DREAM CAST: Could Casting Bradley Cooper And Benedict Cumberbatch In ANT-MAN Give The Project The Attention It Deserves?

Ant-Man will be released and will begin pre-production in October, which means that casting will be happening between then and the new year. While I've had my own speculations about Benedict Cumberbatch's legitimate candidacy for one of the main roles. An old article from DailySuperhero leads me again to think that Bradley Cooper could actually be wanted for one of two Ant-Man roles as well. Before this story was posted I had heard rumblings that Cooper was in the mix for Ant-Man too. We've seen misdirections before by Marvel when it comes to casting, plus nothing has been officially announced concerning his involvement in Guardians of The Galaxy (Rocket Raccoon). What seems to be confirmed at this point is that Cooper has met with Marvel concerning a lead role in one of their films.

The leading man is at a career high and has previously wanted a shot a comic book franchise. Originally, in place to play Hal Jordan in Green Lantern before WB hired Ryan Reynolds instead. He's also been linked for The Flash and Supercrooks. Cooper was on Marvel's radar over a year ago (along with Joel Edgerton who was linked for Quill and Strange) and had been thought to be pursuing the Peter Quill role in Guardians of The Galaxy. More recently he's been linked for Rocket Raccoon but is a very odd choice. Granted, playing Rocket would be cool but does seem like a bit of a waste just to use his voice. The only guiding factor is that this is the second time he's been linked to Guardians and has a personal/working relationship with leading lady Zoe Saldana (Gamora). It's possible that Ant-Man is also a strong property that could use both Bradley's talent and high-profile. The studio would need well-known actors for the film to be taken more seriously. Case in fact, when Marvel hired Robert Downey Jr. to play Iron Man audiences/outlets took notice. Even though at the time Stark was the most obscure Marvel hero to hit the screen since Blade in 1998. Ant-Man is sort of in the same boat as Iron Man was, but could have that high-profile actor to give the character it's exposure.

One of biggest problems with making a film based on Ant-Man is that he's an extremely unknown Marvel hero and a hard film to sell. It's new high-tech spy angle could get end up being Marvel's take on Bond meets Mission: Impossible. When you think of those two franchises you think A-list leads. One way Edgar Wright and Marvel could fix this issue is by hiring two actors with massively large fan-bases, since the film will focus on both Hank Pym and Scott Lang. Cooper has become the new American heartthrob thanks to Oscar nominated performance in Silver Linings Playbook. Simon Pegg previously said Wright/Marvel were going after an American for the lead. Giving the impression that Pym would actually be played by an American actor. However, since Scott Lang has been confirmed to be apart of the film it's possible that casting could be more openminded. Benedict Cumberbatch has fandom and ladies alike swooning for him due to his roles in Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness (Marvel loves casting Trek alumni) and unseen roles in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug/The Hobbit: There And Back Again. Benedict could give  the Lang (Ant-Man II) the depth needed to hate and also care for. I can't be the only one who was rooting for Khan in Into Darkness.

RUMOR: Armie Hammer And Edgar Wright Spotted On CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER Set, Will Hammer Have A Role In ANT-MAN Or The MCU?

ScreenRant was able to speak with actor Armie Hammer (Social Network, J. Edgar) during his press junket for Disney's The Lone Ranger. They brought up that Armie and Ant-Man director Edgar Wright had been spotted on the set of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Which has fuelled speculation that Hammer could be involved with the MCU and it's likely he could have a lead role in Ant-Man. Hammer does confirm that he was indeed on set but Edgar Wright took to Twitter to deny he was ever there.

Hammer had been originally cast as Batman in George Miller's purposed Justice League film which got the axe. Having Armie take on a superhero role isn't much of a stretch. Cobie Smulders who played Maria Hill in Avengers had been eyed for Wonder Woman in Joss Whedon's purposed film which never ended up getting off the ground. Not to mention his Lone Ranger co-stars have also been linked previously to Marvel projects. Johnny Depp had been wanted for the role of Doctor Strange a few years back and Ruth Wilson is apparently on the studio's radar for Ms. Marvel or another part. Also, Simon Pegg had stated he wouldn't play Ant-Man because the role was going to an American actor.

It's possible Joss Whedon and Edgar Wright have already talked about including characters from Ant-Man in Avengers 2, to setup Ant-Man as the first stage of Phase Three. Having either Hank Pym or Scott Lang have a small cameo in Captain America 2 wouldn't be hard to imagine. Since we've seen similar setups with other Marvel films. It's also possible that Hammer could be up for another part in the MCU which is considerably endless with Doctor Strange, Inhumans and other films on the horizon.

