Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania might’ve earned unwanted comparisons to such cinematic stinkers as Spy-Kids 3 and Tron: Legacy, but it turns out that its predecessor Ant-Man actually deserved to be accused of pinching plot points from another movie but has gotten away with it for the best part of a decade. Whether intentional or not, 2015’s Paul Rudd vehicle bears surprising similarities to a bonafide classic of the swashbuckler genre that dates back 25 years.
As outlined by Redditor u/Thunderationx on the r/MarvelStudios sub, a rewatch of 1998’s The Mask of Zorro left them agog after they spotted so many points of comparison between the Marvel origins movie and the action/adventure film starring Antonio Banderas as Zorro, a character often labeled as a precursor to the superhero model.
The film-literate fan listed multiple ways Ant-Man robs from Mask, with both pictures featuring a “younger outlaw” who is taken in by a retired older hero who trains them up to replace them, only for the newbie to fall in love with their mentor’s daughter. The OP admits this is a “fairly traditional hero’s journey,” but even so the direct links between these stories give us pause.
It really shouldn’t have taken this long for someone to realize the blatant similarities between these two movies, considering that Mask of Zorro actor Anthony Hopkins has been part of the MCU all along as Odin. What’s more, director Peyton Reed practically spelled it out for us in 2018 follow-up Ant-Man and the Wasp when Scott Lang named one of his insectoid allies “Ant-onio Banderas.” And, to extend the comparison, both movies had sequels so bad they killed all interest in furthering their franchises.