Edgar Wright's exit from the Ant-Man project will forever be the wound that never heals when it comes to Marvel movies, but it's a credit to Peyton Reed that the film still ended up being one of the more unique, endearing entries in the MCU. The film did well for being, both visually and in terms of storytelling, a genuine oddity, and the sparring between stars Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly powered a comic fervor that made the film distinct amongst its superhero brethren. This is no doubt the reason that, as THR is reporting, Reed is now in talks to return for Ant-Man 2, officially known as Ant-Man and the Wasp, as director.The film is currently slated to be released in July 2018, and the original Ant-Man recently did very well in China, on top of its strong showing stateside.
The film's title indeed suggests that the new focus of the sequel will be on the relationship between Rudd's Ant-Man and Lilly's The Wasp, whose suit was glimpsed in the stinger scene after Ant-Man. Not only is the narrative trajectory of Ant-Man more clever than even Avengers: Age of Ultron or Iron Man 3, it fits in perfectly with the rest of Reed's career, which has been undervalued by many. So yeah, okay, Yes Man is not that great, like at all, but The Break-Up qualifies as one of the most slyly lacerating and sincere melodramas to be released in the last decade or so. And yes, Bring It On is deserving of every single cult it has spawned in the years since it's original release, and Down with Love is as visually sublime as any romantic comedy released since 2000. There's quite a lot of room for Reed to expand the Ant-Man template even more in a sequel, and he's one of the few directors that I genuinely trust to improve upon a formula whenever possible.
