Stan Lee confirms ANT-MAN?

From SuperHeroHype!:

"While Marvel Studios is moving full steam ahead with Kenneth Branagh's Thor and Joe Johnston has been all over the place talking about his The First Avenger: Captain America this past weekend, there's still one very elusive missing piece to the Avengers puzzle, and that would be... Ant-Man!

A movie about the diminutive Avenger, Dr. Hank Pym, who is in fact one of the charter members of the team, has been in the works for some time. In fact, Edgar Wright was on hand at that very same Marvel Studios Comic-Con panel back in 2006 when Jon Favreau and Louis Letterier were first talking about their upcoming projects Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.

When Disney bought Marvel, there were some [rum]ors Pixar might take over the project, but those were swiftly denied by John Lasseter, so that puts Ant-Man back into Wright's hands, having developed the project with Joe Cornish quite a bit before shifting his focus to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Apparently, Stan 'The Man' Lee, the co-creator of Ant-Man, met with Wright for lunch today, something that Lee proudly recapped on his Twitter feed with two intriguing tweets:

'To make up for my previous grievous error, here's a little item that may have escaped you. Marvel is prepping a movie starring-- Ant Man!'

and

'I had lunch with the cool, young director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the [UnD]ead) and, as you'd imagine, we had fun discussing the tiny hero'

Now of course, it could just be a coincidence that they were having lunch and talking about Ant-Man, but Lee stating that Marvel is prepping the movie seems to indicate they're finally moving forward now that Wright is putting the finishing touches on Scott Pilgrim.

Here's hoping Stan Lee isn't being the tease we've known him to be since he started writing Stan's Soap Box."

No ANT-MAN for Pixar

From Slashfilm:

"After Disney announced that they would be acquiring Marvel Entertainment, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed during a confrence call that 'Pixar boss John Lasseter talked to the Marvel guys about' the possibility of working together on a Pixar film, and 'they all got excited about it. We think there’s ultimately some exciting product that come of that. Sparks will fly!' Then earlier this week Entertainment Weekly reported that 'Pixar already has their eye on Ant-Man.' If that is true, both director Edgar Wright and Marvel head Kevin Feige know nothing about it…

CHUD contacted Wright, who has been developing the big screen adaptation for the last five years, for comment. Wright confirmed that he’s still attached to the project, but hasn’t had much time to work with Joe Cornish on the second draft because of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

'I just spoke to Kevin Feige for the first time since I wrapped and we are meeting this week to discuss the next phase,' wrote Wright. 'The news that Pixar is involved is not wholly accurate and a little premature to comment on. I love Pixar’s work more than anyone and indeed would love to collaborate with them.'

It seems pretty opbvious that the rumor started as an idea in all the Disney/Marvel speculation, and somehow morphed into news in this big Hollywood game of telephone. Wright, like others, also questions the idea that Pixar would be interested in doing 'a shrinking film' since 'Toy Story and A Bug’s Life already cover this territory to some extent.' As for Wright’s take on the second teir superhero character…

'It’s true that the character is not considered one of the Marvel brand leaders and that is precisely what excites me about it. I want to make a film inside the Marvel Universe that is something a little different; a genre film within the superhero genre so to speak,' says Wright. 'My spin on Ant-Man is very different than a straight superhero origin - and very much live action. At some point in this century, I intend to stop talking about it and make the [darn] thing.'"

UPDATE:

From ComingSoon.net:

"Following his presentation this morning at Anaheim's D23 Expo, John Lasseter held a press conference, fielding questions about upcoming projects, including dismissing a rumor that Pixar may be looking at Marvel Studios' Ant-Man and offering a sly 'no comment' on potential sequels to other Pixar properties.

'I had met all the folks from Marvel a couple of times and they're terrific,' says Lasseter a man of few words regarding Pixar's interest in Marvel properties, 'The whole 'Ant-Man' thing is just a rumor.'"

WELL HURRY UP!! DUH!!