Original Ant-Man Director Reconnected With Marvel’s Kevin Feige Recently

Edgar Wright, Marvel's original Ant-Man director, recently reconnected with Kevin Feige for the first time since his departure from the project. When Ant-Man was first put into development in 2006, Wright was attached as co-writer and director. Fans were quite excited for his take on the pint-sized hero, particularly after seeing his work in films like Shaun of the Dead and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. However, Wright exited Ant-Man in 2014 over creative differences, and he's kept away from the world of superheroes ever since. Peyton Reed took over as Ant-Man's director, while Adam McKay and Paul Rudd adjusted the script Wright wrote with Joe Cornish.

The Ant-Man franchise, while easily the smallest of the MCU's sprawling worlds, has performed reasonably well for Marvel. Starring Rudd as thief-turned-hero Scott Lang, both Ant-Man and its 2018 sequel earned generally positive reviews and decent box office sums. Ant-Man 3 is currently in the works, with Reed set to return once more. Plot details are still slim, but production looks to begin relatively soon with an eye on a 2022 release.

Recently, Wright teamed up with Empire magazine to compile an issue devoted entirely to cinema's greatest moments as a way to honor the theatrical experience at a time when it is in danger. While appearing on Empire's podcast, Wright spoke about Marvel boss Kevin Feige, starting off by saying he hadn't talked to Feige since he left Ant-Man. While he acknowledge that things were "diplomatic" when he left, Wright said he felt there was no reason to get back in touch. However, while going through reader submissions for the Empire issue, Wright realized so many stories referenced the MCU, which prompted him to extend a hello. Wright said:

“I thought it would be disingenuous of me to get through this article without mentioning the ‘M’ word once. So I did what I hadn’t done in six years – I just emailed Kevin. It was a really nice thing, and Kevin was really touched that I’d reached out to him directly and just said, ‘Hey’. Also it was funny after six years of no contact to email him just saying, ‘Kevin, I need you to write something for me, and I need it tomorrow!’ So it was nice, we basically reconnected over this article and it was very sweet. I’m very glad I did it, and I was very happy that his response was so- he was really touched that I had reached out, and I feel what he wrote was great. I told him that I read what he’d said about Aliens to James Cameron, which he said was just wild. So it was nice, it’s a nice happy ending to that story.”

As diplomatic as it might have been, it seems likely that there were some bruised feelings surrounding Wright's Ant-Man exit. That's why it's nice to see he and Feige were able to put things aside in order to reconnect. As Wright said elsewhere in the podcast, the two were friends before the Ant-Man situation. It was certainly disappointing to lose Wright as a director for the MCU, but now both he and Feige can respect each other's work while acknowledging that it just wasn't right for Ant-Man.

Wright has spent his time since leaving Ant-Man working on films like Baby Driver and Last Night in Soho, and Feige is currently in the midst of ushering in a new era of the MCU. Phase 4 kicked off mere weeks ago with WandaVision, and it will (hopefully) release its first movie in May with Black Widow. The MCU seems to have no end in sight, which means there could be time for Wright to try his hand once more at a Marvel flick. Right now, that seems very unlikely, but anything can happen when it comes to the Marvel universe.

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Source: Empire