Michael Douglas Joins Ant-Man As Hank Pym

[Andy Chalk]

Michael Douglas Joins Ant-Man As Hank Pym

Marvel says the veteran actor will bring "weight and stature" to the role of Hank Pym.

Marvel's upcoming Ant-Man flick got a big boost with today's announcement that two-time Academy Award winner Michael Douglas is taking on the role of Hank Pym. "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," Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said. "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."

Pym, a biophysicist, became the original Ant-Man after he discovered a chemical compound that allowed him to alter his size. Along with his wife Janet Van Dyne, who took on the persona of The Wasp, he was a founding member of The Avengers, and would later assume other crime-fighting identities including Giant-Man, Goliath and Yellowjacket.

Marvel also confirmed that Paul Rudd, who was announced as the star of the film last month [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/130704-Anchorman-Co-Star-Set-To-Play-Marvels-Ant-Man], will play Scott Lang, a one-time thief who stole Pym's Ant-Man suit but later reformed and took on the role himself. In Marvel Comics continuity, Lang is killed by Jack of Hearts, but later returns to life, as superheroes tend to do.

Ant-Man is being directed by Edgar Wright and is scheduled to hit theaters on July 31, 2015.

Source: Marvel [http://marvel.com/news/movies/2014/1/13/21746/michael_douglas_to_star_as_hank_pym_in_marvels_ant-man]


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[Trishbot]

Okay, I would be just fine with Catherine Zeta-Jones as The Wasp.

 

[Therumancer]

Well sort of, I'd say Scott Lang was actually killed by The Scarlet Witch.

Just to nerdgasm for a bit here, at the beginning of "The Civil War" the first thing that happened was the breakup of The Avengers, one of the elements paving the way for it. Which is why later things like Hercules doing "The Mighty Avengers" and "The Dark Avengers" and "The Initiative" were big deals for a while since there was a lot of debate as to when they were going to reform the team and who the new members were going to be.

At any rate what happened was "The Scarlet Witch" pretty much went totally off the deep end, and even without consciously realizing it was using her probability warping powers to alter reality and orchestrate events such as the Skrull invasion, and The Kree attacking before The Civil War largely to get The Skrulls who were not yet known to be a real presence and to be replacing various characters. The big thing was "Jack Of Hearts" pretty much arrived at the mansion to warn The Avengers but detonated, taking out a good portion of it, including Ant Man, right before The Kree showed up and pretty much finished the job. The storyline was called "Avengers Disassembled" I believe, it's been a while. The point more or less being that Jack didn't like murder Scott or anything, he more or less took him out in the process of himself dying, and all of this garbage all goes back to Wanda being totally Cuckhoo (since taken away by Doctor Strange and Magneto at the conclusion).

-

That said I'm kind of "meh" about the whole Ant Man thing as far as movies go. Pym has been around for a long time and is behind a lot of stuff that's important to the Marvel continuity. The thing is that he's a deeply flawed character and one of the big parts of the character, and avengers history, is how Henry Pym was a wife beater, smacking around Janet for a while, and his quest for redemption there. To me it seems like bringing Scott out as the primary hero, with Pym probably being relegated to a creator/mentor type is that is ruins what little depth the character actually has, as it was his deep desire for redemption and him being rightfully denied it for so long that lead to him adopting some of his various identities like Yellowjacket.

But then again I'm also one of those people who believes Tony Stark's battle with alcoholism was a defining part of what made him into the hero we're familiar with (even if this came along a while into his run). One of the problems I had with the "Iron Man" movies is that as good as they are, the way they launched them makes it rather difficult to
ever really tell that story or have it change the character into an even bigger hero in the end.

In short The Avengers have always been sort of a dysfunctional family with things like this coming up periodically. In the case of "Ant Man" he's really got pretty much the one character arc when you get down to it, and I just can't see why you'd WANT "Ant Man" as an IP if your going to start with Scott Lang, and not deal with the whole question as to whether an irredeemable A1 arsehole can ever truely redeem himself no matter how heroic he becomes.

