海角大神

Marvel fans sit less than a month away from the release of聽, the second chapter after Iron Man 3 of Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The next two releases from Marvel Studios are both in post-production with聽Captain America: The Winter Soldier wrapping in June and聽Guardians of the Galaxy finishing up shooting late last week, and all of these lay the groundwork for Joss Whedon to return to the director鈥檚 chair early next year to begin principal photography on聽The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Thanks to a recent (and curious) , Marvel Studios will also be shooting the first Phase 3 film,聽, around the same time for a summer 2015 release as well, just two months after聽The Avengers sequel hits theaters, and director that he鈥檚 back on Los Angeles to begin production.

According to聽, Marvel may already be far along in the casting process for the lead in their next solo character film and that聽Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Paul Rudd are the top two candidates for the Ant-Man聽part, with potentially a third unnamed actor.

This is the first time we鈥檝e hard of funnyman Paul Rudd being namedropped in association with a Marvel movie, so his casting would be as outlandish and comedy-focused as the film itself may prove to be. That being said, Gordon-Levitt may be more of the long-term franchise guy (he鈥檚 12 years younger) and his name repeatedly showed up when director James Gunn and the studio were searching hard for the actor to play Star-Lord, a role that also went to a proven comedy talent.

And what a聽perceived聽steal from Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment that would be, even though JGL wasn鈥檛 going to come back to play Batman after his appearance in The Dark Knight Rises听补苍测飞补测.

Rudd鈥檚 got聽Anchorman 2 coming up this December and a relatively clean schedule going forward, while Gordon-Levitt is celebrating the release of his directorial debut聽Don Jon, a film which embraces a unique comedic style and stylistic format 鈥� something Edgar Wright may appreciate given his resume of unique works. Levitt鈥檚 comic book movie background also includes聽Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, which hits theaters next year.

Both names do confirm that Marvel Studios is looking for a familiar face and someone proven to have acting chops in drama and comedy, so we鈥檙e very curious as to who that third contender may be if they are also looking at someone else. In the meantime, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Paul Rudd are soon meeting with Marvel decision-makers so expect more news soon.

JGL or Rudd 鈥� who do you prefer? Is it possible both are being looked at for different roles in the film? For all we know, they could both be playing different characters who wear the Ant-Man suit (i.e. Hank Pym and Scott Lang from the books).

[Update: .]

For other names we liked for the role, check our post list of .

Rob Keyes blogs at .