Michael Douglas petitioned to be killed off the “Ant-Man” films but Marvel refused.
In a conversation on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Douglas was asked by host Josh Horowitz if it was true that he asked Marvel to have his character Hank Pym killed off the franchise following the second film’s release in 2018. He confirmed that it was, but the studio did not allow it.
“I would have been killed off after the second one, but they wouldn’t let me,” Douglas shared.
He later joked: “We did ‘Ant-Man’ and Paul Rudd was a wonderful actor — a lovely group — but then you can’t get out of it.”
The acclaimed actor joined the MCU in 2015 with “Ant-Man,” in which he co-starred with Rudd as Hank Pym, the first Ant-Man of the world. He became a mentor to his successor Scott Lang, who was played by Rudd.
Douglas added that his interest with joining the MCU had nothing to do with a love for comic books but a curiosity with green screen movies.
“I said, ‘I’ve never done a green screen movie,’” Douglas said. “I [told] all my agents, ‘I’d like to do one of these green screen movies to see what they’re like,’ you know? Because it’s amazing. It’s nothing, just a green screen and they show you the pictures of what it’s gonna look like when it’s all finished.”
He added: “It’s hard acting, man. It’s coming at you here, this and that, you know.”
Not only did Douglas not get out of the MCU after 2018’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” he has appeared in two other Marvel flicks. He showed up in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” – along with just about everyone else who had signed a contract to be in the MCU to that point – and “Ant-Man: Quantumania” in 2023.
It’s unclear where else he’ll appear or how long until he might get his wish of being killed out of the universe.
Watch the full “Happy Sad Confused” interview in the video above.
The post Michael Douglas Says He Asked Marvel to Kill Him Off in ‘Ant-Man’ Movies: ‘You Can’t Get Out of It’ appeared first on TheWrap.
