When you’re trying to figure out who the very best Avenger is, it can be pretty easy to overlook Ant-Man. Part of this, of course, is due to his powers -- it’s tough to see someone the size of an ant when you have giant characters such as Thor and Hulk roaming about. But it’s also hard to understand the contributions that Ant-Man has made, as he often practices a different kind of heroics than his teammates. However, you can make a pretty good case that Ant-Man is the best Avenger of all-time. He is a brilliant inventor, a fearless adventurer, and someone whose intellect has completely changed the world around him. He has already created a rich and complex heroic legacy, and he is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Then again, there’s also quite the dark streak within Ant-Man. Sure, he is fearless in the face of supervillains, but he has also been known to be cruel and abusive to his friends and loved ones. And while he has changed the world via his scientific breakthroughs, he has also unleashed evil which has threatened the entire planet on quite a few occasions. That brings us to the debate, then: is Ant-Man the very best Avenger? The very worst Avenger? Or is he simply somewhere in-between? To answer this, we’re going to have to take a tour through his whole strange history. Grab your super suit and buckle up, then, as we explore all the reasons why Ant-Man is the best Avenger (and why he’s the worst).

19 BEST: RICH LEGACY

One metric for how great an Avenger is concerns their legacy. Specifically, whether or not they inspired any other heroes to follow in their footsteps in the fight against evil. And while Ant-Man has his share of problems, no one can deny that he has been hugely inspirational.

There is the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym, who blazed the trail for others to follow. There is the second Ant-Man, reformed thief Scott Lang (the one casual fans are most familiar with due to the Marvel Cinematic Universe). Finally, there’s Eric O’Grady, an amoral S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent who uses his powers for personal gain as well as victory over evil.

18 WORST: SECRET SUPERVILLAIN

A major argument against Ant-Man being a good Avenger is that he’s a hot mess. Over the years, we have seen him struggle with mental illness (more on this later) and hurt those around him. Perhaps the biggest argument against his status as the ultimate Avenger is that he’s quite literally his own worst enemy.

In the first Ant-Man movie, we see the classic tale of Ant-Man struggling against his evil doppleganger, Yellowjacket. However, in the comics, Yellowjacket was the codename that Ant-Man used when he was going crazy. This means that when the MCU decided to pick his greatest villain for his first movie, they basically chose... Ant-Man himself!

17 BEST: SUPER GENIUS

In choosing the best Avenger, it’s important to consider how smart they are. We can see this in the MCU with Tony Stark. Instead of simply being a strong guy in a stronger suit, Stark is also smart enough to understand any problem he sees and come up with a solution. However, did you know Ant-Man’s brain leaves Tony Stark’s in the dust?

The original Ant-Man, Hank Pym, was once dubbed “the Scientist Supreme” in the comics. This is because he is more than a problem-solving engineer like Tony Stark: instead, science becomes magic in his hands, as he discovers how to do everything from shrink to hopping dimensions. Much more impressive than just building dozens of suits!

16 WORST: CONSTANT JEALOUSY

A good Avenger (and good heroes in general, for that matter) is someone who is selfless and willing to put others first. That’s one of the reasons people admire Captain America so much. Unfortunately, Ant-Man will never really be like this due to his constant jealousy of others.

In the comics, for instance, the original breakdown in his relationship with Wasp occurred because he was jealous of other men who admired her. And different iterations of the character, such as the Ultimates version, resorts to violence and threats over his jealousy of Captain America. And, of course, he has historically been jealous of Wasp herself, as she has wealth and fame that he can never quite achieve for himself.

15 BEST: LADIES' MAN

It may be a bit shallow, but another metric for truly great Avengers is how quickly others fall in love with them. On-screen and off-screen, we see lots of people develop feelings for characters like Captain America or Iron Man. And it turns out that Ant-Man is quite the ladies’ man in his own right.

We’re not just talking about America’s ongoing crush with Paul Rudd, either. But his particular Ant-Man has dated Hope’s character on-screen and Jessica Jones in the comics. Meanwhile, the original Ant-Man has been with everyone from the Wasp to Tigra. The world didn’t always love Ant-Man, but it’s clear that the ladies did.

