In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it doesn’t seem like Michael Douglas’ Hank Pym in his youth plays nice with others, especially fellow geniuses. At the Hollywood premiere of Ant-Man and the Wasp, Laurence Fishburne, who plays a rival scientist known as Bill Foster, revealed both men have a somewhat touchy relationship over a mysterious fallout back in their heyday.
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“I play a character called Bill Foster, who is a colleague and sort of a foil for Michael Douglas’ character, Hank Pym,” Fishburne said. “They worked together and things didn’t go very well and now they sort of have a contentious relationship. Yeah, like that. They both think they’re the smartest guy in the room — and, of course, they’re both wrong. Because Hope is the smartest person in the room.”
Fishburne’s statements echo the dynamic Pym had with Howard Stark, Iron Man’s father, in Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man in 2015, which saw both men hate on each other while working for S.H.I.E.L.D. after their egos clashed. While we’re not sure about the details of this split in Reed’s sequel, it’ll be interesting to see how it ends up going for Foster, who himself used size-altering particles in the comics as the superhero Goliath.
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With Fishburne also revealing that he has a fatherly relationship to this movie’s villain, Ghost, it remains to be seen just how much of the past comes back to bite Team Pym, including his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd).
Directed by Peyton Reed, Ant-Man and The Wasp stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Hannah John-Kamen, Randall Park and Walton Goggins. The film arrives in North American theaters on July 6.