Uncertainty Surrounding ANT-MAN Director Peyton Reed is Compared to When the Russo Bros. Were Hired For CAPTAIN AMERICA


Damage control. This is what Marvel Studios has been predicted to do for next summer's Ant-Man at Comic-Con next week. But studio president Kevin Feige is already driving that train.

While talking with IGN.com Feige spoke in depth about the changes made to Ant-Man, specifically changing from writer/director Edgar Wright to current director Peyton Reed.

"Peyton is someone that I’ve been a fan of for a long time. People may not remember, though probably your readers remember, that he was attached to Fantastic Four more than 10 years ago. We spent a lot of time together… and I got along with Peyton very, very well and he had awesome ideas and an awesome vision for the movie, and for various reasons he ended up leaving that movie... 
“He’s come in to meet on a lot of our movies over the years, in particular Guardians. He had a lot of awesome things to say on Guardians. But James [Gunn] had a slightly more solid take that was of interest to us. But Peyton was always on our lists, and so when this happened and Edgar [Wright] said ‘Not for me’ we met with a handful of people, but Peyton was always one that I thought would be great. 
“It was not a slam-dunk that he would just step into it and do it. He wanted to be sure that he was wasn’t just inheriting something or following someone else’s lead. Or wasn’t inheriting something that the evil studio had watered down to be something bad. I kept saying, ‘You can either read what’s online, or come in and talk to us and look at all this stuff.’ He looked at everything, he talked with us, and he said ‘Number 1, I agree with the direction you’re going in. And number 2, I can add to it.’ And he has – the movie is in as good a shape as it’s ever been right now. 
"It’s still very much in the spirit of what Edgar’s original pitch was and the entire template of the movie is what Edgar set out and originally came and pitched us maybe eight years ago now. But it's on its way to being the absolute best version of what that movie could have been."

Then, Feige compared the uncertainty of Reed directing Ant-Man to the uncertainty felt when it was announced the Russo brothers were hired to direct Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

“Peyton is really, really wonderful, and will be proving that soon enough. As I said to the Comic-Con audience a few years ago, ‘You might not have heard of Joe and Anthony Russo, but you’re going to be big fans of them soon.’ And I’d say the same thing about Peyton Reed now.”

Feige makes a solid point comparing Reed to the Russos, but at the same time the Russos made a fantastic Captain America sequel that fans and critics loved so much and Marvel Studios hired them back for Captain America 3. Reed still hasn't even begun filming Ant-Man—which starts in August in Atlanta—and until Ant-Man is in theaters, Reed has a lot to prove. Especially when Wright has a deeply rooted fan base who were eagerly anticipating his version of Ant-Man since he began developing it in 2006.

Only a solid box office performance by Ant-Man next summer will prove Feige was right with his comparison. Also, a great box office showing should remove the shadow of Wright away from Reed's Ant-Man.

Ant-Man is in theaters on July 17, 2015.