Michael Douglas joins cast of Marvel’s Ant-Man

When Paul Rudd signed on to be the lead in Marvel's upcoming Ant-Man movie, nobody knew which Ant-Man he'd be playing — Hank Pym or Scott Lang. With today's announcement, we now know. A while back, writer/director Edgar Wright said of his comic book to movie adaptation that he wanted to use both Hank Pym and Scott Lang. So now that Marvel has announced that Academy Award-winner Michael Douglas will be playing Hank Pym opposite of Paul Rudd, we know Rudd will be Scott Lang.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said of the Michael Douglas casting, "With Hank Pym's rich history in the Marvel Universe, we knew we needed an actor capable of bringing the weight and stature to the role that the character deserves […] we felt incredibly relieved when Michael Douglas agreed to step into the part with the charm and fortitude he brings to every character he inhabits, and couldn't be more excited to see what he will do to bring Hank Pym to life."

Hank Pym is responsible for creating the first Ant-Man superhero, and Lang came later on as a thief who stole the Ant-Man suit when his daughter became seriously ill. After the Douglas casting was announced, Wright tweeted an interview from 2006, which may contain what he plans to do with the two characters.

"The idea that we have for the adaptation is to actually involve both. Is to have a film that basically is about Henry Pym and Scott Lang, so you actually do a prologue where you see Pym as Ant-Man in action in the 60s, in sort of "Tale to Astonish" mode basically, and then the contemporary, sort of flash-forward, is Scott Lang's story, and how he comes to acquire the suit, how he crosses paths with Henry Pym, and then, in an interesting sort of Machiavellian way, teams up with him."

I'm very excited to see where the story goes and if it matches the talent that has signed on so far. Ant-Man is due out in theaters on July 31, 2014.

You can follow Senior Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. He likes talking sports, video games, movies, and the stupidity of celebrities. Email at LLiebl@GameZone.com