If Michael Douglas had his way, Hank Pym would have been killed off in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
The actor was on The View promoting his Apple TV+ series, Franklin, where he was asked about wanting his character to die in Quantumania. “This actually was my request for the third one,” Douglas explained. “I said I’d like to have a serious [death], with all these great special effects. There’s got to be some fantastic way where I can shrink to an ant size and explode, whatever it is.“
Douglas continued, “I want to use all those effects. But, that was on the last one. Now, I don’t think I’m going to show up.” That last comment makes it sound as though we’ve seen the last of Hank Pym. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania didn’t receive the best reviews, which, coupled with a lackluster box-office, significantly reduces the chances of a fourth Ant-Man movie. During the red-carpet premiere for Quantumania last year, Douglas was asked by THR if he would return for Ant-Man 4, to which he said, “As long as I could die.“
Although Hank Pym wasn’t killed off in Quantumania, screenwriter Jeff Loveness teased last year that they were considering several major deaths, and you’d have to imagine that Pym was on the table. “We certainly gamed out a ton of scenarios, but it just felt a little obvious,” Loveness said. “It’s up for debate, but it just felt like we’d be copying the Thanos approach where he comes in pretty heavy and wipes the floor with everybody. I certainly see the critiques and all that, but this is a multi-step story that we’re telling. It’s also an Ant-Man movie. (Laughs.) I think people say they want that, but do you really want to see Paul Rudd get murdered in his third movie? It was all debated, all discussed and all gamed out, but in The Wizard of Oz, you don’t want to see Dorothy die and never go home. It’s supposed to be one of these classic adventure movies. If everyone gets eaten in Jurassic Park, I don’t know if you’ll want to see the next Jurassic Park.“
Michael Douglas can currently be seen starring in Franklin on Apple TV+, and you can check out a review of the miniseries from our own Alex Maidy right here.
Should Hank Pym have been killed off in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania?