ANT-MAN: Michael Douglas Pushed For Hank Pym's Death In QUANTUMANIA; Suggests He's Now Done With The Role

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania star Michael Douglas has revealed that he pushed for Hank Pym's death in the Marvel Studios threequel and strongly hints that he now won't be making his MCU return...

By JoshWilding - Apr 16, 2024 03:04 PM EST

Filed Under: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

When Marvel Studios finally launched the Ant-Man franchise in 2015, it was with Scott Lang as the MCU's main shrinking superhero. While that lined up with the comics to some extent, Hank Pym having retired after holding the mantle during the Cold War was a totally new concept.

While Paul Rudd's Ant-Man has earned a legion of fans, there were those understandably unhappy that a founding Avenger had been relegated to a supporting character in what should have been his own franchise.

A big part of the reason for the change was that Marvel Studios spent years waiting for Edgar Wright to helm Ant-Man, only to run into "creative differences" when the time came for cameras to roll. In that version of the movie, Hank would have become the villainous Black Ant.

Instead, he's served as a mentor to Scott over the years and eventually reunited with Janet Van Dyne when she was freed from the Quantum Realm.

Hank didn't really bring much to the table in the poorly received Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, and actor Michael Douglas has now confirmed he wanted to end his stint as the character in the threequel.

"This actually was my request for the third one," the 79-year-old said. "I said I’d like to have a serious [death], with all these great special effects. There’s got to be some fantastic way where I can shrink to an ant size and explode, whatever it is. I want to use all those effects."

"But, that was on the last one," he added. "Now, I don’t think I’m going to show up."

Well, that doesn't bode well for his MCU future, does it? It sounds an awful lot like Douglas won't reprise the role if asked, though we suppose there's a chance Marvel Studios can convince him to come back and die as Hank in one of the upcoming Avengers movies (if the money is right).

This isn't the first time Douglas has alluded to being unhappy with his character being left alive as he previously said he'll only return for a fourth Ant-Man movie "as long as [he] could die." Unfortunately, the critical and commercial response to Quantumania makes that highly unlikely (especially with Disney CEO Bob Iger looking to move away from sequels which aren't guaranteed hits).

You can hear more from Douglas in the player below. Be sure to stay tuned for updates on Ant-Man's future as we have them.

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87 Comments

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MisterDoctor217 - 4/16/2024, 3:58 PM

Damn lol

I get why tho , they have totally been wasting their talents.

Guys got freaking Michael Douglas and Michelle Pheiffer in a movie and the sideline them for Rudd and Lily ?

They could have made a 70s retro movie with them as leads and they chose Quantumania and The Marvels instead lol

Kurban - 4/16/2024, 4:03 PM

@MisterDoctor217 - Shit they barely even utilized Lilly in the last one. Everybody was wasted in Quantumania.

clintthahamster - 4/16/2024, 4:03 PM

@MisterDoctor217 - If they made a two hour feature where the leads were BOTH de-aged for the whole thing, jesus, the budget would be like half-a-billion.

mountainman - 4/16/2024, 4:03 PM

@MisterDoctor217 - A flashback project of Hank and Janet in their youth would be great. But the de-aging for an entire movie would be too expensive. They’d have to cast younger actors.

MisterDoctor217 - 4/16/2024, 4:04 PM

@Kurban -

Yeah that’s true I forgot , it was mostly Lang and his daughter smh

MisterDoctor217 - 4/16/2024, 4:05 PM

@Clintthahamster -

Well I mean they’ve been wasting money already lately , but I think it’d be better received and something fans actually want to see.

Plus didn’t Scorsese do it with the Irishman ? That movie was like 250 million lol

MisterDoctor217 - 4/16/2024, 4:18 PM

@mountainman -

I mean they don’t have to do it the whole movie , they could have done something similar to the Irishman , didn’t that cost like 250 or 300 million?

I’m sure it would be a better received movie and get fans excited.
Plus they already wasted 200 million with The Marvels and they were barely , if at all, profitable with Antman 3.

I think right now better critical and fan reception is more important to get the ball going again

Apophis71 - 4/16/2024, 6:12 PM

@mountainman - Do think it could be cool to do an animated show with Hank and Howard etc, if the F4 are not going to exist on Earth prime at all till they cross over could even throw them in and show the prime versions were killed if they wanted.

However the main point being it could be cool doing a period series running up until the point where Janet ended up getting stuck in the QR (animated cos can have Douglas and co voicing without expensive deaging)...

...could even add a white army dude with the last name Fury, implied without stating that SLJ is Fury Jr, lol. As well as throw in the likes of the Howling commandos and show Falsworth suiting up as Union Jack.

mountainman - 4/16/2024, 6:15 PM

@Apophis71 - All great ideas. And I still want something featuring a younger Isaiah Bradley in something, which could be this too.

GhostDog - 4/16/2024, 4:04 PM

This movie will always be AN ABOLSUTE CRIME. The waste of Hank Pym too overall in the MCU. A prequel film or project of some sort with hum as a COLD WAR ERA Ant-Man was right there.

TheVisionary25 - 4/16/2024, 4:43 PM

@GhostDog - while your first sentence is rather hyperbolic , I agree with your last…

A Cold War era Ant Man film could have been cool!!.

StSteven - 4/16/2024, 5:04 PM

@TheVisionary25 @GhostDog - How about this guys? A Cold War era film that is a spy/espionage film with Hank and Janet vs. the Red Guardian and Black Widows (at the time, not Yelena and Natasha)? They could film it in a way that makes it look like movies from the 80's. Hell, even better: to keep the budget down, make it a Special Presentation Christmas Holiday Special which starts off with Cassie asking Hank and Janet to tell her about their days as spies for Shield and then Hank tells the spy story next to a Christmas tree and crackling fireplace. BAM! Marvel I'll DM you where to mail the check.

