I’ll be the one to say it. This is a bad idea. Ant-Man has always been one of the lamer superheroes in the Marvel pantheon. Who cares if he was one of the founding members of The Avengers? He’s a boring character with silly powers (shrinking, controlling ants).

Obviously Marvel Studios doesn’t feel that way. For the last few months, there have been hints and speculation that Brit director Edgar Wright (“Shaun Of The Dead”) has been secretly working on an adaptation of “Ant-Man”. Turns out he really is. The Hollywood Reporter today broke the news that Wright has just completed shooting test footage for the movie. According to the report, Wright “spent just under a week shooting footage for a reel that will be used to test out the potential look and tone of his movie, as well as to decide how convincing Ant-man’s powers look onscreen.” Like, whoa, right? Not so fast. While that sounds like the project is a definite go-ahead, test footage is really just a way for filmmakers to prove that their particular vision for a project is good enough for the studio. Zack Snyder did it with “300″ and Jonathan Liebesman made one for “Battle: Los Angeles”. In those cases, the test footage panned out into a real movie. At this point, it’s unknown exactly what the footage consists of and whether Marvel has made a decision, but it’s very likely they’ll give this the green-light. Expect an official announcement at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con.

If there is any hope for “Ant-Man”, it’s that Wright is on it. Which would naturally lead to expectations that his take will be much more comedic in tone. And to me, that’s the best way to tackle a property like this. More updates as Electroshadow gets em…

 

10 comments

  1. doofus

    July 2, 2012 @ 9:46 am

    Won’t work unless Marvel finds a way to make insects cute.

  2. Wai

    July 3, 2012 @ 8:12 am

    doofus: Welcome to the site and thanks for writing! Your comment reminded me of Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life” for some reason. :D

  3. Pacman

    July 3, 2012 @ 2:46 pm

    What you said in your first and last paragraphs is precisely why I think ‘Ant-Man’ could work. Marvel already has a full Avengers load of serious and earnest superheroes on film. And that’s before we even get into the sequels and potential spinoffs. Another new serious and earnest superhero film could be one movie too much (remember the comic-book film explosion Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’ set off in the 90′s?).

  4. Kelvin

    July 5, 2012 @ 2:25 am

    Marvel had better find a way to make shrunken people look good because Hank and Janet Pym’s (Ant-Man and The Wasp) relationship plays a major story arc in the Avengers series.

  5. Wai

    July 5, 2012 @ 8:49 am

    Hey guys, looks like there is some support for Ant-Man out there after all.

    Pacman: I don’t think “The Avengers” was all that serious and earnest, actually. If anything, it was the lightness and fun of it that really made it the winner it is. Of course, they did take the characters seriously, but the tone itself was not self-serious.

    Kelvin: I’m not a fan of Hank Pym. He’s a bit of a jerk, not to mention a rapist. Seriously (check out his history from the comics). But of course the cinematic version will do away with that sort of darkness.

  6. Pacman

    July 5, 2012 @ 4:38 pm

    That’s what I meant, as in ‘The Avengers’ characters and world was taken seriously though the mood and tone was fun and witty. Even then, I’d still file the film under action/adventure/superhero/comic book. I’m looking for ‘Ant-Man’ to come in under ‘comedy.’ Any takers for Simon Pegg as Ant-Man?

  7. Wai

    July 7, 2012 @ 6:43 pm

    Pacman: Cast Nick Frost as Ant-Man and my ass is in the cinema seat.

  8. Pacman

    July 9, 2012 @ 11:55 am

    Ha ha, that I would pay to see too!

  9. LunaticXIII

    July 17, 2012 @ 3:11 am

    I think Wright can do wonders with this movie. Hey, maybe this means the villain for the 3rd Avengers will be Ultron :O

  10. Wai

    July 18, 2012 @ 12:50 am

    LunaticXIII: Welcome to the site! Ultron, huh? Hmmm, not a bad choice. Though that might be kind of a step down after fighting a Big Bad as powerful as Thanos for Avengers 2. Keep writing!

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