Who is Bill Murray playing in Ant-Man 3?

Ending months of speculation, the identity of Bill Murray’s character in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has been revealed, and it’s… a very, very obscure supporting character from one issue of The Incredible Hulk released way back in 1972. No, really.

According to Marvel, Murray will play Lord Krylar, described by company as the “governor of Axia, a bizarre and cushy community within the Quantum Realm.” The description continues, “Call him cowardly or self-centered, Krylar unapologetically enjoys the high life his status grants him — expensive meals, exotic cocktails and top-notch transportation aboard his huge pleasure yacht. It seems he and Janet [Van Dyne] are old acquaintances — but the details are vague, and she’d like to keep it that way.”

Who is Lord Krylar from Marvel comics?

To all intents and purposes, this is an all-new character created specifically for the movie; while there is a comic book Krylar, he’s a significantly different, and far less important, figure than the above description portrays — not least of all because the comic book Krylar could only dream of having 'Lord' as a title.

Debuting — and dying! — in The Incredible Hulk #156, Krylar is an ambitious leader of a group of mercenaries by the name of Pitll Pawob (no, really; I’m not sure what writer Archie Goodwin was thinking) who is employed by the actual ruler of the realm, Lord Visis, to deal with the problem that is the Hulk, who is threatening the status quo by his very presence. So ambitious is this version of Krylar that, even as he shakes hands with Visis to work together and destroy the Hulk, he thinks, “Why should any superstitious barbarian rule… when the Pitll Pawob can do it better?!”

To be fair, Krylar does seem to have a significant advantage in any potential skirmish, thanks to possessing a machine that somehow makes its victim’s worst fears become real — how does it work? Don’t ask; the comic just explains it away as “not sorcery… technology,” as if that helps — but he’s undone when the machine stops working (due to sorcery, ironically), leading to a swift death via stabbing by an enraged Visis. “Perhaps I prematurely anticipated your treachery — but you did not disappoint me, ally mine!” he says, as he drives the blade into Krylar’s chest. So much for Krylar.

How does Bill Murray's Lord Krylar fit into the MCU?

So, what, if anything, of the comic book Krylar will make it into the movie? If I had to speculate, I suspect it’s his name and a variation on his fate. We know that Lord Krylar isn’t going to be the movie’s main villain, nor even its secondary threat — those would be Kang and MODOK, respectively — but, let’s be blunt: doesn’t the idea of a background character undone by his own ambitions just feel right for Bill Murray?

We’ll have to wait until February 17 to find out if that’s the case, of course, but in the meantime, let’s take a moment of silence for the fallen comic book Krylar… and maybe a second moment for the lost opportunity of making Bill Murray as all-green as his comic book inspiration.

Read our Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania review.

You probably have more questions about the third Ant-Man movie. Thankfully, we have answers.