Ant-Man Star Paul Rudd Is Still Thinking About That Hilarious Ant-Man and Thanos Theory

Hey friends... do you remember that Ant-Man and Thanos theory? You know, the one where Ant-Man could potentially shrink down enough to enter, ahem, Thanos’ anus and then morph into his “Giant Man” form to essentially explode Thanos from the inside via his gastrointestinal system? How could you forget? Exactly. Well, it appears Paul Rudd himself can’t stop thinking about the “Thanus” theory either.

“I often wonder, though, could he really have stopped Thanos in that way? Because didn’t he, at that point, have the Space Stone or whatever?” Rudd revealed during an interview with ComicBook, co-starring Jenna Ortega, for his upcoming film Death of a Unicorn.

But Ortega became visibly confused with the topic, so Rudd helped fill her in. “Do you know what we’re talking about?” he asked her. “There was a theory — going against Thanos, why didn’t Ant-Man just... instead of Thanos, it was ‘Thanus,’ go up and then expand.”

From there, a clearly bemused Ortega asked, “I thought he was already big?"

"Ant-Man or Thanos?" Rudd wondered.

"... the purple one?” Ortega suggested.

"Thanos," Rudd reminded her: “I get really small, and then I go...”

"Oh! That's why you're called Ant-Man!"

"Yeah."

"Damn. Wow."

The theory is one of those obscure internet relics that doesn’t have an exact origin, but it started to gain traction back in 2017 surrounding Avengers: Infinity War. Two years later, it picked up steam again when Avengers: Endgame released in 2019. Needless to say, it’s still a popular, and wonderfully ridiculous, theory.

Based on the resurgence, it seems as though some fans are still wondering if the legendary war tactic would finally be used against some MCU villain eventually, and the next one up is Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, which doesn't arrive until May 2026. That said, he isn’t nearly as huge as Thanos physically, so it seems as though the Avengers probably won’t need to deploy that plan this time.

Never say never, though. Anything can happen, even this.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.