 

[JarinArenos]

I am quite okay with this. I much prefer Pym in the scientist role to the hero role. Like Bruce Banner, he's far more interesting when working with crazy sci/tech than he is when punching badguys.

Besides, the ant suit is such an amazing tool for a thief. The scenes just write themselves.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

That's...interesting. I'm assuming that Pym will discover the Pym particles and make the suit, then Lang steals it. Maybe Pym will briefly wear the suit, I just don't see Douglas doing anything action-y.

 

[Tanis]

Isn't Michael Douglas the guy who blamed his cancer on oral sex?


Sorry, but stupid stuff like that just kind of sticks with me.

Here's hoping he can actually pull it off.

 

[vid87]

Just heard about this - that's a hell of a reveal, even if it amounts to stunt-casting. I was kind've looking forward to Pym and Lang fighting each other at some point. Worse though is the tidbit about a possible scene from the 50's when Pym first discovered the formula, which means that creepy "cgi old actor 40 years younger" thing they did in X-Men and Tron 2.

 

[Mr. Q]

I'm kind of split on the news of Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. On the one hand, its great to see another Hollywood staple take part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I just hope he's physically up to the challenge. Plus, these days, he could use a good movie role after Last Vegas.

That said, its rather disheartening to learn that the original passing of the torch concept is going to be the focus of the Ant-Man movie. True, its nice to see a legacy story take shape in the MCU but this greatly undermines any possibility of exploring Hank Pym's past plus it leaves the fate of Janet Van Dyne up in the air. Will she be integrated into the story as Scott Lang's boyfriend (definitely taking liberties with the cannon, Marvel) or is she being left out of the MCU completely? Seriously, Marvel. Don't cut out another great female character just because Joe Quesada was talking out of his ass. His role in One More Day pretty much killed any reason to listen to him about his views of marriage and the opposite sex.

I'm hoping there is some more news about this and preferably good news in the near future. I so want to stay positive about this but the fact that Hank Pym is given a supporting role breaks my heart. Pym was a founder of the Avengers from day one and a major player in the MU. I almost get the feeling like Pym's past in the comics is the reason behind all this. I'd hate to think that a potentially great character was getting the shaft possibly due to some bad decisions by a writer and editor trying to inject some "realism" into comics. And, if anyone has seen MovieBob's two-part retrospective on Carol Danvers aka Ms. Marvel, you know how well that idea turned out.

Again, I'm speculating here (or having a fanboy panic attack, your pick). I truly hope to be proven 100% wrong about this once further news comes out.

 

[MarsProbe]

I'm guessing with that "other guy" (I haven't seen Anchorman, so if that's what Paul Rudd is best known for, well yeh....) taking on the starring role, he'll be handling the action aspects of the film while Michael Douglas will be doing all the science stuff.

Well, haven't never really been into the comics, this news doesn't really either excite/disappoint me, insofar as to Hank Pym having more of a supporting role than anything else.

 

[JaredXE]

But will he be abusing his wife in this version?

I kid, kinda. But if Pym is going to be in his 70's, then Janet is certainly going to have to be revamped as someone who is not his wife. Because really, Michael Douglas being paired with a woman 30 years younger is just too unbelievable.

 

[raingod]

The story became like The Invisible Man's spinoff/reboot or whatever it is called. A scientist invented something then someone stole it and used it. I think in the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the invisible man there told his story like that.

 

[Boyd Jamison]

The story became like The Invisible Man's spinoff/reboot or whatever it is called. A scientist invented something then someone stole it and used it. I think in the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the invisible man there told his story like that.

Yeah I can see it working out like this, mostly because I'm not sure Douglas will want to be around for every new installment of Antman or The Avengers. He probably just wants onboard while it's making money/ Marvel wants to hire a big name actor to draw casual fans into the theatres because Antman isn't a big name superhero. Paul Rudd will probably end up doing most of the legwork and will be the one to feature in other films while Douglas cameos.