Adam McKay Says He Might Be Directing a Marvel Movie After All

Once upon a time, as Edgar Wright left 'Ant-Man' and their upcoming superhero movie was crumbling to pieces, the film's star Paul Rudd reached out directly to his 'Anchorman' director Adam McKay to see if he would be interested in filling in. McKay was interested (he's a big comic book fan), met with Marvel and was quickly offered the job. Negotiations began. Everyone assumed this was happening. And then, McKay "abruptly" pulled out of talks with Marvel, deciding not to move forward with the project. But, after that brief flirtation, could he return to direct another Marvel movie?

At the time, McKay said it was more of a scheduling issue than anything else, but more likely was that Marvel was committed to the 'Ant-Man' release date, which meant an accelerated schedule. Which meant, McKay would be inheriting almost all the pre-viz work done by Wright. McKay wound up helping with the script, but eventually decided that project wasn't for him. That doesn't mean he doesn't like the idea of working with Marvel.

McKay told Crave Online:

[I] had such a great time working with them [on 'Ant-Man'] that we’re kicking around ideas. But yeah, maybe I would take on one of the characters so we haven’t locked in anything, but discussions are definitely going on.

The question is what would McKay be the right fit for? He certainly was (almost) perfect for 'Ant-Man' but the rest of Marvel's projects don't seem to fit. 'Captain America 3' already has directors in Joe and Anthony Russo, who are also reportedly in talks to direct 'Avengers 3.' 'Doctor Strange' and 'Guardians of the Galaxy 2' already have directors. 'Thor 3' is currently up for grabs, but we don't see McKay as being a great match for a 'Thor' movie. We don't know much about the rest of the Marvel universe to speculate forward, so it's hard to figure out exactly where he'd fit. (Maybe 'Inhumans'?)

McKay is one of the best comedy directors working, who also has a flair for action and spectacle, so it seems like it would be a great pairing. It didn't work out for 'Ant-Man,' but here's hoping he and Marvel can find a project to work on in the near future.