Hank Pym Should’ve Died in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania’

The Big Picture

• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
  actor Michael Douglas revealed on
  The View
  that he pitched a death for his character in the movie.
• Killing Hank Pym in
  Quantum
  would have added some missing weight that the film sorely needed.
• Hank’s death would have brought the trilogy full circle while giving Scott and Cassie Lang important motivation for their future as superheroes.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was meant to kick off Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga with a bang, but instead amounted to a whimper. Not only was Quantum met with tepid reviews, but it massively underperformed at the box office — and that’s not even taking Jonathan Majors‘ legal woes into account, as his villain Kang the Conqueror was meant to be the face of the Multiverse Saga. Quantum‘s biggest missed opportunity was not giving Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) an epic death — even though Douglas pitched the perfect ending for Pym’s character.

During an appearance on The View to promote his Apple TV+ series FranklinDouglas explained how he pitched his Quantum death. “(Getting killed off) actually was my request for the third one. I said I’d like to have a serious (death), with all these great special effects. There’s got to be some fantastic way where I can shrink to an ant size and explode, whatever it is. I want to use all those effects,” he said. Not only does that sound like it would have been epic, but it would have brought Pym’s journey full circle.

Hank Pym’s Death Would Have Given ‘Quantumania’ Much-Needed Emotional Weight

If Hank Pym met his end in Quantum, it would have lent the film some important gravitas. Kang is shown to be a merciless tyrant who eradicates anyone that tries to oppose him; on top of that, the film is split between the Pyms and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) trying to reunite with their loved ones. Taking the elder Pym off the board would not only prove to be emotionally devastating for his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and wife Janet (Michelle Pfieffer), but it could have underlined how much of a menace Kang is. If someone was willing to sacrifice their lives to stop him, and it didn’t work, that would have been a genuine shock for the audience, as Pym was a major part of all three Ant-Man films.

Pym’s Death Could Have Been a Catalyst for Scott and Cassie As Superheroes

The death of Hank Pymwould also have brought the character’s journey full circleespecially regarding his family history. The first Ant-Man revealed that Hank had retired from superheroics following Janet’s apparent death on a mission to deactivate a nuclear warhead. This drove a wedge between him and Hope for years, which led to Pym teaching Lang how to use the Ant-Man suit. Janet and Pym eventually reunited in Ant-Man and the Waspwhich eventually brought an end to Pym’s story. Having him sacrifice his own life would have brought things around to where he was in the first film, while showcasing how much he truly loved his family.

Pym’s death would have let Scott Lang come into his own as Ant-Man. Scott and Pym had more in common than just the Ant-Man suit; they both loved their daughters and would have done anything to reconnect with them — and eventually they did. Scott’s daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) also followed in her father’s footsteps in Quantumbecoming Stature. Though Pym’s death would have been tragic, it would have let the Lang family continue in the Pym family footsteps. That being said, the MCU is the most interconnected studio in the world, so just because Hank didn’t find himself in the great quantum realm in the sky in Quantumathere’s no shortage of other properties where he could meet a poignant, heroic end.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.

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