When Thanos wiped half of all life from existence in Avengers: Infinity War, along with many of the MCU’s fan favorite stars, no one could’ve imagined Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man as the one to carry the fate of the fictional universe on his shoulders. However, the character’s story arc in Avengers: Endgame proved absolutely crucial in the quest to reverse the Snap and defeat the Mad Titan once and for all.
For one thing, if Scott hadn’t taken that trip into the Quantum Realm, then Earth’s Mightiest Heroes wouldn’t have come up with their insane time heist. But the superhero’s contributions to the fight didn’t end there. Lang followed his fellow Avengers through the portal, landing in 2012’s New York and helping Tony and Captain America acquire the Tessaract and the Mind Stone. He ultimately turned into Giant Man during the Battle of Earth as well, famously taking on a Leviathan ship and crushing Cull Obsidian, the most powerful of the Black Order, under his feet.
Notwithstanding all these heroic feats, though, fans initially assumed that Ant-Man would have a much more prominent role, particularly in regards to fighting Thanos himself. By that, of course, we’re referring to the wacky theory that concerned him climbing into the big bad’s nether regions and exploding him from within by turning back to normal size.
While it’s a pity that we never saw this attempt, it appears that actor Paul Rudd came pretty close to engaging the villain head on. April 6th was the Clueless star’s 52nd birthday, and co-star Mark Ruffalo celebrated it by sharing a photo of him on set donning Iron Man’s nano gauntlet, which you can see below. The Hulk actor captioned his Instagram post by adding the following:
“The secret behind your [Rudd’s] eternal youth,” he wrote.
Only two individuals got to wield the gauntlet in Avengers: Endgame besides Tony himself: Bruce Banner and Thanos. And even though it’s an intriguing thought to ponder, Ant-Man wouldn’t have actually been able to don the weapon due to his mortal human form.