After years of development, filmmaker Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Ant-Man for Marvel is finally coming to fruition, and now it appears that Wright and the studio have narrowed down their choices for the titular lead role.  Wright has been working on Ant-Man with Marvel for quite some time, and he co-wrote the script alongside Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) a few years ago.  The director chose to write and direct this year’s excellent The World’s End before diving into the Marvel world, but now filming on Ant-Man is poised to get underway next year in anticipation of a July 2015 release date.

So who may be donning the antennae for Wright?  Apparently Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Paul Rudd have emerged as frontrunners for the lead role.  Hit the jump for more.

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The folks over at Variety report that Gordon-Levitt and Rudd are the leading contenders to play Ant-Man, and both are poised to meet with Marvel execs and Wright one more time before a final decision is made.  There’s also a possibility of one more actor being added to the mix, but right now Gordon-Levitt and Rudd are the frontrunners.

The two are contending for the role of Hank Pym, who in the comics was a brilliant scientist who invented a substance that gave him the ability to shrink in size at his will.  Wright will no doubt be bringing his signature sense of humor to the film, and Gordon-Levitt and Rudd both seem like excellent choices to take on the lead role; it's a win-win situation, really.  Rudd was actually asked about the possibility of playing Ant-Man a couple of months ago, and the actor sounded enthusiastically game about the possibility.

Wright is apparently keen on casting a “normal looking actor” with a wise-cracking personality, and one can imagine either Rudd or Gordon-Levitt playing an excellent foil opposite Robert Downey Jr. or Chris Evans when Ant-Man eventually joins the Avengers team.  Hopefully we hear more firm word soon.  Ant-Man opens in theaters on July 31, 2015.

What do you think, dear readers?  Who do you imagine would best suit Ant-Man, Rudd or Gordon-Levitt?

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Image via Warner Bros.