Michael Douglas will play Hank Pym, the inventor of the Ant-Man tech, in Edgar Wright's Marvel movie.
Edgar Wright's Ant-Man movie is taking shape in a most unexpected way. Hank Pym has been cast...and it's Michael Douglas. Hank Pym is the inventor of the Ant-Man technology (and in the comics, the most famous Ant-Man, not to mention the inventor of Ultron), which almost certainly means that Paul Rudd is playing the Scott Lang version of the character.
"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. "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."
"...you actually do a prologue where you see Pym as Ant-Man in action in the 60's, in sort of "Tales to Astonish" mode basically, and then the contemporary, sort of flash-forward, is Scott Lang's story, and how he comes to acquire the suit, how he crosses paths with Henry Pym, and then, in an interesting sort of Machiavellian way, teams up with him."
Now, let's not take a nearly eight year old quote to heart, but it's clear that Wright always planned to have both Hank Pym and Scott Lang in the picture. But the idea of a flashback to the 1960s Marvel cinematic universe is almost too delicious and would certainly add a layer to the Marvel films that we haven't seen before. Perhaps this is something that will make it to the film. Kevin Feige's description of Ant-Man as a "heist film" indicates that Scott Lang will have to get the Ant-Man gear from Pym by unsavory means. Why would he do that? Well...the e-mail from Variety was headlined "Michael Douglas to play villain in Marvel's Ant-Man." We suppose this could be a case of whoever sent the message not being familiar with the source material...or perhaps not. Regardless, Ant-Man sounds like it might be a much more layered movie than we might have expected!
Ant-Man opens on July 31st, 2015.
More on this as we get it!
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