Ant-Man and the Wasp will see a couple of DC actors crossover to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time. As well as Batman Returns’ Michelle Pfeiffer playing Janet Van Dyne, Man of Steel‘s Laurence Fishburne is joining the franchise as Bill Foster, an old colleague of Hank Pym’s (Michael Douglas) who worked with him on Project Goliath.
While speaking at the press conference for the upcoming sequel, the latter revealed how he ended up in the MCU, saying that he jokingly asked for a role in the franchise while chatting to Marvel Studios execs during work on his TV series Black-ish. As a lifelong Marvel comics reader and having already had experience bringing one of his favorite characters to life (see his voice role as the Silver Surfer in Fox’s Fantastic Four movies), Fishburne was keen to be part of the franchise. Luckily for him, Marvel took his request seriously.
“It is not the first Marvel role to come my way. I’ve been a reader since I was eight. I’ve been a fan my whole life. Really enjoyed the movies and what they’ve done with the MCU … I realized that I was on the lot of Marvel and working on ABC’s Black-ish and remembered I had worked with Louis D’Esposito and realized I should go talk to them and say, ‘Hey, what do I gotta do to be in the movies?’ And they were kind enough to say, ‘We’ll think about that, Fish!'”
This turned out to be the start of a beautiful working relationship between Fishburne and Marvel. On top of starring as Foster in The Wasp, the actor will also produce an animated TV series based on Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, a recent comic series. Not only that, but as Foster’s the giant-sized superhero Goliath on the page, it’s possible his MCU career could extend past this singular appearance as well.
We can expect Fishburne’s character and Hank Pym to have a certain rivalry in Ant-Man and the Wasp, too, as the former partners while working for S.H.I.E.L.D. have since taken different paths – Pym set up his own business and Foster went on to teach at San Francisco’s Berkeley University. But will he suit up as Goliath in the movie? And will he have a connection to the villain of the film as rumored? We’ll find out when the titular tiny superheroes buzz into theaters on July 6th.