Marvel's 'Ant-Man' Has Its New Director At Last

Last week was rife with speculation and rumour surrounding Marvel Comics' upcoming Ant-Man film and the person that would replace Edgar Wright after the director exited the production over apparent creative differences. However, the weekend yielded some solidity for the troubled flick, with Bring It On and Yes Man director Peyton Reed officially stepping into the chair.

In addition to his cinematic work, which also includes retrospectively ironic Vince Vaughn/Jennifer Aniston rom-com The Break-Up (2006) and the same year's Down With Love, Reed is a veteran of the small screen, having worked on shows such as New Girl, Grosse Pointe, Upright Citizens Brigade, Mr Show With Bob And David, and the incredibly forgettable 1991 Back To The Future series.

In a statement released by the comic-book behemoth, Anchorman co-writer Adam McKay was also revealed to be assisting with the film's script - kind of a belated addition given its slated release date of July 17 next year. McKay was previously touted as one of Wright's potential replacements, along with Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him To The Greek) and Michael Dowse (FUBAR: The Movie, Take Me Home Tonight).

In case it wasn't perfectly obvious from the pool of potential directors, it's apparent that Marvel is seeking a more explicitly comedic tone (seemingly not unlike the upcoming Guardians Of The Galaxy) with Ant-Man, which stars Paul Rudd as con-man and modern-age Ant-Man Scott Lang, and Michael Douglas - who recently spoke of his disappointment at the news of Wright's departure from the film - as the brilliant scientist, original Ant-Man and Lang's mentor, Hank Pym, a thoroughly unlikeable character in the comics, what with all the professional jealousy and domestic violence and such. But he figures out how to make people both giant-size (irrelevant) and ant-size (this film), so he's got that going for him.

And, loosely speaking of Guardians, that movie late last month released a new cinematic trailer - so in the absence of any Ant-Man promotional material, watch this instead and cross your fingers for whatever happens on July 17, 2015.