Ant-Man Editor Reveals Major Changes From Edgar Wright’s Original Version

Ant-Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania were all helmed by Peyton Reed, but the first film of the Marvel trilogy was almost very different. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright was originally signed on to helm the feature, but made the “heartbreaking” decision to leave the project, citing creative differences with Marvel Studios. There have been lots of stories and rumors about Wright’s version of Ant-Man over the years, and the latest tidbit comes from editor Colby Parker Jr. While chatting with The Direct about editing Gran Turismo, Parker Jr. reflected on his time working with Marvel and Wright. 

“His film, it was still [a] heist film,” Parker Jr. explained. “But remember how we have three mains. I think there were, like, 15 people within the gang, the gang that was going to do the big heist. I remember I never got to see his script. But I remember hearing that once in discussions when all the big muckety mucks were in the room… [The heist] was going to be more of a collaborative effort and more of a 15-hander than a three-hander…”

He continued, “I don’t think there would have been any other Marvel characters set up. I think he was going to be a standalone. He didn’t want any other Marvel characters in the film… I don’t think the Falcon would have been in Ant-Man.”

Ant-Man Writer Talks Edgar Wright’s Marvel Exit:

Joe Cornish, who helped co-write the first Ant-Man movie, talked about Wright’s exit from the project earlier this year.

“We worked on [Ant-Man] for something like eight years, on and off. And in that time, the landscape changed completely,” Cornish told The Playlist. “The technology changed completely. Audiences fell in love with superhero movies. All the stuff that people loved in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s in comic books were suddenly translated on screen in a really direct way that had never happened before.”  

“That kind of overtook us in the sense that Marvel didn’t necessarily want the authored movie that Edgar and I wanted to make because, at that point, they had this behemoth on their hands. They had this universe where the movies had to integrate. Edgar is an auteur. Edgar Wright makes Edgar Wright movies. In the end, that’s why it didn’t happen, I guess. Having said that, a lot of our stuff is still in there, and I really like that movie. We’re as excited as anybody to see where it goes next. We feel connected to that cast as well because Edgar cast it. The designs are still in it. There are still a couple of little Edgar Wright ants scuttling around invisibly in those movies,” he added.

Marvel Releases Excerpt From Scott Lang’s Autobiography: 

Marvel is releasing Look Out For the Little Guy, Scott Lang’s (Paul Rudd) in-universe autobiography that was featured in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. While the new book isn’t the first MCU tie-in to be released, it is the first time Marvel Studios has put out a fictional book featured in a movie. This week, they released an excerpt from the book, which you can read on Marvel.com. 

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now streaming on Disney+.