Fresh off of his Golden Globe win for BEHIND THE CANDELABRA, Michael Douglas will follow Robert Redford as a veteran Hollywood star joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But, where Redford is playing a non-hero, Douglas will be none other than ANT-MAN himself! Deadline broke the news that Douglas would be joining ANT-MAN as Hank Pym, the titular hero. Many supposed that Rudd would be Pym, but this all but cements that he will actually be playing Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man in Marvel comic history.
Marvel head Kevin Feige broke the news today on Marvel’s website:
”With Hank Pym’s rich history in the Marvel Universe, we knew we needed an actor capable of bringing the weight and stature to the role that the character deserves,” said Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige in the post. “We felt incredibly relieved when Michael Douglas agreed to step into the part with the charm and fortitude he brings to every character he inhabits, and couldn’t be more excited to see what he will do to bring Hank Pym to life.”
Director Edgar Wright previously hinted that while Hank Pym would appear in ANT-MAN, he shied away from actually saying he was the Ant-Man the movie would focus on. This does add an interesting wrinkle and leaves open the door for a potential ANT-MAN prequel with a different actor as a younger version of Hank Pym.
The dynamic of two characters who are both the same hero has not been explored in any Marvel films to date. The closest in any superhero movie could be Christian Bale and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, but even that was not a central part of the film. I think this will give a very unique mentor relationship to the film that we have not seen before. Douglas is, of course, an amazing actor and will do a cool job as Hank Pym.
ANT-MAN is slated to hit theaters on July 31, 2015.