Why Michael Douglas Begged to Be Killed Off in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'

One of the stars of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania recently revealed they begged to be killed off, in an especially gruesome manner, in last year’s controversial Marvel sequel.

Michael Douglas appeared on The View on Tuesday (via Entertainment Weekly) to promote his Apple TV+ series Franklin, in which he stars as Benjamin Franklin.

During the interview, Douglas was asked about comments he made to The Hollywood Reporter at Quantumania’s Los Angeles premiere. At the time, when asked if he would return for a fourth installment, Douglas laughed and told THR, “As long as I could die.”

"This actually was my request for the third one," Douglas clarified of his Quantumania role on The View. "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. But, that was on the last one.”

Despite playing a pivotal role in all three of the Ant-Man films to date, it seems as though Douglas has said goodbye to the character of Hank Pym. “Now, I don’t think I’m going to show up," he admitted of future sequels.

This is hardly the first time the Basic Instinct star has expressed something approaching confusion over the MCU’s popularity, and his role within it. Around the time of Quantumania’s release, Douglas made headlines for an interview with Kermode and Mayo’s Take where he admitted to not knowing much at all about the franchise.

“I unfortunately confess that when I first became involved in this, I knew nothing about comic books,” Douglas admitted to host Simon Mayo.

“I wasn’t a comic book guy–geek–when I was kid, and I’ve come to realize that there are people who take comic books very seriously,” he said dubiously, before adding: “I would suggest, if you ate a particular kind of mushroom, you might have a greater appreciation for the world.”

“It sounds to me…as though you might not have seen all 31 [Marvel movies],” Mayo offered.

Douglas responded bluntly: “I have not. I’m afraid to say, I have not. Nor 29, nor 27.”

Franklin is currently streaming on AppleTV+.