Michael Douglas Can't Wait For You To See Him In 'Ant-Man'

Michael Douglas has signed on to do his first Marvel film and will star as Hank Pym in the upcoming movie adaptation of Ant-Man. As revealed by the Marvel website, Douglas will join director Edgar Wright and star Paul Rudd, who plays Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, in the movie due out next year.

Michael Douglas will play Hank Pym in the upcoming film

Hank Pym first appeared in Tales to Astonish #27 in January 1962 and was the first man to assume the identity of Ant-Man in the comic books, going on to assume other identities as the comic series continued, including the size-changing Giant-Man and Goliath, as well as the insect-themed Yellowjacket and briefly the Wasp, the alter ego of his crime-fighting wife Janet van Dyne. Pym was also one of the founding members of The Avengers and has regularly found himself fighting Ultron for the sake of humanity, so don't be surprised to see him tied into the next Avengers film too.

As for Rudd's character, Lang is a reformed thief and an electronics expert who becomes the second Ant-Man after becoming affiliated with Stark Enterprises and Tony Stark (aka Iron Man), so it shouldn't come as a surprise to see cameos and references galore when the film is released in summer 2015.

Paul Rudd [L] will star and Edgar Wright [R] will direct Ant-Man

"I've been dying to do a Marvel picture for so long," Douglas told Reuters this week. "The script is really fun, the director is really good. Dylan (his 13-year-old son) will love it. He'll have a picture he can see."

Douglas' filmography is usually reserved for dramatic performances from acclaimed writers and directors, which makes his decision to join a big budget superhero film all the more interesting, but it is a decision that Douglas is more than pleased with. He explained, "Sometimes - like (when) they didn't see you for Liberace - you've got to shake them up a little bit and have some fun."

Douglas also revealed that he would be open to appearing in any future spin-offs or sequels, despite only ever appearing in one sequel during his entire career: 2010's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. The double Oscar-winning actor teased, "(Marvel) reciprocated well, there are sequels. Who knows?"

Ant-Man will arrive in cinemas in July 2015.

Douglas tasted Golden Globes glory at this month's Golden Globes