Michael Peña Confirms His Potential Ant-Man Role

Michael Peña, fresh off roles in the upcoming Cesar Chavez and last year’s critical darling American Hustle, has confirmed his potential involvement in the Edgar Wright-directed Marvel adaptation of Ant-Man. The actor told reporters that he is “still figuring out” if he’ll be able to participate in the hotly anticipated film, which is on schedule for a summer 2015 release.  “I don’t know, but as soon I know, I’ll tell you,” he said.

Ant-Man, which has yet to begin production, will feature Paul Rudd as the titular hero and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. Patrick Wilson and Evangeline Lilly are also both currently in talks to join the cast, and both are expected to be confirmed shortly.

The Peña casting rumors qualify as good news to those who have been following this long-gestating project. Edgar Wright has been on a creative hot streak with Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and The World’s End. While critically acclaimed, none of those films found the wide audience they deserved, a problem which should be eradicated by the marketing muscle of Marvel.

Rudd is an inspired choice for the lead, as is Douglas for the villain. While Peña’s role within the ensemble is unknown, rumors suggest he could play Darren Cross, the owner of Cross Technology Enterprises. The always reliable actor has shown a knack for mixing action and comedy in his past roles, and Wright’s films tend to blur the lines between the two genres, so he should be a good fit.

So far, the choice of actors and director suggest that Ant-Man will strike a similar tone to the wildly successful Iron Man films, which in my opinion have been unequaled by Marvel thus far in terms of how they worked on action and comedic levels. Though it’s still a bit too early to say, I think the studio should expect another hit on their hands when Edgar Wright releases Ant-Man to the world on July 17th, 2015.