Filmmaker Edgar Wright has previously been approached to take on Marvel properties, which never truly came into fruition. While it was known that Wright could have scribed Ant-Man, he declined to lead an X-Men adaptation as well.
In an interview with X account @Movies, The Running Man producer Simon Kinberg confirmed that he attempted to convince Wright to take on the X-Men for the big screen.”I’ve been trying to make a movie with Edgar Wright for over 25 years,” Kinberg began, “We met when we were young guys in Hollywood just starting out together, and I’ve been such a huge fan of his. I’ve sent him things over the years, many, many other X-Men movies, all kinds of things, and he’s always said no.” Ultimately, it was the reboot of Stephen King’s The Running Man that Wright agreed to team up with the producer on.
Wright opened up about his decision to depart from Ant-Man. In a Reddit AMA post, the director spoke about his experience of writing the script, condensing his rationale for the sake of the social media post. “Short answer. Joe Cornish and I had written the script long before Marvel became as huge as it did, our screenplay existed before Iron Man came out. But when we came to make it in 2014 – they had an established house style, a way of working, and a continuity that didn’t really fit with the more left-field heist movie we’d written. So I knew it was time to leave, because our draft we loved was fading away, and I thought it better if someone else did it. I have never seen the film to this day, but don’t regret leaving,” Wright wrote.
What an X-Men movie written by Wright would have looked like could have been interesting, though it remains to be an untouched thing of the past. Since, the X-Men have experienced reboots, revamps, spin-offs, and animated series that have brought them to life time over time. They’re set to play an even greater role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Avengers: Doomsday.
Edgar Wright Already Directed An Iconic Comic Book Movie
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD Kim Pine (ALISON PILL) watches her band mate Scott Pilgrim (MICHAEL CERA) prepare to fight.Image via Universal Pictures
Despite not making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Wright did direct Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which is still celebrated as an outstanding piece of comic book cinema. Per Rotten Tomatoes, “As bass guitarist for a garage-rock band, Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) has never had trouble getting a girlfriend; usually, the problem is getting rid of them. But when Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) skates into his heart, he finds she has the most troublesome baggage of all: an army of ex-boyfriends who will stop at nothing to eliminate him from her list of suitors.” The original Scott Pilgrim comics were published from 2004 to 2010, and were written by Bryan Lee O’Malley. Science SARU adapted Scott Pilgrim as an anime for Netflix, which consequentially flipped the plot to finally share Ramona Flowers’ point-of-view. The anime was praised for holding Scott Pilgrim accountable as a character, and welcomed back Wright’s iconic ensemble cast to voice their original characters.
X-Men movies and television series, as well as Ant-Man, are streaming on Disney+. The Running Man opens in theaters on Nov. 14., 2025.