New ANT-MAN Test Reel Stills Shows Off The Costume

What We Know So Far About 'ANT-MAN' (2014-2015)

Edgar Wright has been working closely with Marvel Studios over the last eight years to put together a solo adventure for an Ant-Man movie. The founding member of the Avengers was left out of the first film so his origin can be revealed in his own film. Wright and his Tintin writing partner Joe Cornish (Attack The Block) have been working on the film's script off-and-on for a couple of years now. A second and possible third draft of the script have been handed in to Marvel, Kevin Feige has stated it would "go sooner, rather than later". He also mentioned an upcoming announcement concerning Ant-Man, telling people to keep an eye on Edgar's Twitter. Earlier, Wright had Tweeted that he was back behind the camera. Some believe this ment he was shooting test-footage for his Ant-Man pitch.

UPDATE: It's been announced that Edgar Wright will be making World's End this fall with it releasing in Spring 2013. This means that at the very earliest Ant-Man won't go into production until Summer/Fall 2013, with a possible 2014 release date. 

Actors such as Nathan Fillion (Firefly), Simon Pegg, Joel Edgerton (Warrior, Zero Dark Thirty) and Bradley Cooper (Limitless, The Hangover 1-2) have been all rumored for roles in the film. Simon Pegg is really the only one who has commented on his link to the Ant-Man role, stating he'd rather play the villain (perhaps Egghead). This announcement will likely be the release date of the film likely Summer 2013 or May/Summer 2014. I have to assume casting announcements could be saved for Marvel's Comic-Con pannel which will have actors from Iron Man 3 and possibly Thor 2. The talk of "Ant-Men" could mean multiple actors donning Pym suits.

Ant-Man will have at least two of the Ant-Men including Dr. Hank Pym and burglar turned-hero Scott Lang (2nd Ant-Man) which was confirmed by MTV. ThePlaylist was able to speak with Joe Cornish which he became coy when the question of Ant-Men was raised again. However, they mention several "Ant-Men" are rumored which could mean SHIELD Agent Eric O'Grady (3rd Ant-Man) could be in the film as well. As for villains, it seems to be up in the air but there has been talk of Ultron or Egghead being the baddie. I think Ultron is the best bet as his inclusion would lead to the introduction of Vision, the android and Avengers member.

CORNISH: "We had heard that at one point Cornish and Wright were going to put several of the Ant-Men (meaning people that had put on superhero scientist Hank Pym’s suit) into the script, meaning that they could have thrown in our personal favorite Ant-Man – Eric O’Grady, low-level S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent turned shadily “Irredeemable” Ant Man"....Cornish smiled at our implication and said, slyly, “No comment.” He then started to say something, “Well, you know…” before shutting himself off with another “No comment.”


WRIGHT: "I think it's a really interesting high-concept idea. [...] I know there's a big stigma attached to it, mostly because every movie about shrinking has been about people in peril. I think it'd be great to do a shrinking film about a bad-ass secret agent. [...] Even something like The Incredible Shrinking Man, which is a fantastic film, is about a guy in trouble. But this is going to be nothing like that. It's essentially a high-tech spy heist film with somebody with a very particular power."

Edgar Wright Teases Ant-Man With Twitter Photo

We've been getting minor hints from Marvel's Kevin Feige that a big announcement concerning Ant-Man would be coming in the next couple of months. Today we get something other than that but just as interesting with Edgar Wright tweeting this photo of some awesome Ant-Man artwork. There had been rumblings of Edgar getting back behind the camera which some believe means he was shooting test-footage for Ant-Man to help pitch his film. Now with the massive success of Avengers it looks like Marvel will have the extra cash to put the film into production.

Leaked Thor Script Confirms Hawkeye & Reveals Easter Eggs

ComicBookMovie received a possible leaked copy of Marvel Studios' script for Thor. It's very likely it's a real copy as Paramount had the site remove the script and it's details. We seen numerous "leaked" copies of the Dark Knight Rises script and Warner Bros. has never paid attention to them.

I haven't read it myself because I would like to keep most of the film a surprise. I do however like to know the Easter eggs before hand so I can look out for them. CinemaBlend has posted a few of these Easter eggs from the script. These aren't earth shattering spoilers so it shouldn't ruin your enjoyment of the film. One involves Dr. Pym (Ant-Man) being mentioned along with "a pioneer in gamma radiation" which would be referring to Bruce Banner. Hawkeye's cameo is also confirmed as being written in the screenplay. Rumored for months that Jeremy Renner would show up in Thor as Clint Barton (Hawkeye) to introduce audiences to the heroic archer. Thor will be released on May 6th 2011.