Marvel Shake-Ups: Drew Goddard Reportedly Exits 'Daredevil'; More on Edgar Wright Leaving 'Ant-Man'

After all of these years that Marvel has been running like a well-oiled machine, suddenly it seems that the brakes are starting to fly off. Last night came the shocking news that Edgar Wright had exited Ant-Man, a film he had been attached to for eight years (!!!), over creative differences. And while there's more information on that coming out, Marvel may have just been smacked again as Latino Review reports Drew Goddard has departed the upcoming Dardevil series to air on Netflix.

So what the heck is going on? Let's start with Daredevil, although there isn't much else to report as of yet. Goddard, who co-wrote and directed The Cabin in the Woods with Joss Whedon and is attached to a Sinister Six film over at Sony, has left the project he was expected to be the showrunner for. He was also to direct and write the very first episode. Is this his way of lodging a protest over Wright's exit? It could just be that Sinister Six is eating up more time than he expected. Only time will tell but this is probably not how Marvel expected to go into the holiday weekend.

And more from Latino Review, who are reporting that massive rewrites on the Ant-Man script are what caused Wright to bolt.  Marvel execs far above Kevin Feige, who worked with co-writers Wright and Joe Cornish to fit the story closer with the cinematic universe, apparently gave the script to a number of other low-level writers in the Marvel bullpen. The result was a "homogenized" story that Wright couldn't put his name on, and so he met with Marvel on Friday and the formal announcement was made hours later.

The big question is why Marvel and Disney would suddenly feel they needed to run Wright off the project, and considering they are expecting to reveal a new director soon it suggests they saw this coming. My thought on the subject is this: Edgar Wright is too unique of a personality for a film Marvel sees as only a cog in the machine.  It's one thing to have Whedon directing the mothership Avengers films, but look at the other movies. Thor 2, Captain America 2, Guardians of the Galaxy, and even Iron Man 3, all directed by those who are either TV directors, guys looking for their big break, or those looking to make a comeback. Chances are that Wright's version still didn't quite gel with the larger universe, and Marvel already has one "black sheep" film in Guardians of the Galaxy. Why risk another so soon? Feige was apparently in Wright's corner on this one, and so is Whedon who showed his dissent in symbolic fashion on his Twitter page...

So there you have it. As of now Ant-Man is still on target for a July 2015 release and Daredevil should begin shooting soon for air next year.