Michael Douglas Not Signed On For 'Ant-Man' Sequels
Though it's not perfect, the recent release of Ant-Man from Marvel Studios is a refreshing comic book adventure with a different tone, style and a contained story, bringing us one of the more intimate movies from the comic book studio.
One of the reasons it works so well, besides having solid lead Paul Rudd as Scott Lang and Michael Pena to steal every scene he's in, is Michael Douglas. The veteran actor lends some credibility to the movie and brings some authenticity to the role of Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man. However, fans might be disappointed to hear that as of now there's no guarantee that we'll see Michael Douglas in Ant-Man 2.
Find out why after the jump!
Speaking with Yahoo Movies UK, the Wall Street star revealed that he only signed on for the first Ant-Man. That's right, unlike most Marvel stars, Douglas was somehow able to sign on to star in Ant-Man and not get sucked into a 6- or 10-film contract. However, that doesn't mean he's not game for coming back to the Marvel Universe. Douglas explains:
"I'm not signed up to anything more. I've learned a whole lot and would look forward to more if it comes my way but if not I've enjoyed the experience. Now that I understand a bit more about Hank Pym too. I think in this one I had to carry a lot of plot and exposition. In the next one I hope things get a little more bizarre... the Quantum Realm!"
That certainly sounds like he wants to come back as Hank Pym, but Marvel just doesn't have a deal in place with the actor yet. In fact, it might be awhile before that happens too, because as we know, Marvel's schedule is pretty full through 2019, so we likely wouldn't see a sequel to Ant-Man until 2020 at the earliest.
Of course, Marvel could always shake things up and delay something like The Inhumans in order to make way for Ant-Man 2, but I'm sure fans won't mind waiting with The Avengers: Infinity War to keep them occupied in 2018 and 2019.
No matter when Ant-Man 2 arrives (assuming it happens), Michael Douglas will likely be part of the sequel. After all, one of the easter eggs hints is (spoiler ahoy) that Janet van Dyne may still be alive in the quantum realm, and Hank Pym just has to see his wife again, right?
The good news is, as the Ant-Man credits scenes and our own movie news reporting has indicated, Paul Rudd will be back as Ant-Man in Captain America: Civil War. So we'll get some replacement Ant-Man action. But the question is whose side will he be on? Going by what we saw in the second credits scene from Ant-Man (which Sebastian Stan commented on recently), I feel like he'll side with Captain America, but we'll have to wait and see.
Do you want to see Michael Douglas back for Ant-Man 2?