After hearing that Michael Douglas was casted as Hank Pym yesterday, I was both surprised but also excited for the prospect of him playing the character. It seems like more and more well known actors and actresses, want to be a part of the franchise that is the MCU. Now I was surprised because I definitely thought we'd be seeing Paul Rudd as Hank Pym and him to be in line with the current set of Avengers age wise. This however turned out to be false, as we get Rudd as Scott Lang. I'm excited about this prospect because of how it effects the MCU. As Nick Fury said in the post credit scene of Iron Man, " Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet." Now that quote was just a passing comment, more to bring up The Avengers Initiative. But if you actually think about it, it kind of describes that there has been heroes/events that happened before Iron Man. A prime example is Captain America and now it seems the first part of Ant-Man, which you would think will be set in the late 60's/70's will show Hank Pym. I like the process that you are going to have characters throughout time in the MCU not just current time, it brings more depth and expansion to the franchise, not that the MCU was in need of it.
In Phase 1, we got films that explained about the HEROES ORIGINS and the theme WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A HERO. So far in Phase 2, we have seen movies and Agents of Shield, where the underlining theme is DECEPTION and WHO CAN YOU TRUST.Now, because of the two Ant-Man characters, your going to get exactly what I believe is going to be the main theme of Phase 3 in REDEMPTION. I believe in beginning part Ant-Man, your going to have Pym fail at stopping something/saving someone and blames himself and retire as Ant-Man. As a hero, he failed but his passion for science never stops, and he decides to become a workaholic and work for SHIELD. This is where Marvel could make slight nods to which I believe is that Pym didn't create Ultron, but he helped design it, with Tony Stark being the leader of the project. This would lead to more blame on himself, as Ultron becomes corrupt and becomes a threat to the world. Now you can say "well Ant-Man is after Avengers 2 and they have said Ant-Man doesn't create Ultron", that's all well in good but that doesn't mean there won't be slight hints in Avengers 2 or that Michael Douglas won't do a cameo. We won't know until the films come out to theaters, so your guess is as good as mine.
Continuing with the REDEMPTION aspect, Scott Lang could be used as a guy who was never there for his family and could be a small time criminal. When his family gets kidnapped, he decides to steal Hank Pym's costume and become Ant-Man. You could still get all of the great hero origins except changed from Pym to Lang. I kind of think its like the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" moments where Lang would realize how small he was. As for Hank Pym, he could either suit up again and help Lang or he could be a mentor and pass of the torch to him. In Lang saving his family, and Pym helping, it would be the redemption theme for both characters.
In the next post I will be posting my thoughts on the rest of Phase 2, Phase 3 and the tv series both ABC and Netflix