A Marvel Star Is Being Kept Out Of Ant-Man 3
A fan-favorite Marvel star is not returning for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but what they have to say is surprising.
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Marvel Studios seems to be winnowing down the cast for one of their most anticipated new projects. It has been confirmed that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will not feature David Dastmalchian, who played criminal turned security expert (and still kind of criminal) Kurt in the previous two Ant-Man movies. Dastmalchian generally served as a comic relief along with his coworkers Dave (T.I.) and Luis (Michael Peña). While the Paul Rudd-led series has generally been considered one of the more overtly comedic elements of the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe, the trio behind X-Con Home Security was very much a highlight of the films. From the sounds of it, Dastmalchian is on good terms with both Marvel Studios and Ant-Man director Peyton Reed. He told ScreenRant this:
It doesn’t look like it… But that’s okay. I know they’re making something incredible. I can’t wait to see what Peyton does next. He’s one of my favorite directors…He’s been so busy. I have tried to stay in touch, but he’s making an incredible film right now.
It will be a shame that David Dastmalchian will not be showing up to make heavily Slavic-accented observations to Paul Rudd in Marvel movies for at least the time being, but the actor has seen his profile sharply rise in the last several years. While many people probably first encountered Dastmalchian in a small role in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, as a mentally unstable henchman of the Joker that Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) nearly shoots, the actor has had a long career in television and Chicago theater. Since debuting in The Dark Knight, Dastmalchian has starred in three films by French director Denis Villeneuve: Prisoners, Blade Runner 2049, and Dune. As his character was killed by a cloud of toxic gas expelled by Oscar Isaac (we should all be so lucky), he is unlikely to be showing up in the next installment of the science fiction epic. Aside from his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Dastmalchian appeared in James Gunn’s DCEU film The Suicide Squad as the maternally-tortured Polka Dot Man (also dead there, by gigantic tentacle this time).
Marvel has a tendency to pick up and drop characters and actors without much explanation, so it should not be that shocking that a minor character in the Ant-Man series is not returning. The number of people not returning for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a little more surprising. T.I. has been confirmed not to return after a series of sexual assault allegations against the rapper/actor and his wife. Judy Greer (who played Paul Rudd’s ex-wife in the previous two films) has not been confirmed to be in the third movie, nor has Michael Peña as his best friend Luis. On the other hand, Bill Murray has been confirmed to be in the film as a mysterious, unnamed villain (we are going to speculate without any cause that he will be playing, say, Mole Man), and Jonathan Majors will be the main antagonist. This will be Majors’ proper debut as Kang the Conquerer, after appearing in the Disney+ series Loki as a variant of the character called “He Who Remains.” Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is scheduled to go to wide release in July of 2023, so there is plenty of time for Marvel to confirm who they’re cutting or adding in the meantime.
