Is Bill Murray Joining the Marvel Universe for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania?

A tiny piece of casting information has some fans speculating that Ghostbusters and Lost in Translation star Bill Murray might be joining the cast of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, marking the comedy star's entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The evidence is thin, but as soon as the possibility arose, enthusiasm for the idea ran high. The whole thing is based on the fact that somebody noticed that an English actor named John Townsend has been cast in Dust Bunny, the production name for Quantumania. The role listed for Townsend is that of a photo double for Bill Murray.

Central Casting describes a photo double as someone who "must resemble an actor as closely as possible in height, build, hair color, and complexion. They often need to look like they could be the actor's twin. A photo double can be used when a principal actor is in a scene but is not the focus and is essentially functioning as a Background Actor. Since the photo double looks like the actor from a distance, they can film in the actor's place while they prepare for other scenes."

Looking at a screenshot on Cosmic Circus, Townsend doesn't look much like Murray's "twin," but certainly is about the right height, build, and hair color if he was being shot from behind or far enough away that facial details are not going to be close on camera. Of course, that sort of trickery is getting harder and harder as studios are shooting in ultra high resolution.

Back in February, Ant-Man franchise director, who was a fan-favorite to take on Fantastic Four before Spider-Man: Homecoming's Jon Watts was announced as the reboot's director, tweeted about Murray's Marvel history -- he voiced The Human Torch in a 1975 radio series -- as well as sharing a signed photo he got from Murray years later. You can see that below.

A Pre-SNL Bill Murray played The Human Torch in the Fantastic Four Radio Show back in 1975. I was a fan. Years later, at the GROUNDHOG DAY junket, he signed this for me.

Happy Groundhog Day! pic.twitter.com/m2sUrhTPzc

— Peyton Reed (@MrPeytonReed) February 2, 2021

Groundhog Day is a movie that had a time loop at its central core, of course, while Quantumania is expected to dabble a bit in time travel, given that the Quantum Realm was used to do so in Avengers: Endgame, and Jonathan Majors is expected to reprise his role as Kang the Conqueror from the Loki TV series in the movie.

Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, and Michelle Pfeiffer, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is due in theaters on February 17, 2023.