When Marvel Studios finally launched the Ant-Man franchise in 2015, it was with Scott Lang as the MCU's main shrinking superhero. While that lined up with the comics to some extent, Hank Pym having retired after holding the mantle during the Cold War was a totally new concept.
While Paul Rudd's Ant-Man has earned a legion of fans, there were those understandably unhappy that a founding Avenger had been relegated to a supporting character in what should have been his own franchise.
A big part of the reason for the change was that Marvel Studios spent years waiting for Edgar Wright to helm Ant-Man, only to run into "creative differences" when the time came for cameras to roll. In that version of the movie, Hank would have become the villainous Black Ant.
Instead, he's served as a mentor to Scott over the years and eventually reunited with Janet Van Dyne when she was freed from the Quantum Realm.
Hank didn't really bring much to the table in the poorly received Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, and actor Michael Douglas has now confirmed he wanted to end his stint as the character in the threequel.
"This actually was my request for the third one," the 79-year-old said. "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," he added. "Now, I don’t think I’m going to show up."
Well, that doesn't bode well for his MCU future, does it? It sounds an awful lot like Douglas won't reprise the role if asked, though we suppose there's a chance Marvel Studios can convince him to come back and die as Hank in one of the upcoming Avengers movies (if the money is right).
This isn't the first time Douglas has alluded to being unhappy with his character being left alive as he previously said he'll only return for a fourth Ant-Man movie "as long as [he] could die." Unfortunately, the critical and commercial response to Quantumania makes that highly unlikely (especially with Disney CEO Bob Iger looking to move away from sequels which aren't guaranteed hits).
You can hear more from Douglas in the player below. Be sure to stay tuned for updates on Ant-Man's future as we have them.