Friday was a day made for rumors and speculation about Marvel's Ant-Man. The studio has spent the past week furiously looking for director Edgar Wright's replacement after he walked away from the project. Three men were mentioned as frontrunners, with Anchorman's Adam McKay in the lead. The other two possibilities were Rawson Marshall Thurber, known for the comedy hits Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and We're the Millers, and Ruben Fleischer, the man behind hits Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less.

Late yesterday, it was said that Adam McKay clearly had too much on his plate in terms of producing to handle a project that wasn't his, held at a studio that wouldn't allow him room to improvise on set. And it looked like Ruben Fleischer wanted to spend time with his wife and newborn before tackling the Ghostbusters reboot for Sony. That pushed Rawson Marshall Thurber into the lead.

Now, another conflicting report has immerged from Aint It Cool News, which claims that Adam McKay is very close to signing on for Ant-Man. He understands the material, and more importantly, he has a close working relationship with lead actor Paul Rudd already in place (the main reason he was offered the job). This new report also states that Adam McKay is the only director who met with Marvel, and that neither Rawson Marshall Thurber nor Ruben Fleischer ever entered into talks with the studio.

All of the Ant-Man set pieces have already been pre-visualized, with Adam McKay's main job being to work out the character and story elements that were causing problems in the first place.

Marvel should make the announcement fairly soon. But again, this is not by any means confirmed, and as many twists and turns as this has taken, it wouldn't surprise anyone to see a new name immerge into the fold.