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Moments after Marvel announced that they had cast Michael Douglas as Hank Pym in Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man yesterday evening, his name (along with that of the iconic character he will be playing) was trending worldwide on Twitter. Surprisingly, the 69-year-old actor (who won an Academy Award for his role in Wall Street in 1988) is actually a fan of Marvel, telling Reuters:

“I’ve been dying to do a Marvel picture for so long. The script is really fun, the director is really good. Dylan (the actor’s 13-year-old son) will love it. He’ll have a picture he can see. Sometimes – like (when) they didn’t see you for Liberace – you’ve got to shake them up a little bit and have some fun. (Marvel) reciprocated well, there are sequels. Who knows?”

It certainly makes sense that Douglas would want to take on a role like this for his children, and his hints that he could make more than one appearance as Pym – who, in the comics, goes on to be known as both Giant Man and Yellowjacket – is very interesting indeed, if not at all surprising given the fact that Marvel are known for signing their actors up to multi-picture deals.

In other Marvel news, Latino-Review are reporting that “a well-connected” source has told them that Pirates of The Caribbean Johnny Depp has met with Marvel about playing Dr. Strange in one of their Phase 3 2016 movies. Despite seemingly not having the box office presence he once used to (Dark Shadows, The Lone Ranger), Depp has still made an awful lot of money for Disney, the studio that now owns Marvel. Apparently, they would even be willing to shift production around on the next Pirates film to accommodate the actor. For now though, as with any rumour, take this one with a pinch of salt!