Michael Douglas Wanted Marvel To Kill His Ant-Man In A Spectacular Way
Since the "Ant-Man" franchise launched in 2015, it has centered on a handful of main characters. First and foremost are Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), who are the current Ant-Man and the Wasp. Joining them are Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer, who finds working on superhero movies to be a mixed bag) — Hope's parents and the original Ant-Man and the Wasp — as well as Scott's daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton). The Ant-Family has been through highs and lows throughout their Marvel Cinematic Universe tenure, always coming away from their adventures intact. However, if Douglas had it his way, Pym would've been killed off spectacularly.
Douglas revealed as much during a conversation on The View, explaining that he wanted Pym to die in the cameo-loaded "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." "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," he said of his vision for Pym's demise. Ultimately, though, despite Douglas' request and how "Quantumania" teases the death of every Ant-Person in Phase Five except Cassie, Pym survives the film's events.
Douglas also theorized that he doesn't think he'll return to the MCU beyond "Quantumania," stating, "Now, I don't think I'm going to show up." However, that hasn't been the case so far.
Douglas has returned to the MCU spotlight since Quantumania
It's easy to think that there's not much else for Michael Douglas' Hank Pym to do in the MCU beyond the completion of the "Ant-Man" trilogy. He has retired from Ant-Man-related activities, reunited with his love, Janet Van Dyne, after her disappearance into the Quantum Realm, and explored the subatomic world himself. Not to mention, he's not getting any younger, and neither is Douglas. On the other hand, there's more narrative potential for the character and the actor behind him thanks to two major factors: time and the Multiverse.
Case in point: In the second season of the animated series "What If...?", Douglas had the opportunity to play a version of Pym from elsewhere in the Marvel Multiverse. In the episode "What If...Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?", he voices an alternate timeline Pym, who's still active as Ant-Man in the late 1980s. He and King T'Chaka (Atandwa Kani), Dr. Wendy Lawson (Keri Tombazian), and Dr. Bill "Goliath" Foster (Laurence Fishburne) form a proto-Avengers team to prevent Ego's (Kurt Russell) takeover of Earth through his son, Peter Quill (Mace Montgomery Miskel).
Even though the possibilities for future MCU stories featuring an animated young Hank Pym are virtually endless, the fact is, at some point, the live-action version will have to ride off into the sunset someday. Hopefully, the character will get a conclusion Michael Douglas can be proud of.