Michael Douglas Wanted Hank To Die In Ant-Man 3 And Pitched An Idea For His Demise
2023 may yet be remembered as the year the superhero movie died. Peyton Reed's "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" was released in February 2023 and was the first notable comic book-based bomb of the year. The film was notoriously re-jiggered throughout its production, with massive and expensive SFX being finalized up to the last minute. The official budget ballooned to $200 million, although separate reports have pegged the price tag as being closer to that of Disney's notorious box office misfire "John Carter" (which cost $263 million to make). "Quantumania" still grossed $464 million, but that's considered low for a Marvel movie.
Throughout 2023, more bombs dropped as superhero movies either lost money or were considered disappointments. "Shazam! Fury of the Gods," "The Flash," "Blue Beetle," "The Marvels," and "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" all tanked, and while many went to see "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3," it felt like the last kick in a closing series. Only "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" was an unqualified hit.
"Quantumania" follows Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Scott's daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) into the impossibly small Quantum Realm, an entire subatomic dimension. While tiny, the group discovers that the interdimensional conqueror Kang (Jonathan Majors) has been amassing power in the Quantum Realm, and aims to break out and get back to his usual business of wreaking havoc on the multiverse. As such, the five team up to fight Kang and foil his evil plans.
When interviewed for "The View" (via Entertainment Weekly), Douglas revealed that he was ready to exit the franchise with "Quantumania." Douglas had already appeared in three Marvel movies prior and wanted Hank Pym to die. What's more, he revealed exactly how he wanted Hank Pym to be killed. It involved exploding.
The explosive Ant-Man
For some Marvel Comics context, Hank was the first Ant-Man before he gave his high-tech shrinking suit to Scott to continue his crimefighting work. This information was covered in detail in the films "Ant-Man," "Ant-Man and the Wasp," and "Avengers: Endgame." Pym had developed the shrinking technology behind the Ant-Man suit (going so far as naming a rare subatomic particle after himself) and was no stranger to ultra-shrinking, weird tiny dimensions, and fighting superpowered baddies. Douglas, then, was prepared to face off against a supervillain like Kang and has several scenes in "Quantumania" where he fires laser guns and destroys enemies. It was Douglas' hope, however, that Pym would meet his maker during one of those fights. He told the hosts of "The View":
"This actually was my request for the third one. 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. Now, I don't think I'm going to show up."
It would have been fun to see Hank Pym shrink to the size of a molecule, then extract a blade and slice an atom, causing an atomic explosion. Perhaps that's what Douglas meant when he said he wanted his character to shrink to the size of an ant and then explode.
Douglas has been open about the fact that he's done playing Hank Pym and does not expect to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an enterprise that may well be on its last legs. If he does return, Douglas has said openly that Hank would have to come out on the other end really most sincerely dead.