Well, I have to say, this was a surprise. Playing the role of Dr. Hank Pym in Marvel’s Ant-Man will be Oscar-winning actor Michael Douglas. Yes, Michael Douglas is very old. We’re going to just put that on the table right away. Paul Rudd has been cast as Scott Lang, which is the second Ant-Man, but Pym is the original and a founding Avenger. He’s also a character with a phenomenal amount of literary baggage. Marvel has apparently decided to completely subvert that by taking him and setting him at the end of his life.“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.”
“The idea that we have for the adaptation is to actually involve both… Henry Pym and Scott Lang,” Director Edgar Wright told SuperHeroHype. “So 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.”
Ant-Man will kick off Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe when it opens July 31, 2015.
Killing Time 
Reblogged this on THE EXTREMIS REVIEW and commented:
Oh my. That’s all I have to say.
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At first I was horrified to hear that he would be Ant Man… but I think it could work if done the way described… I’m very interested to see if it works well now!
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I had kind of the exact reaction. I think it comes down to Marvel does not want Hank Pym’s wife beating baggage sloshing all over one of their films if it’s avoidable. Yes, he’s a key character in the Marvel universe and I’m glad he’s being represented in some form, but many of the the traits he has (brilliance, instability, insecurity) are amply present in Iron Man and The Hulk. I think this is an elegant solution to a thorny problem and one that brings prestige to the whole line as another Oscar-winning actor makes these films more and more desirable prizes for quality actors to land. I mean, who thought Robert Redford and Michael Douglas would ever be in comic book movies?
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They know which way the wind is blowing. I mean—Disney got Sir Ben Kingsley to appear in an Iron Man movie! Regardless of what you thought of his character, it was the best-acted part in a Marvel movie to date. The superhero genre is experiencing a renaissance, these characters have never been more popular, and most of the current crop of comic book movies are really, really good. Once something becomes as popular as the MCU, it tends to take on an air of respectability merely by virtue of it’s ubiquitous nature. Expect these films to get better and better.
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