It seems like not everybody is quite as big a fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as they once were. But it has to be said that, at its best, the MCU made some great movies. And in doing so, it assembled possibly the greatest cast in movie history. We still get excited when we get to see our favorite actors again, but one of the franchise’s biggest names may not be appearing again.
Michael Douglas has one of the most storied and accomplished careers in Hollywood, so when he joined the MCU as Dr. Hank Pym in Ant-Man, it was a big deal. Douglas would reprise his role in other Marvel movies, most recently Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, but it sounds like we probably won’t see him again. As hee recently told Today that, while he’s not technically retired, he’s largely done acting. Douglas said…
I have not worked since 2022 purposefully because I realized I had to stop. I had been working pretty hard for almost 60 years, and I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set. I have no real intentions of going back. I say I’m not retired because if something special came up, I’d go back, but otherwise, I’m quite happy, just like to watch my wife work.
de-aging of Michael Douglas in the first Ant-Man is one of the most successful uses of that technology, he could have appeared in lots of different ways.
Douglas himself suggested killing off his character in the last movie strongly indicates he’s not that interested in returning.
The third Ant-Man movie was one of Douglas’ last projects, alongside the Apple TV+ series Franklin. He had perhaps his most significant role in all of the MCU in that film, and while the movie itself was not warmly received, nobody argued that Michael Douglas was the problem.
Of course, considering that Quantumania wasn’t a massive hit, it’s an open question whether or not there will even be more Ant-Man movies. Even if there aren’t, there are plenty of reasons Hank Pym could have shown up in upcoming Marvel movies, but it doesn’t sound like that’s likely anymore.
Douglas doesn’t specify what would qualify as “special,” so maybe it’s possible he could still return to the MCU, but it seems unlikely he would consider a supporting part in another Ant-Man movie to be sufficient to go back to work if he’s mostly happy not working. Still, who knows? Maybe the paycheck would be special enough to make it worth it.