Edgar Wright No Longer Directing Marvel’s Ant-Man

A microscopic gut punch with the proportional strength of a human-sized ant was felt throughout the geek community today, as we’ve received word that Edgar Wright has dropped out of his role as director of Marvel’s Ant-Man.

Ant-Man has been in development with Wright as the director since 2006, well before Iron Man kicked off the modern Cinematic Age of Marvels in 2008. And while we have yet to receive a detailed reason as to why the relationship fell apart, Marvel and Wright have released a statement that basically says that Wright is gone “due to differences in their vision of the film”. Whether that means it really was a conflict of vision or something more, we won’t know for a long time. Most rumors assume that Wright’s vision was being undermined by Marvel’s desire to keep tight reigns over the film’s ties to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe over good storytelling, but most of that noise sounds incredibly biased, regardless of how likely that scenario is true.

Meanwhile, Marvel has already started looking for a replacement, but says they’ll be announcing one “soon”. That job could go to Edgar Wright collaborator Joe Cornish, who has been involved with the script from the beginning, but he could bow out as well in a show of solidarity for Wright.

Ant-Man is still scheduled to kick off the 3rd phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on July 17, 2015. What that film will look like and who will helm it, with a cast comprised of Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, and Evangeline Lily, is anyone’s guess at this point.

UPDATE: Speaking of shows of solidarity, there’s this…

Image: Marvel