Ant-Man Gets A Generic Marvel Poster

Could Ant-Man be Marvel’s first box-office small-fry? Coming on the heels of Avengers: Age of Ultron, the movie has been short-changed by the marketing department to a dismaying degree, especially when compared to the other July blockbusters (like Terminator Genisys and Pixels). Luckily, now that Age of Ultron is safely racking up hundreds of millions across the globe, Marvel can turn its attention to its smallest superhero and beef up the promos.

That new wave appears to be kicking off today, with an unavoidably generic poster that basically says “We know it’s not Avengers, but trust us, this is definitely a Marvel movie.” It mimics the studio’s long-standing practice of using a central figure surrounded by floating heads – for comparison’s sake, we’ve included the posters for Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor: The Dark World. You’ll see what we’re talking about.

Regardless, this is sure to be the first of many new ads for Ant-Man. Especially given the film’s troubled road to completion (with director Edgar Wright dropping out midway through production over script changes from Marvel), the studio has a huge investment in making sure its latest blockbuster, which rests awkwardly between Phase Two and Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, soars at the box office.

Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Abby Ryder Fortson, David Dastmalchian, Wood Harris, Judy Greer, Gregg Turkington, T.I. and John Slattery star in Ant-Man, opening July 17 in IMAX 3-D and regular formats.

The next evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time with Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man.” Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.