10 Ways The MCU Was Almost Unrecognizable
5. Edgar Wright's Ant-Man
This film is -- to quote the cinematic masterpiece, Hot Tub Time Machine -- the Great White Buffalo. It's that beautiful thing that could have been, but alas, it escaped our grasp. It's the one that got away.
In 2003, Wright and Joe Carnish wrote an initial draft for Ant-Man. In 2006, Wright was hired to direct. It was supposed to drop in Phase 1, but it kept getting pushed back and postponed, ultimately coming out as the very last film of Phase 2.
Wright hoped for the film to feature a prologue, in which Hank Pym went adventuring as Ant-Man in the 60s. Then he would fast-forward to the present, where Lang got ahold of the suit and the two of them teamed up. It sounds like what we got, but it would've had Wright's signature eccentric flair.
By 2013, he and Marvel narrowed the lead actor down to two choices: Paul Rudd and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Wright favored the former, and Marvel favored the latter. Wright won out, but by May 2014, he and Marvel parted ways over creative differences. The Ant-Man films have been good, but how electric could they have been with Wright behind the camera?
Great White Buffalo.