Ant-Man and the Wasp Script Confused Michael Douglas

Actor Michael Douglas, who plays the role of Dr. Hank Pym in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, confessed to being confused by the script of Ant-Man and the Wasp when he first read it. There turned out to be a very good reason for this, which shows just how prevalent Marvel Studios has become in Hollywood.

While not a financial blockbuster on the level of Avengers: Infinity War or Black Panther, Ant-Man and the Wasp has still performed respectfully this summer. The film earned an 88% Fresh score on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, confirming it as a critical hit. Most fans of the Marvel Comics films have been nothing but complimentary of the movie, which is the most light-hearted offering from the studio this year. If nothing else, the film is notable for pushing Marvel Studios' total worldwide earnings past the $17 billion mark.

Douglas spoke about his confusion during an interview with MTV. The video, which can be viewed below (Douglas' comments begin at 2:09), sees several of the cast members of Ant-Man and the Wasp discussing various aspects of the movie, including wacky fan theories and scenes that were deleted from the theatrical cut.

Douglas said: "I never read a comic book in my life. I’m so grateful that they brought me into this family. I did a little bit of homework on the Ant-Man — I really screwed up because they didn’t tell me when we started that I should go see Captain America... So when I read the script for this, I had no idea what was going on."

"Captain America", in this case, refers to the third Captain America movie, Civil War, which featured Paul Rudd in a supporting role as Scott Lang/Ant-Man. The events of that movie saw Lang arrested for aiding Captain America in his battle against Iron Man over The Sokovia Accords, which required all costumed crime-fighters to be registered by the United Nations and to act only with government approval. As Ant-Man and the Wasp opens, we find that Lang has been allowed to serve his sentence under house arrest and that Dr. Hank Pym and his daughter Hope Van Dyne are wanted by the federal government for their role in giving Lang superpowers.

Given that, it is easy to see why Douglas would have been confused at the radical changes in the characters' circumstances between the end of the original Ant-Man and the start of Ant-Man and the Wasp. Douglas reports that he asked director Peyton Reed for clarification regarding the script and Reed was aghast that Douglas hadn't seen Civil War. Douglas didn't have any objection to seeing the movie, of course, but noted that it would have been nice to have gotten a note that he should do so.

While Douglas' confusion is understandable, so is Reed's shock, given how prevalent the Marvel Studios movies have become over the past decade. The idea that anyone could work in Hollywood and not be aware of how all the movies were linked together or not be watching every single one as they were being released is unthinkable given the influence of Marvel Studios on the Hollywood landscape, with other studios now trying to create their own multi-film cinematic universes. Still, things ended happily and Ant-Man and the Wasp has continued that sense of legacy and continuity admirably.