LOS ANGELES: After throwing audiences a curveball by playing flamboyant pianist Liberace, leading man Michael Douglas is ready to make another unconventional career choice, this time playing scientist Hank Pym in Marvel superhero film “Ant-Man.”

Disney-owned Marvel said on Monday that Douglas, 69, will play Henry ‘Hank’ Pym, the creator of the technology to shrink a human to the size of an insect and thus become Ant-Man. “Anchorman” star Paul Rudd, 44, will play Scott Lang, the alter-ego of the diminutive Marvel superhero.

“I’ve been dying to do a Marvel picture for so long,” Douglas told Reuters on Monday. “The script is really fun, the director is really good. Dylan (the actor’s 13-year-old son) will love it. He’ll have a picture he can see.”

Pym’s character first appeared in the 27th issue of Marvel Comics series “Tales to Astonish” in January 1962. Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, said in a statement posted on Marvel.com that Douglas will play Pym with “charm and fortitude.”

Douglas, who won a Best Actor Oscar in 1988 for Oliver Stone’s financial drama “Wall Street” and picked up a Golden Globe award on Sunday for his turn as Liberace in HBO movie “Behind the Candelabra,” is taking a rare step into the world of big-budget franchise action films.