New Ant-Man Director & Script Contributor Announced

Scott Lang and Hank Pym will join forces in 2015- but who's helming their first movie?
Marvel Studios have today announced the new director of their upcoming superhero blockbuster Ant-Man, as well as an additional screenplay writer who will contribute to its seemingly constantly fluctuating script. Based in the long-running narrative continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the film will star Paul Rudd as the titular miniature super-powered "con-man" (and his human alter-ego, Scott Lang), Michael Douglas as his "mentor" Hank Pym and a host of other to-be-announced thespians in supporting roles.

The official press release, which was uploaded on Marvel.com at 7pm this evening, unveiled a few new tasty details about the project, but firstly, here's the news that fans have been waiting to hear: Peyton Reed will be Ant-Man's substitute helmer now that Edgar Wright has well and truly left the building. Reed is best known for his directorial work on recent comedy flicks such as The Break-Up (2006, starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston) and Yes Man (2008, starring Jim Carrey), and despite the various reports that Marvel's latest superhero romp will have a more humorous edge, it's impossible to deny that it will thus mark something of a generic deviation for its new aesthetic overseer.

Fear not, however, as Adam McKay (the writer and director of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The Other Guys, Step Brothers and Anchorman: The Legend Continues) has just signed on to assist in tweaking Wright's original script to suit Reed's talents and the studio's preferences when it comes to setting up narrative elements for future MCU instalments. If anyone knows how to combine over-the-top action set-pieces with beautifully timed comedy (both of which will no doubt be necessitated in abundance here), it's McKay, so if Reed does have any teething problems in the early stages of production, at least he'll have an accomplished comic genius at his side to lend a hand.

To top it all off, we've even received the first official plot synopsis for Ant-Man to boot. Here goes nothing: "Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, con-man Scott Lang (Rudd) must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas), protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world." Stay tuned to On-Screen for all of the latest production updates as filming (hopefully) gets underway in the next few weeks.

Ant-Man crawls into cinemas worldwide on July 17th, 2015.