Ant-Man movies in order: how many Paul Rudd Marvel films are there - which sequence should you watch them in?

There’s a new Ant-Man movie out this month, bringing Paul Rudd’s microscopic Marvel hero face to face with Jonathan Majors’ fearsome new villain Kang the Conqueror.

But this new Ant-Man movie… it’s called Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. There’s a bit of wordplay there (“Quantumania” hides the word “ant” and “man” inside it), but you know what there isn’t? A number. How are you supposed to know which Ant-Man movie this is, or when you should watch it in relation to the other two that were released earlier?

And, of course, that’s not even mentioning the fact that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is full of crossovers and cameos – are you really getting the full Ant-Man experience if you only watch the Ant-Man movies? Where do the Avengers fit into all of this? What about Captain America? When should you watch those?

Fear not, gentle-yet-confused reader: here’s everything you need to know about the Ant-Man movies, and which order you should watch them in.

Ant-Man (2015)

What’s it about? Former SHIELD scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) – inventor of the Pym particle, a special molecule that lets people shrink to microscopic size – and his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) recruit the talents of well-meaning thief Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to help them steal back missing Pym particles before they’re used for nefarious means.

Where can I watch it? You can watch Ant-Man on Disney+ right here.

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

What’s it about? Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) have had a falling out, ostensibly over whether or not superheroes should work with the government, but really because Iron Man has learned that Captain America’s best friend killed his mother. Captain America asks Ant-Man to help him fight Iron Man in an airport.

Where can I watch it? You can watch Captain America: Civil War on Disney+ right here.

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

What’s it about? Hank Pym is trying to open the Quantum Realm to find his wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), who once shrank to subatomic level and has been trapped in this other dimension ever since. Everyone is annoyed at Scott Lang for getting involved in the Captain America/Iron Man fight, so he tries to make up for it by helping to find Janet. Meanwhile, Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen) – daughter of one of Pym’s former research partners – seeks revenge after Pym’s experiments left her with a chronic pain condition.

Where can I watch it? You can watch Ant-Man and the Wasp on Disney+ right here.

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

What’s it about? At the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scott Lang gets trapped in the Quantum Realm – meaning he misses the events of the big crossover movie Avengers: Infinity War. Escaping from the Quantum Realm to find the world devasted by Thanos, Scott recruits the remaining Avengers for a time heist to steal the Infinity Stones from an earlier point in the timeline and restore the universe to normal.

Where can I watch it? You can watch Avengers: Endgame on Disney+ right here.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

What’s it about? Ant-Man and friends – including his now grown-up daughter Cassie – are pulled into the Quantum Realm, where they’re forced to face up the fearsome villain Kang. Will Ant-Man survive his latest awesome adventure?

Where can I watch it? You can watch Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in cinemas now. We don’t yet know when it’ll arrive on Disney+, but Black Panther: Wakanda Forever had a theatrical window of about four months – suggesting you’ll be able to stream Quantumania by the summer.

Are there any other Ant-Man appearances I should be trying to catch up on?

Paul Rudd voices Scott Lang in an episode of the Marvel cartoon What If…?, which explores different possibilities and alternate paths that the universe might’ve unfolded along. Rudd appears in an episode that asks “What if… Zombies?!”. You can probably guess what that’s about.

If you enjoyed Randall Park’s performance as FBI agent Jimmy Woo in Ant-Man and the Wasp, you might want to check out WandaVision to see him reprise the role there.