We got another big surprise out of the Marvel world yesterday with the announcement that Michael Douglas will be joining Paul Rudd (himself only recently confirmed) in the cast of Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man.
The 69-year-old winner of a piping fresh Golden Globe for his take on Liberace will play Hank Pym, a scientist and Man of Ants himself, which has in turn confirmed that Paul Rudd will be playing Scott Lang. Traditional Marvel lore has Scott Lang becoming Ant-Man after he steals the technology from Pym, ostensibly to save his daughter, and is ultimately allowed to keep it and go straight. With no details on the script for Wright’s film, it’s impossible to say how much, if any, of that origin will hold up here.
In any event, Douglas spoke with Reuters and cites a common actor motivation for joining a summer blockbuster (that sounds nicer than “the paycheck” anyway).
“I’ve been dying to do a Marvel picture for so long,” Douglas told Reuters on Monday. “The script is really fun, the director is really good. Dylan (the actor’s 13-year-old son) will love it. He’ll have a picture he can see.”
He also mentions shaking things up for audiences and himself, which is truly a reason Marvel has made such a great decision. I think we’re all hoping Wright’s foray into tentpole filmmaking will be a great one, and solid casting so far is a good sign (even if casting has never been any Marvel film’s biggest problem).
With the MCU becoming such a dominant force in the blockbuster world, there’s no limit to what actors might appear in the future- any out there you hope to see sign on one day?