Ant-Man Actor David Dastmalchian Shares Touching Stan Lee Set Story

Ant-Man actor David Dastmalchian shares a touching story of when he met Stan Lee on set. The Marvel Cinematic Universe movie from director Peyton Reed released in 2015 and introduced Paul Rudd's Scott Lang/Ant-Man to the long-running superhero franchise. A sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, opened just after Avengers: Infinity War in 2018, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is currently slated for July 28, 2023.

One of the more openly comedic MCU entries, Ant-Man was as popular with fans for Scott's crew of fellow thieves, later his employees at X-Con Security, as for the primary, superhero characters. This included Michael Peña as Luis, Lang's former cellmate, rapper T.I. as Dave, the getaway driver, and Dastmalchian as the Russian tech expert Kurt. Dastmalchian will since have become an increasingly familiar face for movie audiences, with 2021 alone having seen him in both James Gunn's The Suicide Squad and Denis Villeneuve's Dune.

According to an interview with Inverse, these appearances in genre films are no accident, as comic books have played an important role in Dastmalchian's life. This made for a touching moment on the Ant-Man set on the day that legendary Marvel writer Lee was there to film his customary cameo, for which the actor brought his issue of Avengers #249 that was the first comic he'd ever owned. Going above and beyond in the way he was known for, Lee made sure to not only sign Dastmalchian's comic, but address it to his newly born son, Arlo. Check out the full quote below:

I brought the comic with me when we were shooting Stan Lee's cameo. We sat in a trailer, me and [director] Peyton [Reed] and Stan and Paul Rudd. Stan showed us a bunch of amazing early drawings. I told him about my first comic. I just had a son, and he asked me what my kid’s name was. I said, ‘It’s Arlo.’ He took my Avengers and wrote, ‘To Arlo, your friend Stan.’ I’ve got it framed in my house.

Lee was famous for his willingness to interact with fans, and it's touching to know such moments also took place while the writer was on set with the actors bringing his stories to life. Marvel movie viewers always got a kick out of seeing his cameos, including in each MCU film from 2008's Iron Man to 2019's Avengers: Endgame, which released following his death in 2018. Indeed, as is typical of the interconnected movie universe, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 depicted Lee as a Watcher Informant and suggested that each of his wildly varied appearances are actually him playing the same in-universe character.

While Marvel Studios made the decision to honor Lee's memory by keeping Endgame his last cameo, Dastmalchian has the opportunity to continue his MCU run. He already reprised his Ant-Man role in a voice performance for the animated Disney+ series What If...?, and while he isn't currently on the revealed cast list, it would be surprising if he didn't also return for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The actor looks to be on the rise in Hollywood, and with the positive responses to his Polka-Dot Man performance in The Suicide Squad, Marvel could end up regretting not casting him in a more prominent part to begin with.

Source: Inverse