there was a smidgen about maybe not feeling worthy of Hank. None of it well executed or explored, or presented in a particularly interesting manner. Even the performance was rather one-note and medicore.

You clearly weren't paying too much attention. The attempted complexity with his character had to do with being a "neglected protege".

Having said that, I do feel as though his transition into ruthlessness could have been better. The other thing is he and Lang had no history, so it took some punch out of the 3rd act.

 

[Supernova]

Great look as yellow jacket but overall he was a smidge under jeff bridges honestly, same type of motivation as well. Just wish marvel would have better villians like DC seems to have which actually pose a threat to the heroes and not just the third act.

 

[Spiderdevil]

DC had one great villain in so many years (Joker), and suddenly they are the gold standard in the Villain department?

If we really need to take inspiration, I would take it from Fox, all their versions of Mageneto has been spot on (especially Fassbender's), Striker, Shaw and Trask have been pretty good too

 

[CaptainWagner]

What arc did he have, exactly?

What complex motivations?

The man was basically just "crazy" and "evil" and desired money and power, and there was a smidgen about maybe not feeling worthy of Hank. None of it well executed or explored, or presented in a particularly interesting manner. Even the performance was rather one-note and medicore.

And he was barely a threat. The stakes in this movie were almost nonexistent. He killed what, one person and damaged some children's toys? I didn't feel like Scott was ever legitimately in danger. Did he even get a scratch?

It's a little sad to hear people talking him as one of Marvel's "top" villains. That says something about the state of their villain-work of late.

There are two major problems here:

1) Did you acttually watch the same movie as everyone else? Cross felt betrayed by a mentor who neglected and turned on him. He was slowly being driven crazy by his research. WHile these threads didn't nearly get the focus they deserved, they were still there.

2) So basically what you're saying is everyone has to be a world-stopping powerhouse to be a threat? It's not just you, but leading up to Ant-man, people were constantly complaining about the "Marvel formula" and how they needed to do some smaller scale threats. Now they do, and those same people turn on them for it.