Adam McKay in the Running to Direct a Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie

While Marvel Studios was in the midst of a directorial search to replace Edgar Wright at the helm of Ant-Man last spring, Adam McKay's name became attached to the project. At one point, it looked like the the Anchorman director was a lock to follow Wright, but McKay would up passing on the job. Peyton Reed was hired to direct Ant-Man, but McKay stuck around to help on a script rewrite with star Paul Rudd.

Collider reported on Monday that McKay is still very much in the running to helm an upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.

"Adam McKay is in the running for everything," Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige told Collider. "Adam McKay is a great, great writer and director. He did an amazing pass on the Ant-Man draft with Paul Rudd for us, and I didn't know him before then. And we got to know him through that and liked him very much, and have met with him a number of times trying to find something else, so we’ve talked about a lot of characters with him."

Of the ten Phase Three movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, five of them don't have directors yet: the Spider-Man reboot, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Inhumans. If we assume that Marvel Studios will follow Warner Bros.' lead and hire a female director for Captain Marvel and a black director for Black Panther, that leaves just Spider-Man, Thor: Ragnarok and Inhumans.

Collider seems to think that Inhumans is the most likely place McKay will land, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man could be a great fit for the director. McKay has experience working with great comedic talents like Will Ferrell and Rudd in the Anchorman movies. That experience would be put to good use when it comes to bringing a wisecracking Spider-Man to the big screen.

Thor: Ragnarok and Inhumans strike me as darker, heavier movies. Anthony and Joe Russo proved they could spin their history of directing comedies and sitcoms into helming a thriller like Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I'm sure McKay could do the same, but wouldn't that be a waste of his experience working in comedies?

Both Spider-Man and Thor: Ragnarok have 2017 release dates, so Marvel Studios will have to start moving on putting those teams together soon. If McKay is their guy on either film, that news will come within the year.