Wait, did Bill Murray just reveal he joined the MCU for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania?

Bill Murray is one of those unpredictable movie stars who's as likely to crash someone's wedding at a remote bed and breakfast as he is to randomly pop up in an installment of the franchise you love. He just kind of roams from gig to gig as he pleases, or at least that's how he makes it look, and now it seems he may have sauntered right into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and casually let that information drop during an unrelated interview. 

Murray was recently speaking with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) to promote his appearance in Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch, and was asked about his tendency to work over and over again with the same director (it's his ninth film with Anderson). By way of answering the question, Murray tried to explain that once he enjoys spending time with a director, he wants to keep working with them. He began the answer, according to Variety, by saying "You know, recently I made a Marvel movie."

Murray didn't drop the film's name, or who he might be playing, but he seems to be talking about Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which started filming a few weeks back because he noted the director made "the cheerleader story, Bring It On," which was directed by Ant-Man franchise helmer Peyton Reed. Murray reportedly agreed to be in the film because he "got to know" Reed, who was able to sell him on the project. 

“Let’s put it this way: the director is a good guy, and now I’ve at least tried out what it’s like to shoot a Marvel movie,” Murray added. “But I don’t think I need that experience a second time.”

Well, there's quite a bit to unpack here, beginning with the way Murray chose to reveal this information. If he's in fact telling the truth (and the specificity of bringing up Reed's past films would suggest that he probably is) and it's not just some odd joke, bringing it up to a German newspaper while promoting the latest Wes Anderson film and then casually moving on is one of the most Bill Murray things we've heard in recent memory. Disney and Marvel have not yet commented on his reveal (SYFY WIRE has reached out for comment), so we don't know for sure, but it's such an oddly specific move on Murray's part that it seems both fitting and difficult to doubt. 

Then there's the matter of who he could possibly be playing. If Murray is indeed only onboard for a one-and-done role, it feels like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania could be the perfect place for him to show up as one of Hank Pym's old colleagues or enemies, maybe a Tales to Astonish villain like Magician or Whirlwind. Then again, since we're talking about multiverse stuff in the MCU now, and the timeline's gone haywire in the wake of Loki, maybe Murray is actually playing Hank Pym from another universe, adding an extra dimension (pun intended) to the history of the original Ant-Man. 

However he appears, having Murray in the MCU feels simultaneously strange and like something that always felt like it was only a matter of time. 

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is in theaters July 28, 2023.