One of the big sticking points over Edgar Wright’s well-publicized departure from Ant-Man reportedly revolved around changes to make the script fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe — so are these the story beats that pushed Wright off the project?

Take it with a grain of salt at the moment, but Starlog is reporting a rumor that breaks down how the new-look version of Ant-Man fits into the larger world that’ll be playing out in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War. Though unconfirmed, the plot points do make a lot of sense, and they are bits that almost certainly would fit with what the Marvel brain trust would want to strengthen the connective tissue.

There’s a lot of juicy stuff in here, and if it actually turns out to be true, it delves deep into potential spoiler territory. So you’ve been warned:

According to this anonymous party, ANT-MAN will take place alongside the events of AGE OF ULTRON, the fall-out of which will spur on the Superhuman Registration Act. While ANT-MAN is largely self-contained in nature, the references of the MCU will come from Pym’s past as a scientist for S.H.I.E.L.D. in the ’60s, having worked alongside Howard Stark, Arnim Zola and Alexander Pierce. However, in this flashback sequence, Pym will supposedly also have a run-in with a young military hot-head by the name of Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, who Marvel fans have last seen in THE INCREDIBLE HULK as played by William Hurt. The party goes on to say S.H.I.E.L.D.’s downfall in THE WINTER SOLDIER forced Pym into the private sector, which makes him vulnerable and essentially serves as catalyst for the events that follow in ANT-MAN. And according to the party, a shooting draft of ANT-MAN’s post-credit stinger shows the older Ross re-appearing to Pym, claiming he’d been sent by Tony Stark. When asked why, Ross allegedly responds, “Haven’t you seen the news? We’re at war.” The party also claims Ross will play a supporting role in CAPTAIN AMERICA 3, begrudgingly helping Tony Stark enforce the Superhero Registration Act and giving him military aid as Stark’s hesitant to use his own technology post-ULTRON. The party claims that rumors of Black Widow’s limited involvement in CAPTAIN AMERICA 3 is also true, as her character will be arrested for aiding fugitive superhumans in a power play by Stark (which will give actress Scarlett Johansson a break from the MCU to focus on her family), though the source says a potential Black Widow jailbreak in a future Marvel film may help bring Scott Lang’s Ant-Man into the AVENGERS fold.

Yeah, that’s a lot to digest. Hurt’s Ross has been M.I.A. for a while now, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has brought the military back into the fold post-Winter Soldier, so it’d stand to reason that that could translate to the big screen. The Pym flashbacks also could fit, since we’re picking up with an older version of the character played by Michael Douglas. Not to even mention the synergy of ABC's period-set Agent Carter prequel series.

But it’s the superhero registration stuff that’ll develop in Captain America: Civil War that really piqued our interest. Looking to the comic canon, that’s a positively massive story, and it stands to reason they’ll incorporate a ton of different heroes to make it work. Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang would be an obvious option, fresh off his solo film.

What do you think of the report? Do you think it’d work? Is it legit?

(Via Starlog)