Paul Rudd admits joining the MCU was “never on my radar”

As we move into Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, prepare for Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man to take center stage. After joining the franchise in 2015, his character is one of the few original Avengers remaining following the seismic conclusion of the Infinity Saga.

To date, Rudd has had two solo movies: Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp. He also played significant roles in Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Endgame. His upcoming movie, Quantumania, promises to be his biggest yet, with the flick kicking off an entirely new era of the MCU, as well as introducing a new Thanos-level villain: Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors).

All things considered, Ant-Man is probably Rudd’s most notable role. Funnily enough, when his agent first suggested the possibility of playing a superhero, it was not something he had in mind. “My agent set up a meeting with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige,” Rudd told Men’s Health. “Marvel was pretty new. They weren’t even part of Disney. It would’ve been like somebody saying, ‘How would you feel about doing ‘Dancing With the Stars?’”

He quickly warmed to the prospect, although he feared that his fans would find the superhero role as peculiar as he originally did:

"A superhero franchise was never on my radar. I never really thought I was the type of actor that they would offer any of those parts to. But when this idea came around, I was excited about doing something that was so out of left field, and I knew that if it was announced that I was going to be joining a superhero franchise, most people would say, ‘What the f–k?"

Kudos to the casting team! Rudd is the perfect match for Scott Lang and we can’t imagine anyone else playing him. That also goes for actors like Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man or Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange.

Paul Rudd had to back get into shape for Quantumania! 

Playing Ant-Man requires Rudd to be in peak physical shape. His workout routine is pretty crazy, much more so than for any of his other movies.

“I worked really hard to get back into shape for Quantumania, and I realized, ‘Oh my God, this is so much harder than it was [for the last Ant-Man project],’” Rudd said.  “I had fallen off more than I had in the past. All of a sudden my clothes fit tight. And I thought, ‘God, this sucks. I can’t even wear these pants.’ So I’d say to myself, ‘Well, I might as well just eat some of these cookies.’ I was irritable and self-conscious. I just wasn’t in a good mood. I really beat myself up.”

It all paid off. He looks to be in great shape.

Hey, Rudd didn’t become People’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ in 2021 for nothing. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on February 17.

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