The difficulty in making a Marvel movie lies not just with creating and developing a character and story, but also fitting them into the collective Marvel universe. There are ten Marvel movies that the next few entries in the saga must fit into, which likely causes a dizzying worry amongst a filmmaker who sees even more films on the horizon. And because Ant-Man is the most risky of some of these characters, it's likely going to depend on several ties developed with previous films. And it very much sounds as if the character is logging some major hang-time with some big players in the Marvel U. There are Marvel spoilers ahead.
Latino Review has revealed that an early, possibly still-in-play draft of the script reveals that a young Hank Pym is involved with the early days of S.H.I.E.L.D. Among the suspects he'll encounter are Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), captured Nazi Arnim Zola (Toby Jones) and Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford). Oh brother, half of those are bad guys! We already know this movie will have flashback sequences, and here is one.
This feels very much like a preview of the planned ABC series Agent Carter, where the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent encounters several 40's-era threats in the early days of the spy agency's formation. Which, as we know from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, was already fraught with corruption, if the presence of Pierce is anything to go by. The guess is that modern-day Pym (Michael Douglas) will have plenty to say about Pierce revealing his true colors.
Many rumors have dogged Edgar Wright's exit from the project, and some suggest he was not happy to have to add bits and pieces from the other Marvel movies into his film. In this case, if that's true, you wonder what his angle was. Pym is considered one of the smartest men in the Marvel world, so would having him basically take tea time with Pierce and Zola make him look like a sap? Or would it give him added present day motivation to avoid S.H.I.E.L.D. and get past the mistakes of yesteryear? What could they be possibly discussing at this meeting? And would it affect modern-day S.H.I.E.L.D., making Ant-Man a film that must also play pattycake with ABC's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Or maybe Pym susses up what the story is with Hydra and bolts from this meeting as quick as possible. Ant-Man is going to battle Corey Stoll's Yellowjacket in the movie, but it makes sense to set up an antagonistic relationship with him and the classic baddies, so why not plant a small seed within the movie proper? Knowing Edgar Wright's movies and the fact that this is meant to be a comedy, however, a sit-down involving the super-serious characters from the Captain America movies doesn't really sound like a great idea. Then again, perhaps this bit was written out. It's not like this movie has had a shortage of re-writes. Ant-Man hits screens July 15th, 2015.
