Edgar Wright and Marvel have landed a high-profile casting get with Michael Douglas now set to play Hank Pym in Ant-Man

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Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in Behind the Candelabra. I hope this is what Douglas' Ant-Man costume looks like too.

Douglas, who just won a Golden Globe last night for his turn as Liberace in Behind the Candelabra, brings yet another level of esteem (and name-power) to Marvel’s output, following in the footsteps of actors like Robert Redford and Glenn Close who are also in upcoming Marvel films.The actor joins writer-director Wright and Paul Rudd, who will play the lead and is now confirmed as Scott Lang, the “main” Ant-Man in the film from what we can gather. But Douglas’ Hank Pym was the original Ant-Man, in the comics anyway, and it seems likely that this will also be the case in the film. (Lang eventually stole the Ant-Man suit from Pym and in time took over the role from Pym.) Marvel themselves dropped the casting news today, bypassing the standard industry trades (as is their method these days), but interestingly Variety ’s initial report indicated that Douglas would be playing the villain in the film. Within minutes, however, that report was changed to say that Douglas was playing Hank Pym, with no mention of the role being villainous. Hmmm. Did Variety let the cat out of the bag too soon? I mean, if Lang steals Pym’s suit, doesn’t that potentially set up an adversarial relationship between the characters? (: Variety's writer just tweeted the following: "Quick update Michael Douglas will be playing Pym and Pym will not be the villain. Sorry folks misunderstanding on my part.")Meanwhile, Edgar Wright himself tweeted a link to an ancient interview from 2006 that he did with the incomparable Ed Douglas from Superhero Hype , where the director specifically said he wanted to have an older Hank Pym and flashback to him in the 1960s to show the original Ant-Man. Which sounds awesome.As always, every bit of news that emerges on these Marvel projects seems to raise even more questions. Ant-Man hits on July 31, 2015!

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