Marvel are preparing for another massive year in the box office with the release of The Avengers: Age of Ultron, the sequel to 2012’s box office hit The Avengers, which raked in over $600,000,000 worldwide. But another Marvel film is being primed for release, one that may not be as a big a franchise as The Avengers but one that has taken quite some time in development. Ant-Man, the alter-ego of scientist Hank Pym who invented a substance that enabled him to change his size, first debuted in 1962 in a Marvel comic. Two further characters have adopted the superhero persona of Ant-Man, the first being Scott Lang after Pym pursued other superhero identities.
The film began development in early 2006, even before Iron Man, when Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright was bought onto the project as director and co-writer, alongside comedian Joe Cornish. The English born comedian directed his first feature film Attack the Block, a sci-fi comedy horror in 2011, starring John Boyega, which led him to land a leading role in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
Ant-Man’s road to the cinema started even long before that, back in the late 1980s, Ant-Man co-creator Stan Lee pitched the idea to New World Entertainment, but Walt Disney Studios had a similar film in development so the project never left the ground. That film turned out to be Honey I Shrunk the Kids, starring Rick Moranis and was released to moderate success in 1989. The project lay dormant until 2003 when Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish wrote a treatment for Artisan Entertainment which never made it to Marvel. A year later they pitched it to Kevin Feige, who at the time was head of Marvel Studios, and signed both Wright and Cornish up to direct and co-write respectively.
In 2006, Edgar Wright made an appearance at the San Diego Comic Con, outlining his plans for the film, including announcing details that he will be incorporating both characters from the Ant-
Man comics; Hank Pym and Scott Lang. Over the next few years, the project stayed on the back burner, as it was revealed Marvel didn’t prioritise Ant-Man due to the low profile nature of the franchise, compared to the more popular Iron Man and Captain America properties. In 2007, Edgar Wright announced that the script was being revised and later revealed that it was finished and a second draft was now in the works.
Over the coming years, Ant-Man slowly started to take shape, even after it was revealed that Marvel didn’t see the film as an important franchise in the Marvel Universe. With Paul Rudd onboard as the lead character himself, Ant-Man, a release date was set by Disney and Marvel for November 2015. As Wright continued to leak small bits of information to fans on social media, interest started to grow for a Marvel superhero film from the creative talent of Edgar Wright. But then in mid 2014, what came as a shock to everyone, Edgar Wright announced that he and Marvel had parted ways due to “differences in their vision of the film” and a new director was needed. This sent shockwaves through the development of the film as key members who were involved in the process from the beginning all left.
Joss Whedon, director of The Avengers, weighed in on the departure of Wright by claiming it was one of the best scripts Marvel ever had. He went on to add that not only was it a great script, it was such a great fit with Marvel that he has no idea what could have gone wrong for Wright and Marvel to part ways. But what is plain for all to see, is that Marvel have a very solid game plan on how all their films are linked, in certain chronological order, and how certain franchises should co-exist. With Edgar Wright’s take on Ant-Man, it clearly didn’t fit in with how Marvel want their films, and with how successful these films are, who’s to argue.
Ant-Man, now directed by Peyton Reed and starring Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, will be released on 17th July 2015.