Michael Douglas can finally lay his jealousy to rest – just like his close friends Jack Nicholson and Danny DeVito, he has now starred in a superhero film.

The 70-year-old, who plays the part of Dr Hank Pym in Ant-Man, revealed he was pleased to be approached by Marvel because his friends had already had the chance to play exciting comic book characters – and “looked like they had a lot of fun”.

Jack played the role of The Joker in 1989′s Batman, while Danny DeVito was The Penguin in 1992′s Batman Returns.

Dr Hank Pym is less of a villain, recruiting Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to become Ant-Man and stop his former employers from using the technology for evil.

Michael Douglas at the premiere of Ant-Man in Los Angeles
Michael Douglas at the premiere of Ant-Man in Los Angeles (Chris Pizzello/Invision)

The film features some flashback scenes where we get to see Hank in his prime, which Michael found especially weird: “The most surreal thing in this movie is looking at yourself 35 years ago.

They have now mastered these computer graphics where you act in a scene with little dots around your face, and they remove your lines and everything else and make you 30 years younger.”

As for a second Ant-Man film, Dr Hank Pym is on board: “I’m having fun with this, hopefully they’ll knock on my door for a sequel – who knows?”

Ant-Man is released in cinemas on Friday July 17.