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marvel - How does mass conservation work in the MCU Ant-Man movie?


In Ant-Man, it's (briefly) explained that the Pym particle reduces the distance between molecules, allowing a person to shrink while retaining his mass and strength.


Much of the movie is consistent with this explanation. For example:



  • While ant-sized, Ant-Man falls from the edge of bathtub onto a tile floor, cracking the tile as though with the weight of a full sized human.

  • He falls from a rooftop onto a car, denting the roof.

  • He punches full sized humans, and they respond as though hit by a real punch.

  • Another character, while tiny, is hit by a speeding toy train. The train is knocked aside as though it hit a full sized human.


But then there are things that appear totally inconsistent with "mass stays the same":




  • Ant-Man is constantly running and climbing around on surfaces (air vents, ant tunnels, etc.) that couldn't possibly support the weight of a 200 lb man on a footprint the size of an ant.

  • The toy train, when expanded to the size of a real train, is heavy enough to rip through a wall and crush a police car.



  • Hank Pym carries a shrunken tank in his pocket on a keychain. It obviously doesn't weigh as much as a tank, but it does when expanded to full size.




  • Another character, while tiny, gets swatted with a (normal sized) table tennis paddle, and goes flying like an insect.



Obviously the out-of-universe explanation is that mass behaves in whatever way is most convenient at the moment because it's just for fun.


But I'm curious: is there any in-universe explanation, either hinted at in the film itself or in the comic books, as to why mass is conserved sometimes but not always?




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