Michael Douglas Says He Wanted to Be ‘Killed Off’ in “Ant-Man” Franchise but Marvel ‘Wouldn’t Let’ Him Quit

Daniel S. LevineTue, October 20, 2026 at 4:07 AM UTC

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Michael Douglas as Hank Pym in ‘Ant-Man’Credit: EverettDouglas played Hank Pym in three ‘Ant-Man’ movies and appeared in ‘Avengers: Endgame’ -

Michael Douglas revealed he wanted to be “killed off” after making the second Ant-Man movie for Marvel, during a Monday, Oct. 19 appearance on Happy Sad Confused

He added that the contract he signed with the studio made it difficult for him to leave the franchise

Douglas, 82, appeared in three Ant-Man movies as Hank Pym, alongside Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly

Michael Douglas says it’s not easy to leave the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

During a Monday, Oct. 19 appearance on Happy Sad Confused, Douglas was asked if it was true that he wanted his character, Hank Pym, to be killed off during the last Ant-Man movie.

“I would have been killed off after the second one, but they wouldn’t let me,” Douglas, 82, jokingly told podcast host Josh Horowitz.

Douglas played Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, in Marvel’s 2015 film, which introduced Paul Rudd as Scott Lang and Evangeline Lilly as Pym’s daughter Hope van Dyne. The trio returned for Ant-Man and the Wasp in 2018 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in 2023.

Douglas also made a cameo in Avengers: Endgame in 2019.

After beating cancer in 2011 and making the HBO Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra, Douglas said that he was looking to do something he hadn’t done yet in his illustrious career. First, he wanted to do comedy, which led to him making Netflix’s The Kominsky Method with creator Chuck Lorre and costar Alan Arkin. Then, the idea of doing a “green screen movie” came to him.

“I [told] all my agents, ‘I’d like to do one of these green screen movies to see what they’re like,’ you know? Because it’s amazing,” the two-time Oscar winner said. “It’s nothing, just a green screen and they show you the pictures of what it’s gonna look like when it’s all finished.”

Michelle Pfieffer as Janet van Dyne and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’Credit: Marvel

Douglas shared that he was surprised to see how difficult this type of acting was — and how difficult it can be to get out of making Marvel movies once you’ve signed a contract.

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“We did Ant-Man and Paul Rudd was a wonderful actor — a lovely group — but then you can’t get out of it,” Douglas said, before jokingly agreeing with Horowitz that he should have read the fine print.

PEOPLE reached out to Marvel Studios for comment.

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Douglas has become more selective in recent years. His last starring role since playing Benjamin Franklin came in Apple TV’s 2024 miniseries, though he did recently film a small part in Oliver Stone’s forthcoming White Lies.

“I haven’t slowed down but I spend my time very differently now. I’ve traded the adventures for making movies for adventures with my family,” Douglas tells PEOPLE. “For the past few years, I’ve made sure to plan at least one big family trip every year.”

Douglas’ wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, “has declared [him] the world’s best travel agent and she is the momarazzi, recording every last detail for posterity,” he continued.

Douglas’ memoir, One Helluva Ride, is available now, wherever books are sold.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”