It’s sad but true. Edgar Wright has departed Marvel’s Ant-Man movie with a new director to be announced shortly. Not much was divulged about Wright’s exit, but he and Marvel released a short joint statement on the Marvel website stating it was “due to differences in their vision of the film”.

Edgar WrightEdgar Wright at the premiere for 'The World's End'

Here’s the statement in full: “Marvel and Edgar Wright jointly announced today that the studio and director have parted ways on Marvel's "Ant-Man" due to differences in their vision of the film. The decision to move on is amicable and does not impact the release date on July 17, 2015. A new director will be announced shortly.”

This comes as a huge surprise, especially for anyone that has been following the trajectory of Marvel’s smallest superhero and his transition to the biggest of screens. Wright has been attached to the project for 8 years, firstly as a screenwriter. He attended Comic Con numerous times to give hungry fans morsels of information by way of progress updates, and showed test footage back in 2012. 

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What’s more, Wright’s close friend and burgeoning director Joe Cornish – once of Adam and Joe – has been helping him write the script. There has been no news on the continuation of Cornish’s services, although he could conceivably take over the project given his involvement. 

The decision, though, according to the statement, is amicable. And the film won’t be delayed any further having already been put back November 6 2015 to July 17 2015. The summer release date still stands. Paul Rudd stars as Ant-Man alongside Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Corey Stoll, Michael Pena and Patrick Wilson.