14 WORST: ULTRON CREATOR

The biggest stain on Ant-Man’s career as a hero is one that was wiped out entirely by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the MCU, Tony Stark is responsible for creating the villain Ultron, and the Avengers stop his evil pursuits for good. In the comics, Ant-Man creates Ultron, and the villain just keeps coming back.

In all fairness, Ant-Man didn’t set out to create an evil robot. Much like in the movie, Ultron simply gains self-awareness and soon goes evil. But due to the frequent reappearances and countless lives taken by Ultron, Ant-Man (and the world) are constantly haunted by this mistake from the past.

13 BEST: DIMENSION HOPPER

One of the ways we sometimes evaluate how good an Avenger is their ability to be a hero on many different levels. Ant-Man sees that metric and he’ll definitely raise us. This is because he has the ability to be a hero across multiple dimensions!

He can do this through his famous Pym particle which actually come from another dimension, so the more he experiments with them, the more he learns about that dimension. We can see the MCU exploring this idea with the Quantum Realm. Only time will tell what all happens in that realm, but we know that only Ant-Man can tame that wild place.

12 WORST: LAME VILLAINS

There is a cliché about superheroes that happens to be completely true: you can judge how good the hero is by how good their villains are. This is one of the reasons that the public loves characters like Batman or Spider-Man -- they have an amazing rogues’ gallery. As for Ant-Man, well... it’s pretty sad.

Obviously, Ultron is a pretty great villain. Once you get past him, though, Ant-Man is fighting a lot of nobodies like Egghead and Whirlwind and Black Knight. Your instant question of “who?” is one of the reasons Ant-Man may never be the greatest of the various Avengers.

11 BEST: SUPER STRENGTH

A pretty direct measure of how great a hero is would be how much they can do. This concerns both their specialized skills as well as their specialized powers. In this sense, one of the things that makes Ant-Man a great Avenger is that he may just be the strongest.

While Hulk and Thor are usually contending for that title, Ant-Man’s ability to get huge suddenly gives him the strength and power of an old school movie monster. Some of the villains that gave Captain America and Iron Man a hard time are ones that Ant-Man can squish in one hand. With power like that, he may end up the greatest Avenger of all.

10 WORST: UNSTABLE

Aside from creating Ultron, there is another stain on Ant-Man’s legacy that may forever keep him from greatness. Specifically, the character is crazy. We don’t mean that as a silly adjective or a sideways compliment, either -- the dude is literally unstable.

Originally, this occurred due to chemicals he inhaled that made him basically schizophrenic. That later became a kind of Multiple Personality Disorder, and he eventually recovered from this. However, he is later brainwashed by Ultron, and even after that, he is a violent breakdown. Nowadays, the character is considered recovered from all of that, but heroes and readers alike can’t help but view Ant-Man as a bomb that could go off any minute now.

9 BEST: CHANGED THE WORLD

When it comes to who the greatest heroes are, we often talk about a character’s legacy. Sometimes, a legacy is comprised of who a hero has inspired, and sometimes, it’s simply about what they have done. With Ant-Man, it’s all about the Pym Particles, as they ended up changing the world!

Instead of merely using these particles to shrink and expand, Ant-Man has shared them with others over the years. He’s helped the Fantastic Four save their lives and explore strange new worlds, and his invention has helped Beast learn about the mutant gene. And on one memorable occasion, Pym Particles helped S.H.I.E.L.D. defeat Godzilla! There is no doubt that Ant-Man left a serious mark on the world.

8 WORST: DESTROYER OF WORLDS

Both by himself and with the Avengers, Ant-Man has saved the world on a number of occasions. Unfortunately, there is something dark that may overshadow this. It appears that on some level, Ant-Man actually wants to destroy the entire world.

When it comes to Ultron, Ant-Man’s guilt doesn’t merely stem from creating the villain. He would later reveal that Ultron was created using some of Ant-Man’s own brain patterns. This means that (as Ant-Man himself would reluctantly note) that Ultron IS Hank Pym on some level. The only real conclusion is that this veteran hero must have a heck of a dark side!

