LOS ANGELES: From “Fatal Attraction” and “Wall Street” to last year’s “Beyond the Reach,” Michael Douglas has never shied away from characters that have mislaid their moral compasses. But as he enters what he calls “the afternoon” of his career, Douglas wanted to play the hero. In Marvel’s latest superhero movie “Ant-Man,” in theaters on July 17, Douglas plays scientist Hank Pym, who creates a technology that allows its user to shrink and become an insect-sized superhero. Douglas, 70, told Reuters what drew him to a Marvel movie and what he’d do as Ant-Man.

“Wouldn’t you or wouldn’t anybody in this world want to get in one of these movies if you can? I mean, everyone says ‘this will stereotype me or typecast me.’ I don’t have to worry about that. I came into the Marvel world in the afternoon of my career. So this to me was such a joy, and a treat to do something I’ve never done before, with the kind of special effects these movies have, play a good guy, a heroic guy, someone my children can look up to,” he said.

Asked about the themes that this movie gets to explore that tap into today’s world and audience, Douglas said: “I would say relationships of the parent and their kid, struggling with those relationships and certainly good over evil.