It was a bold decision, leading the Ant-Man franchise off with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and relegating Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to mentor status. But it ended up being a wise choice. In doing so, Marvel Studios gave themselves -- and this character -- a built in history. Hank Pym was the first Ant-Man, and since he's much older when we first meet him in Peyton Reed's 2015 origin story, he has a stream of earlier stories that have shaped how Michael Douglas can play him. And the iconic leading man settled on the word "cantankerous" when we sat down to interview him at an Ant-Man and the Wasp press day. Douglas elaborated to us:
It plays really good against Scott, against Paul's character. But yeah, [Hank]'s a little arrogant, a little aloof. An intellectual, he always thinks he's smarter than everybody else. He has this little conflict with Laurence Fishburne's character. And certainly does not think that Paul Rudd, Scott, was the right character to carry on the role of Ant-Man. But yeah, it's a little dangerous, being a little bit of an asshole. But I like that, I'm not afraid of it.
Ant-Man and the Wasp, more so than most Marvel Studios movies, is about family. It's about relationships between fathers and daughters -- like Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne, or Scott Land and his own daughter Cassie. It's about husbands and wives. Scott and Hope's big mission in this movie is to retrieve Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm, with Hank's assistance.
But it's also about the relationship between Hank and Scott... and Hank and a new character, Bill Foster, played by Larry Fishburne. How he fits into the equation is very important, and could shape some big steps in the MCU moving forward. Listen to Michael Douglas reflect on giving his Hank Pym a little more of an edge in our exclusive interview:
Ant-Man and the Wasp is off to a fast start at the box office. While it will be difficult for the movie to catch up to the monstrous progress of Avengers: Infinity War at the box office, the comedy definitely serves as a palette cleanser... and actually does have an important scene that sets up something in Avengers 4. You can read about it in great detail here, if you prefer.
And, to keep up with all of the movies that are making their way to theaters from Marvel Studios, bookmark our Upcoming Marvel Movies Guide. We won't have a new MCU movie in theaters until 2019. Do you know which movie is coming next?
