No sooner was it announced that Joseph Gordon-Levitt was a frontrunner to join another superhero franchise, Gordon-Levitt—as he’s had to do for everything from Batman to Guardians Of The Galaxy to Doctor Strange—stepped forward to squash Ant-Man rumors, ha ha, wheee, because ants. Variety reported yesterday that it was down to Gordon-Levitt and Paul Rudd for the role of Dr. Henry Pym in Edgar Wright’s would-be franchise-starter, but Gordon-Levitt downplayed all that in interviews with the French press, telling Allocine such rumors were outright “lies,” then, presumably, dramatically spitting on the floor, as the French do.
Furthermore, he told the French edition of The Huffington Post, “You know I'm very transparent when there is news in my career, I'm always the first to tell my fans if there's really something happening, so if you don't hear it from me, it's just people spouting out rumors.” And yet, he did admit that there had been “discussions” about taking over the role, which is really all those “rumors” were about in the first place—“rumors” you are now hearing from Gordon-Levitt himself, in a mind-bending logic loop. Nevertheless, maybe this means that Paul Rudd really is the lead for Ant-Man, with Gordon-Levitt only ever appearing in these stories as a foil, the way cops do in police lineups.