As reported by ScreenRant, the original Ant-Man screenwriter Joe Cornish recently revealed why director Edgar Wright left the project during its development back in 2014. Ant-Man, was released back in 2015 and ended up being directed by Peyton Reed and introduced Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang into the MCU. The movie was positively received by most critics and even earned a sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp, which dropped in 2018. Though Reed’s version of the film was popular, Wright had spent years developing the first film before he ultimately parted ways with the project due to creative differences. Both Wright and Cornish still received credits on Ant-Man’s screenplay despite their exits.

During a recent interview with The Playlist, Cornish revealed the events that led to Wright’s departure from the original film, noting that MCU’s massive success was a factor in the director’s exit. The screenwriter stated that he and Wright had been working on Ant-Man for a number of years, even before Iron Man was released in 2008. Cornish stated that the aforementioned film’s success ultimately changed Marvel’s vision for future movie storylines. Cornish added he and Wright’s vision matched up with Marvel’s hope to create an interconnected universe.

Cornish said, “When Edgar and I first met Marvel, they were in offices above a BMW showroom in Beverly Hills. It was around the time of Ang Lee’s ‘Hulk,’ and [Jon] Favreau hadn’t even started working on the first ‘Iron Man.’ Superhero movies were not a thing… I guess because VFX hadn’t evolved to the point where they could put what was on page on the screen. So, they always felt like they were reaching for something they couldn’t achieve.”

Related: New Sneak Peek of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Shows Scott Lang vs. Kang

Joe Cornish Said He and Edgar Wright Worked On Ant-Man for “Like Eight Years, On and Off”

Marvel StudiosDisney

The screenwriter continued, “We worked on [Ant-Man] for something like eight years, on and off. And in that time, the landscape changed completely. The technology changed completely. Audiences fell in love with superhero movies. All the stuff that people loved in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s in comic books were suddenly translated on screen in a really direct way that had never happened before.”

He finished by saying, “That kind of overtook us in the sense that Marvel didn’t necessarily want the authored movie that Edgar and I wanted to make because, at that point, they had this behemoth on their hands. They had this universe where the movies had to integrate. Edgar is an auteur. Edgar Wright makes Edgar Wright movies. In the end, that’s why it didn’t happen, I guess.”