Whoa. HUGE Marvel news.
Variety is reporting that Michael Douglas has been cast in the upcoming "Ant-Man" movie.*
What's more surprising is the character he's being said to play: Hank Pym.
The reason this comes as a bit of a surprise to fans is because Paul Rudd was just cast as the lead in Ant-Man a few weeks back.
Typically, Ant-Man (Rudd) goes by scientist Hank Pym. So everyone (including us) naturally assumed Rudd would play Pym. (Confusing, right?)
Last week, it was thought that there would be two versions of the character introduced to the big screen.
Comicbookmovie.com noticed "Ant-Man" director Edgar Wright posted an image on his official website teasing an image of the superhero with the word, "Homework." They reported the image was from season 2, episode five of "Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes" called "To Steal an Ant-Man." (Boy, they really know their cartoons.)
What you need to know about that episode is that it's the introduction of Scott Lang as Ant-Man.
So it looks like Rudd's Ant-Man will be Lang, not Pym.
What do you need to know about Scott Lang?
He finds out Hank Pym is Ant-Man and steals the suit for himself to start robbing banks to save his sick daughter.
In addition to eventually working with "The Avengers," Lang also works with the "Fantastic Four" in the comics.
What about Michael Douglas' Hank Pym?
We're guessing he'll start off as Ant-Man — perhaps an aged one who is hanging up his mantle. After tracking down Lang, Pym may serve as a mentor to Rudd's character.
However, this also leaves open room for Pym — a scientist — to become one of the character's other aliases, Giant-Man, Goliath, or even Yellowjacket.
"Ant-Man" is set for a July 31, 2015 release.
*Note: Variety originally reported Douglas was cast as a villain in the film, which has now been retracted.
SEE ALSO: Paul Rudd cast as lead in "Ant-Man"
