Jennifer Coolidge Was Almost in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now underway, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicking things off. The blockbuster film is not only the culmination of nearly a decade of Ant-Man’s onscreen story, but the first full outing of the franchise’s next big bad, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), and there’s a lot for fans to dissect in between. As a new interview with the film’s screenwriter reveals, that also almost included a beloved Emmy-winning actress. As Jeff Loveness explained to The Hollywood Reporter, there were very brief talks about having The White Lotus and Legally Blonde star Jennifer Coolidge portray Linda, the woman that Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) dated while his wife was trapped in the Quantum Realm.

“Linda is my mom’s name, so I just tossed that in there for her,” Loveness explained. “Linda has always been just a good go-to adult woman name for comedy. I don’t know if I should say this or not. I don’t think it even made it into pages, but we wanted Jennifer Coolidge to be Linda for a brief moment. It never reached beyond a Zoom between ourselves, but I had some good ideas there. I tried to write an ’80s flashback scene with Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas, because why not? You have the two of them together so there’s gotta be an erotic thriller there, with a foggy lens, and Hank and Janet doing hot, hot science in the ’80s. But Linda never made it, and Jennifer Coolidge, I don’t think she ever got a call. We’ll save her for next time. I’m sure she’ll wind up in the MCU, sometime. She can be Doctor Doom.”

Who is Marvel’s Linda Carter?

Before Loveness’ comments, one prevailing theory has been that the Linda Hank mentions could actually be Linda Carter, a.k.a. Night Nurse. Not to be confused with the Wonder Woman actress Lynda Carter, Linda Carter was created by Stan Lee and Al Hartley in 1961’s Linda Carter, Student Nurse #1. As the title of her book, which was one of Marvel’s first female-led titles, would suggest, Linda’s comics followed her slice-of-life adventures as a medical student and registered nurse at New York’s Metro-General Hospital. Her exploits had nothing to do with Marvel’s blossoming superhero franchise until she was rescued by a superhero and inspired to adopt the moniker of “Night Nurse.” In the role, she provided secret medical care for a number of heroes, and later became a love interest of Doctor Strange. While Linda and Hank Pym have rarely interacted in the pages of Marvel Comics, they did debut around the same time, with Pym arriving just a year after Linda in Tales to Astonish #27.

What did you think of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now playing only in theaters.