Fancast for Hank Pym

So, we still have yet to learn any casting on the upcoming Ant-Man film. In fact, we still have yet to learn anything about the film at all, well not really anyway.

Few years ago I was plugging Chris Pine as my choice for Captain America. Obviously, that didn't happen. But now, I'm thinking that he could play a good Hank Pym/Ant-Man.

Hank Pym needs to be a couple of things.

He needs to be brilliant, and as long as the writers write the proper dialogue that's no problem.

He needs to be cocky. Cocky enough to hold his own with Stark and Banner, but without being a copy of either. Banner is the introvert in the shadows and Stark is the attention whore always hogging the spotlight. Pym needs to be somewhere in the middle, almost like Justin Hammer from IM2 - he thinks of himself as being Stark's equal, but doesn't have the charm to get there. After seeing him play Kirk, I think Pine could pull this off - believing in himself when no one else really does, and doing whatever it takes to reach that goal. As a newcomer on-screen, not many people would automatically prefer Pym to Stark/RDJ, but we need someone we can believe might get there, and Pine could do that.

He needs to have issues. I doubt they'll go into the entirety of the substance abuse and domestic violence that Hank Pym has in the comics, but he needs to be troubled (more so than Stark's alcoholism and Daddy issues) in a way that twists at our thought of what a hero is, or can be. Something has to drive him to go further than what everyone will tell him is safe, and again, after seeing him play Kirk, I think he can do it.

The problem with Pine is that right now, he's "Captain Kirk" for 90% of moviegoers. He's been in other stuff, but Kirk is what people identify him as now. And he's got good work doing that for a while. And it could be weird seeing "Kirk" in a Marvel movie. Because most of Marvel's big-shots right now work because they are seen as their character as much as the actor.

Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark, despite being in other films, even recently. Sherlock Holmes was huge, but Tony Stark is the default. Chris Hemsworth is Thor, even though he's been in Cabin in the Woods and Snow White since, audiences see him as Thor. Tom Hiddleston is Loki to most people in the US, and Sam Jackson, despite everything he's done, is Nick Fury.

But this isn't true for everyone. I haven't connected ScarJo with Black Widow to that extent yet, and doubt I will until she gets enough screen time (her own movie?) to set that in my brain. Jeremy Renner hasn't been Hawkeye enough to be Hawkeye to me, he's still Hawkeye/Bourne replacement/Tom Cruise replacement. Chris Evans is still a jerk in my head, after seeing him in FF, Scott Pilgrim, and the Losers, I can't accept him fully as Cap. And Ruffalo needs to be given a full swing at Banner/Hulk before he becomes synonymous.

So even though Marvel has done a great job of taken lesser-known of post-prime actors and merging them with their roles, it doesn't have to be all or nothing. And I think Pine can do Pym and Kirk at the same time, and still do great with both of them.