Marvel Studios has quite a lengthy list of things they've done right regarding their movies and characters. "Good Villains" is not on that list – unless the quantifier is "One-dimensional villains." In that case, no one does it better.
From Obadiah Stane in Iron Man all the way to Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man's Darren Cross continues the tradition of villains that love being evil for the sake of being evil with just the subtlest hint of pathos. Even Cross' Yellowjacket presentation was a highlight reel of evil-doing complete with shooting a guy in the face from a briefcase and a mid-traffic assassination that causes multiple car wrecks. It was so evil it was funny.
What gets lost in all this evil-i-tude is the fact that Corey Stoll is a great actor. Seeing him in Ant-Man and then The Strain is like watching two different people. And its not just the fantastic wig in The Strain. Stoll has the ability to pull back a little bit of the evil and show a character that we can empathize with, but that clearly wasn't the direction. With having to squeeze in character arcs for Hope van Dyne and Hank Pym, along with the Moron's Three plus Scott Lang and family, Stoll had one direction: we need to know you're evil and make it FAST!
Granted, not everyone needs to have the emotional depth of Magneto. Some dudes ARE just bad dudes out for making bank no matter where they can get it (Hydra). But there are enough hints from Hope and Hank that at some point in the past, Darren Cross was a decent guy. Unfortunately, the hints don't jive with the character we're seeing who is one scene away from twirling his mustache while laughing like Skeletor.
-Gint
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