Joss Whedon: Edgar Wright’s ‘Ant-Man’ Was The Best Marvel Script Ever Written

Ant-Man, Marvel’s most ambitious venture to date, has had a long rocky road to this year’s premiere. It has been filled with excitement, intrigue, and a little bit of heartache. Originally, Marvel’s Ant-Man was directed by Edgar Wright, the director of films such as Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. Many were anticipating his take on the miniature comic book super hero, but sadly it was not to be.

After Marvel decided to craft a cinematic universe, and bought back the rights to many of their characters, “creative differences” forced Wright out. Until now, no one was willing to comment or speak on the subject. Comicbook reports that Joss Whedon, well-known comic book adaptation director, had a few words about the subject.

“No…Only that I don’t get it,” he said. “I thought the script was not only the best script that Marvel had ever had, but the most Marvel script I’d read. I had no interest in Ant-Man. [Then] I read the script, and was like, Of course! This is so good! It reminded me of the books when I read them. Irreverent and funny and could make what was small large, and vice versa. I don’t know where things went wrong. But I was very sad. Because I thought, This is a no-brainer. This is Marvel getting it exactly right. Whatever dissonance that came, whatever it was, I don’t understand why it was bigger than a marriage that seemed so right. But I’m not going to say it was definitely all Marvel, or Edgar’s gone mad! I felt like they would complement each other by the ways that they were different.”

Whedon made a bold statement in stating that the script was the best Marvel script. Unfortunately, those words come nearly on the heels of the theatrical release of the re-written Ant-Man film. It was alleged that the “tweaking” done to Edgar Wright’s script were minor, and that they kept the spirit of his script, but statements like Whedon’s make one question those assertions.

It is unclear if any of the news of Wright’s lost script will deter casual or devoted Ant-Man fans. According to Collider, Joss Whedon went on to criticize Marvel’s current approach to its films like Ant-Man and cinematic universe.

“No matter how much they may talk about, ‘Well, this is going to lead to some terrible stuff down the line,’ in my movie, it’s designed to be a complete experience. And if I don’t do that, if I haven’t brought you on that journey and closed it out, f*** me. That’s the danger of this sort of serialized storytelling, turning the motion picture experience into episodic TV. Because we have episodic TV, and now you don’t even have to wait to watch it, you can binge it. So that’s to me a dreadful mistake.”

Ironically, Josh Whedon is currently directing another episodic Marvel film, Avengers: Age of Ultron, according to the Inquisitr. Many fans like the fact that Marvel is finally taking the helm and buying back their characters, and ultimately taking them back under the roof they originally came from.

Considering the flops of yesteryear, Marvel has learned a lot about comic book adaptations. One would hope they are not making all-new mistakes.

[Image Via Creative Commons/Gage Skidmore]