Auteur Edgar Wright, walked away from Ant-Man after eight years of development last month, reportedly due to creative differences with Disney-owned Marvel. Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios President, has reassured fans and stated that the screenplay he wrote with Joe Cornish would still form the basis of the final film.
During a recent interview, Feige talked a bit about Wright’s Ant-Man, confirming that the story they locked into place for the film all those years ago has impacted how Marvel approached its cinematic universe (specifically the lineup for The Avengers), knowing how Ant-Man would later come into play.
So, what really went wrong?
Who can say what really caused this rift, but I will miss the originality of Wright’s voice, I enjoy the continuity and fan service of both Marvel and the MCU, but can see it can also become a trap. I certainly feel that obsessive continuity, overemphasis on constant, universe wide events and the retreading of villains and story lines has ultimately limited the audience for the comics. There was an era — the 70s— where Marvel was very experimental; where three of their most popular characters were Shang Chi, Dracula and Conan; and where even established characters like Dr. Strange seemed to operate in a radically different world than the Avengers. As a consequence, I don’t find myself bothered by incongruities in tone between various franchises as long as the world building and storytelling is enjoyable.
Brand discipline is very important, but so is creative versatility. Even the MCU is synthesizing the cross-pollination of multiple generations of characters and plots that diverge radically in tone. Some characters, like Star Lord and Rocket Raccoon, weren’t even part of the Marvel Universe originally. The danger of containing every concept within the constraints of a single creative universe is that it will make the Marvel Studios less open to unique ideas and less agile. The weakness of the first half of AOS season one, the decision to drop a cross generationally appealing Avengers: EMH, the stunted ending of Captain America 1, and the mediocre execution of Iron Man 2 (some would say 3 also) and Thor 2, show the fault lines.
However, It’s fairly obvious that the timeline is what soured relations. Marvel hired Edgar Wright for Ant-Man before Marvel took off. Edgar Wright made Marvel wait for years and he made two other “passion” projects before he finally put his attention into Ant-Man. When Edgar finally was ready to stop postponing it, he was in a different landscape as Marvel had successfully built a wonderful cinematic universe that must be adhered to. Edgar always objected to a connected movie before it became popular and mandatory. So, when it came down to it Marvel HAD to choose a cohesive connection with an established character than the whims of a cult director. Period. End of story.
I hate saying this. It truly is Edgar Wrights fault for delaying the movie and had he focused on making Ant-Man instead of Pilgrim and Worlds End then we would have had ‘his’ film. He snoozed way to long and was unwilling to budge. I love Edgar’s movies. However, I have invested trust in Marvel and I do think Ant-Man will be better for it in the long run.
-Dagobot
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