Patrick Wilson is in talks to join the cast of the upcoming Marvel superhero movie, though it is not currently known which character he will portray, according to Deadline. Variety has reported that the Watchmen star will take on a major role in the Paul Rudd-led movie.

Patrick WilsonPatrick Wilson Has Apparently Landed a Role in Ant-Man

Anchorman's Rudd will play Ant-Man and his civilian alter ego Scott Lang alongside Behind The Candelabra's Michael Douglas, who is set to take on the role of Dr. Hank Pym, the genius who devises the technology to shrink people to the size of ants.

In the original graphic novel stories, Dr. Pym was the first Ant-Man but successors including Lang took over the Ant-Man mantle when they purloined the technology for their own use. Lang becomes Ant-Man after stealing the technology to save his daughter from a heart condition. However, with the encouragement of Pym, Lang takes on the Ant-Man role full time and renounces his life of crime.

It has been speculated that Wilson could be cast as Darren Cross, the owner of Cross Technology Enterprises (think: Stark Enterprises), who is suffering from a disease similar to that of Lang's daughter and hires Dr. Pym to build him the machine that Lang steals.

Paul RuddPaul Rudd Will Play 'Ant-Man'

As the rumour of Wilson's inclusion has surfaced, the earlier rumour of Michael Pena's involvement has been confirmed, though his character allocation is also unclear. Screen Crush reports that Lost star Evangeline Lilly is being eyed for the lead female role.

Production is due to start in April on the film with The Avengers' Kevin Feige producing, Hot Fuzz's Edgar Wright directing and co-writing with Joe Cornish. Ant-Man will be released on the 31st July 2015, not long after Marvel's big-guns blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron is dropped.