Paul Rudd: Being invited into Marvel like joining Dancing with the Stars

Paul Rudd may not have seemed like the most likely candidate to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe–and nobody is more aware of that than Rudd himself.

In a recent interview with Men’s Health, Paul Rudd discussed how he teamed up with Marvel in the early-ish days, signing on for 2015’s Ant-Man. “My agent set up a meeting with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Marvel was pretty new. They weren’t even part of Disney. It would’ve been like somebody saying, How would you feel about doing Dancing with the Stars?”

Paul Rudd’s phrasing almost implies the Marvel Cinematic Universe was filled with washed-up stars like the celeb-riddled reality competition show. But he clarifies, saying it was just an odd fit for him. Wait, the bimbo surfer from Forgetting Sarah Marshall is joining the hot franchise? But hey, when life gives you lemons…“A superhero franchise was never on my radar. I never really thought I was the type of actor that they would offer any of those parts to. But when this idea came around, I was excited about doing something that was so out of left field, and I knew that if it was announced that I was going to be joining a superhero franchise, most people would say, What the fuck?”

Paul Rudd has now played Scott Lang/Ant-Man four times for Marvel. In addition to the Ant-Man series–the third entry of which, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania–comes to theaters on February 17th, he appeared in both Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Endgame. That Rudd was trusted to both wrap up Phase Two and launch Phase Five shows how much trust Marvel has in the actor. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige showed his confidence when he previously stated, “We wanted to kick off Phase Five with Ant-Man because he’d earned that position…To not simply be the back-up or the comic relief, but to take his position at the front of the podium of the MCU.”

How do you feel Paul Rudd ranks in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Has he earned his place to launch Phase Five? Let us know below!