Michael Douglas quips about his Marvel contract

Michael Douglas thought he could make a quick exit from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Apparently, getting out was harder than getting into a superhero suit.

The actor, 82, revealed on Happy Sad Confused on October 19, that he once wanted his character, Hank Pym, killed off after the second Ant-Man film. 

Marvel, however, had other plans.

“I would have been killed off after the second one, but they wouldn’t let me,” Douglas jokingly told podcast host Josh Horowitz.

Read More: Michael Douglas explains why success should not be dismissed as family privilege

Douglas made his Marvel debut in 2015 alongside Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, returning for Ant-Man and the Wasp in 2018 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in 2023. He also appeared in Avengers: Endgame.

But joining the superhero franchise turned out to be more complicated than he expected. After recovering from cancer in 2011, Douglas wanted to try new things, including comedy and a “green screen movie.”

“I [told] all my agents, ‘I’d like to do one of these green screen movies to see what they’re like,’ you know? Because it’s amazing,” the two-time Oscar winner said.

“It’s nothing, just a green screen and they show you the pictures of what it’s gonna look like when it’s all finished.”

The reality came with a catch: getting out of Marvel wasn’t so simple.

“We did Ant-Man and Paul Rudd was a wonderful actor — a lovely group — but then you can’t get out of it,” Douglas said, agreeing he probably should have checked the fine print.

Read More: Michael Douglas on Ant-Man: 'You can't get out of it'

These days, he’s putting family adventures ahead of movie sets.

Douglas told People magazine he plans at least one major family trip each year, with wife Catherine Zeta-Jones taking charge of documenting the memories.