7 BEST: ILLUMINATI MEMBER

In our world, many people believe that the Illuminati secretly controls power, money, and influence. To find proof of their existence, believers scan everything from music videos to dollar bills to seek out hidden signs. Marvel Comics fans don’t have to look very far, though: the Illuminati are very real, and Ant-Man is one of them!

The secret group was meant to be a think tank of some of the biggest brains and powers on the planet, including figures like Professor X and Doctor Strange and Iron Man. Ant-Man later joined this group and went on a dimension-hopping mission to learn more about the Beyonders, proving he’s one of the greatest heroes of them all.

6 WORST: WRONG SIDE OF CIVIL WAR

Part of what made Captain America: Civil War a good movie is that it was better than the comic it was based on. The movie was good at giving us shades of gray, while the comic made it very clear that Captain America was right and Iron Man was wrong. In fact, Iron Man’s “side” did many sketchy things, and it helped show us that Ant-Man is a bit of a fascist.

Ant-Man in the comics is instrumental in designing a special prison in another universe. What they did was throw anyone who did not register as a superhero into the prison, with no trial. It was a gross time for many of these “heroes” and showed what Ant-Man would do to his “friends.”

5 BEST: HEROIC FAMILY

As we talked about before, there are many different incarnations of Ant-Man. While that alone is proof of his heroic legacy, it gets even better: many family members of these characters end up as crimefighting heroes. In this sense, it seems heroism is simply in Ant-Man’s DNA.

Hank Pym, for instance, has a daughter who went on to become a different kind of Wasp (more on this later). And while Ultron is like his “evil son,” Ultron would go on to create heroic “grandchildren” for Pym such as Vision and Victor Mancha. And Scott Lang’s daughter Cassie would grow up to become a Young Avenger and make a big name for herself.

4 WORST: NEVER A LEADER

The original Ant-Man, Hank Pym, is a study in contrasts. On one hand, he is frighteningly brilliant, capable of scientific and engineering breakthroughs that most humans could never fully comprehend. On the other hand, he seems to be held back by a relative lack of ambition and vision.

Much of his history seems to be going along with what others want. His failed marriage to Wasp started because she manipulated him into it during one of his episodes, and he was framed and put on trial because he once did an odd job for villain Egghead. And in the Ultimate Universe, he goes along with a C-grade group of heroes because he’s lonely. Altogether, he often seems like he’s standing still compared to others!

3 BEST: FOUNDING AVENGER

For casual Marvel fans, Ant-Man probably seems like a late addition to the Avengers. After all, we only see him onscreen doing ensemble stuff when he helps out Captain America back in Civil War. However, the Ant-Man of the comics is actually a founding member of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes!

Both Ant-Man and Wasp were there at the very beginning when the Avengers came together, and they were there when the group found a frozen Captain America. If you’re feeling generous, then this means that Ant-Man is at least partially responsible for every life saved by both Cap and the Avengers as a whole!

2 WORST: PRETTY EASY TO BE SLEAZY

We’ve talked a lot about the idea of heroic legacies. Being a great hero means inspiring others to greatness, right? However, there is a bit of a black sheep when it comes to Ant-Man’s legacy. This is because the third Ant-Man is kind of a scumbucket!

The first Ant-Man is Hank Pym. The second is Scott Lang -- the thief with a heart of gold who headlines the Ant-Man MCU movies. The third is Eric O’Grady, who was merely a S.H.I.E.L.D. flunky who stole Pym’s suit. While he goes on to do heroic things, he also uses his shrinking powers to take photos of unsuspecting superheroes. To make it worse, he even planned to sell the photos and make a skeezy profit.

1 BEST: THE WORLD DEPENDS ON HIM

The Marvel Universe is fun because it is filled with crazy plots: things like hopping dimensions or traveling through time are just a regular occurrence. And it’s because of some of this weirdness that we were able to confirm that the world quite literally depends on Ant-Man.

The comics "Age of Ultron" event was very different from the movie. It involved Wolverine killing Ant-Man in the past so they wouldn’t end up in an Ultron-controlled future. This led to an alternate reality where Morgan le Fay has taken over most of the world and ends up killing almost all of our heroes. For whatever reason, Ant-Man’s very existence makes the world a better and safer place!