TheVisionary25 - 4/16/2024, 5:17 PM

@StSteven - I like it!!.

StSteven - 4/16/2024, 6:16 PM

@TheVisionary25 - Dude, they could even make this a recurring thing. Considering that the "AM" films are now so family-based, they could have SPs for Christmas, Thanksgiving, whatever family get-together (just NOT National Women's Day because we all know what THAT day is for 😳) in which either Hank or Janet or both tell a tale of one of their adventures.

Hell, they could even do the same thing with other characters that had a past in the MCU that we haven't seen, like Steve Rogers. Like they could have one where Steve (back in the 40's) visits a children's hospital or something and tells the kids a story about an adventure that he and the Howling Commandos had (we saw in "CA:TFA" that he went on A LOT of them). That way you can get more Evans Cap and have it not break the continuity or cause any timeline issues.

Marvel, I'm going to go move my cars around so that you can back that dump truck full of cash right up onto my driveway now. 😉

Spike101 - 4/16/2024, 7:35 PM

@GhostDog - I couldn’t agree more, terrible. Hanks story is so detailed it’s a real shame it’s never been told fully. One of my favourite characters.

MadThanos - 4/16/2024, 4:04 PM

It's funny,before people were dying to get in now they're dying to get out. 🤣🤣🤣

Well, to everyone in this site that back then said Marvel, Ant-Man 2 and Endgame were awesome and I was crazy, this is reality check for you.

TheLobster - 4/16/2024, 7:51 PM

@MadThanos - Endgame is incredible so you’re still crazy for that one.

Ant-Man 2/3 and most of Marvel’s outputs post-Endgame? Pretty mid to pretty garbage.

McMurdo - 4/16/2024, 8:47 PM

@TheLobster - nah Endgame had a fat drunk Thor and a Hulk who held a building up and never got his rematch. Botched.

MadThanos - 4/16/2024, 9:29 PM

@TheLobster - was destroyed. Steve knew Bucky was alive before it was supposed to. Zemo didn't lose his family, so Civil War didn't happen. Black Panther didn't connect to the Avengers.

At this point, is Wakanda an ally?

Strange never fought Thanos, probably never fought Dormammu or lost his hands. Ultron never happened so Wanda and Pietro didn't have Barton and Steve to guide them through life. Vision never happened too.

Ps: my keyboard was crazy

WhateverItTakes - 4/16/2024, 4:08 PM

Pym should have been young and created ultron

marvel72 - 4/16/2024, 4:27 PM

@WhateverItTakes - Yup but it's Marvel so don't expect it to follow the source material.

WhateverItTakes - 4/16/2024, 4:34 PM

@marvel72 - they wanted Rudd for the jokes

Mrtoke - 4/16/2024, 4:38 PM

@marvel72 - you mean Disney

marvel72 - 4/16/2024, 4:39 PM

@Mrtoke - Disney Marvel.

TheVisionary25 - 4/16/2024, 4:13 PM

I guess it’s just me but I finally saw it and thought it was decent…

There’s a more interesting & compelling movie there imo then the one we got but as it is , I found it enjoyable.

Hank didn’t have much to do in it (though the image of him commanding these highly intelligent and evolved ants was cool) but I still liked Douglas’s performance and the character.

I have liked this version of Hank Pym as is but it does feel like he’s gotten less to do in the sequels then the first one (which is still his best appearance imo)…

Honestly , I find the variants we got in What If to be more intriguing then the MCU version.

HashTagSwagg - 4/16/2024, 4:19 PM

Vulcan!

marvel72 - 4/16/2024, 4:29 PM

@HashTagSwagg - Vulcan interesting I have his first appearance in a cgc graded 9.8.

I paid £50 for it last year, now if they go up in value I might flip that f*cker.

mountainman - 4/16/2024, 4:39 PM

@HashTagSwagg - Well this is exciting. Didn’t expect any big cosmic stuff this season. Would almost make sense to have Episode 6 take place mostly off Earth, then episode 7 is Storm focused, so the true implications of Episode 5 are explored in 8, during the first of the 3-part finale.

Malatrova15 - 4/16/2024, 4:19 PM

What an ungrateful dude , this is the paper of his life !

Mrtoke - 4/16/2024, 4:39 PM

@Malatrova15 - marvel needed him more he needed them. Stop

Malatrova15 - 4/16/2024, 4:42 PM

@Mrtoke - Man , i didnt even know who this pal was until he do the Hanky Panky Pym, no he get cocky , after the awesome QUANTUNMANI!!!!!!! , GET PABLO LYLE HERE, AND INVOLVE THE NCMEC NOW

CaptainSavaHoe2 - 4/16/2024, 5:07 PM

@Malatrova15 - If you didn't know who Michael Douglas was, you're a moron.

Malatrova15 - 4/16/2024, 5:54 PM

@CaptainSavaHoe2 - do you know who Pablo Lyle is?

harryba11zack - 4/16/2024, 4:26 PM

His scenes with Scott in the first film were the best thing about Ant man 1. It sucks that they turned him into a commie cuck.

mountainman - 4/16/2024, 4:40 PM

@harryba11zack - Commie cuck is the best way to describe how badly Hank was desecrated in Quantumania.

Even though I don’t like the older Hank and having Scott be prime Ant Man in the MCU, at least Hank was a good mentor in the first two movies and had something to do.

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