Before the third Antman movie hit theaters this year, there was a popular belief that Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang would die by the hands of Jonathan Majors Kang the Conqueror. Marvel’s Phase 5 movie has shown that almost all characters will survive to fight another day. The only exception is , the divisive MODOK who dies as an Avenger. Hank Pym nearly met a tragic end, according to the writer of the film.
Jeff Loveness who wrote the Quantumania screenplay revealed that Michael Douglas, whose character created the Ant-Man suit when he discovered Pym Particles in the Marvel film, was almost killed. Loveness spoke to Backstory Magazine.
Hank was to be killed at some point and I wanted him to be reanimated. His consciousness would live on in the ants and he’d be able to control them mentally. He was going to act like a hive of ants and I liked that…it didn’t get too far.
– How The Quantum Realm works in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
It would have certainly been a… decision, wouldn’t you say? Loveness did not reveal how Hank Pym died in Quantumania. However, it is possible that Kang The Conqueror got to him during the third act in order to punish Janet Van Dyne because she had abandoned him for so long in the Quantum Realm.
But as Loveness shared, that idea didn’t make it past the early stages of his idea. And viola, Hank Pym is alive and well in the MCU. As Loveness revealed, this idea never made it beyond the initial stages. And viola! Hank Pym lives and well in MCU.
When I watched Quantumania, I expected Janet Van Dyne would die. This is because a recent Marvel tradition has been to kill off mothers of heroes. For example, Aunt May in Spider-Man No Way Home, and Queen Ramonda, in Black Panther Wakanda Forever. It was good to see that the Ant-Man family remained intact after the events in the third film, after many of the other characters had suffered so much before.
There’s no doubt that the Marvel movies have plenty of time to bolster the threat of Kang the Conqueror in their films, before the next Avengers film, which will be released in 2025 or 2026. Michael Douglas’ Hank Pym is not the latest victim of Marvel!