Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man is one of the biggest wildcards over at Marvel Studios. Not only is the character unknown to casual moviegoers (making it a potential box office risk), but he won’t be appearing until Phase 3 of the cinematic universe, right after Avengers: Age of Ultron.Â
The fact that the miniature Avenger won’t be joining the rest of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is a bit surprising, especially since the movie’s been in the works since before Iron Man hit theaters in 2008.
A big point of contention among fans has been the fact that Ant-Man creates Ultron in the comics, which won’t be the case for the film version of the villain. We still don’t know exactly how the murderous AI comes to life in the Avengers sequel, but Empire Magazine recently caught up with Kevin Feige to find out. He explained the reasoning behind the change by saying the following:
“It was two things – a story Edgar wanted to tell that we’ll see with Michael Douglas and Paul Rudd, and now we’re 11 films in, it’s looking at the characters we’ve already introduced who already have the technology and the brains to do…certain things [Laughs].”
That’s an obvious allusion to Tony Stark, who is the next logical choice for someone who could create something like Ultron. When asked if Hank Pym, the first Ant-Man, was the “Original Tony Stark,” Feige said:
“He’s certainly older. Original Tony Stark? In that he is an inventor and a scientist, but he has a very different demeanour that Tony and a very different ego, even when he was younger.”
For those who are unfamiliar with Wright’s take on the character, there will actually be two Ant-Men in the film. Michael Douglas plays Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, and Paul Rudd plays Scott Lang, who steals the Ant-Man tech from Pym to save his daughter, and is eventually given the option of keeping it as long as he vows to use it for good and uphold the law.
Feige talked a bit about casting Rudd in the role, giving a few interesting hints at what we can expect to see when the film hits theaters on July 17, 2015:
“Look at that origin of the petty crook who comes into contact with a suit and does his best to make good, and then look at someone like Paul Rudd, who can do slightly unsavory things like break into people’s houses and still be charming and who you root for and whose redemption you will find satisfaction in.”
Now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has expanded far beyond the seeds that were planted back in 2008, it would make sense that some Ant-Man changes would have been made over the years. However, according to Feige, Ant-Man did more to change the MCU than the other way around. He explains:
“There’s been a little bit of connective tissue that wouldn’t have been there in in his draft ten years ago. We changed, frankly some of the MCU to accommodate this version of Ant-Man. Knowing what we wanted to do with Edgar and with Ant-Man, going years and years back, helped to dictate what we did with the roster for Avengers the first time. It was a bit of both in terms of his idea for the Ant-Man story influencing the birth of the MCU in the early films leading up to Avengers.”
What do you think of what Feige had to say? Are you excited to see Ant-Man finally arrive on the big screen, even if he’ll be missing from Avengers: Age of Ultron? Let us know in the comments below!
