One of the reasons I’ve been so excited about “Ant-Man” for so long now is because the premise for the film, as explained years ago by Edgar Wright, sounds like it won’t be like any other superhero film we’ve seen.
The other reason, of course, is because Edgar Wright has one of the most distinct voices in film right now. I’m excited to see how his aggressive visual style fits into the Marvel cinematic universe, and the test footage that was revealed at Comic-Con a few years ago was a tremendously encouraging first look at how Ant-Man’s powers could be used in a fight.
Wright’s been working on the script for several years now, on and off, with co-writer Joe Cornish, and when I was interviewing Cornish about “Attack The Block,” I happened to mention the “Ant-Man” plot I’d heard, and he went a little pale. “You’re not going to print that, are you?” he asked, and I assured him that I wasn’t going to be the one to ruin all the surprises.
Besides, I think Edgar’s going to give people plenty of hints. He just gave a huge clue on his blog, and it’s amazing how quickly people all over the Internet have worked to figure out what he meant. After all, he just ran a single image, which you see at the top of this story, and a single word.
“Homework.”
If you have NetFlix Instant, you should go check out season 2, episode 5 of “The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” called “To Steal An Ant-Man.” That’s the episode the still comes from, and it seems like Edgar picked that for a particular purpose. Here’s the synopsis for the episode: “When Hank Pym realizes his Ant-Man suit was hijacked and used in a bank robbery, he takes it upon himself to find the thief.”
Hmmmmmmm. Fascinating.
So who do you think Paul Rudd is playing in the film? If he’s Scott Lang, the burglar who ends up with the Ant-Man suit, that means they’d still need to cast Hank Pym, who becomes a fairly major lynchpin in the world of “The Avengers,” and it raises the question of how long Rudd’s going to be involved in the world of Marvel. Even if he is playing Lang, there’s no guarantee they’ll handle things the same way.
The idea of having a character steal the Ant-Man suit and go on a rampage with those powers is fun, and it gives us a very different vantage point on the Marvel universe. It becomes a very odd but entertaining way of showing us what it’s like for non-super powered people, and it sets Edgar free to do almost anything and not have to worry about the typical demands of the genre.
With this one gearing up to shoot this year, we’ll probably hear more casting news in the next few months, and I’ll be curious to see when Marvel finally makes concrete announcements about the story they’re planning to tell.
“Ant-Man” is due in theaters July 31st, 2015.