Double Booked: Michael Douglas Cast As Hank Pym In Ant-Man

Okay, so we’ve known for a few weeks that Edgar Wright, who is directing the upcoming Marvel Studios version of Ant-Man, had cast Paul Rudd as, well, Ant-Man. But what we didn’t know what exactly which Ant-Man Rudd would be playing. After all, we’ve got the original Hank Pym (wife-beater with an inferiority and occasional persecution complex), we’ve got Scott Lang (sneak-thief with a daughter complex who died as a C-Lister so that Brian Michael Bendis could put Spider-Man on The Avengers), and Eric O’Grady (goofy, weaselly thief who uses the Ant-Man suit to get himself laid and eventually dies a self-sacrificing hero)… and given that Wright is a comedy director, O’Grady seemed like the most likely choice to me.

So yeah: turns out that years of reading and writing about comics doesn’t mean that I know a Goddamned thing. Because Marvel Studios has announced that Rudd will be playing Scott Lang.

And that Michael Douglas will be playing Hank Pym.

Wait, what?

“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.”

I can kinda get behind this casting. I can buy Douglas as kinda unhinged and dangerous, the way we saw Pym around Avengers #213 (an issue which I traded away to Pete McManus for three issues of Batman back in 1982. A trade I would desperately like to back out of, now that Pym is going to be a character in a major motion picture. I also almost bought a Divx player back in the day. I am not smart with my assets, is what I’m trying to say). And while it’s been years since I’ve seen Wonder Boys, it seems to me he was able to do enough scatterbrained to add a humorous, mad scientist bend to the characterization, which could work.

That said, the timing on this is a little weird. Avengers 2 is being released on May 1, 2015 in the United States, while Ant-Man will drop on July 31, 2015. And since Avengers 2 features Ultron, the second most famous creation of Hank Pym, I’m guessing that we’ll see Douglas starting in Avengers 2 long before he shows up in Ant-Man, or else we’ll hear enough denigration and character assassination about him that we’ll be thrilled to see Paul Rudd hork away that Ant-Man helmet before we even see Douglas. If Whedon does it right, a kick in the nuts might even seem appropriate. But I am speculating, and keep in mind that I’m the guy who would have bet, say, a copy of Avengers #213 that Rudd would be playing Eric O’Grady. And how’d that work out?

Douglas will star as Hank Pym, who first appeared in TALES TO ASTONISH #27 (Jan. 1962), with Rudd starring as Scott Lang in the film.

Ah, well. I supposed there are enough parallels between Lang and O’Grady that Wright could go full Irredeemable Ant-Man with the character… but then again, what the hell do I know? I’m the guy who has plugged most of his retirement investments into children’s illustrated literature. Either way, I trust Wright to direct one hell of a movie… provided I don’t have to hear Henry Pym say that he invented the Pym Particle via some deep, undercover scientific investigations. If you get my drift.