Is Evangeline Lilly going to be the next superheroine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
When Lilly was first cast in Ant-Man, speculation and rumors had her playing Janet Van Dyne, aka The Wasp, one of the founding members of the Avengers and Hank Pym’s partner and wife.
However, Lilly will actually be playing Hope Van Dyne in Ant-Man, the daughter of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne. Hope does have a comic book counterpart in one of Marvel’s alternate futures, but it’s not clear if Lilly will assume the role of the Wasp in the MCU. Although it should be noted that Hope’s hairstyle in movie was definitely inspired by the classic look of the Wasp in the pages of The Avengers comic book series.
During ComingSoon’s visit to the set of Ant-Man, we learned that Janet Van Dyne will appear as the Wasp in Ant-Man in a small role, no pun intended. But the question of whether Hope will follow in her parents’ heroic footsteps is still one that lingers over the movie. Marvel has been very coy about Hope’s future beyond Ant-Man. Paul Rudd is reprising his role as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in next year’s Captain America: Civil War, but Hope Van Dyne is not in the film.
As for Lilly herself, she’s had a very eclectic career to date. Lilly first hit it big on television just over a decade ago, but she’s starred in only a handful of films and she has previously expressed her desire to focus on her humanitarian efforts and her side career as a children’s novelist.
Before Ant-Man crawls into theaters on July 17, ComingSoon.net has put a spotlight on Lilly’s career to date.
Ant-Man Evangeline Lilly Spotlight: Smallville (2001)
It’s fitting that one of Lilly’s first TV roles was on a comic book show. Lilly actually appeared in four episodes of “Smallville” in very small parts, and even as an extra. Everyone needs to start somewhere, and this was where Lilly got her first chance.
Ant-Man Evangeline Lilly Spotlight: Kingdom Hospital (2004)
After three years (and bit roles in The Lizzie McGuire Movie and White Chicks), success was just around the corner for Lilly. But first, she had one more thankless role to get through as “Benton’s Girlfriend” on a single episode of “Stephen King’s Kingdom Hospital.”
Kingdom Hospital was a horror series adapted from a Danish miniseries on ABC. It only lasted a single season, but Lilly soon found a place on ABC for the next six years.
Ant-Man Evangeline Lilly Spotlight: Lost (2004)
Kate Austen is the signature role of Lilly’s career. As the female lead of Lost, Lilly was catapulted into the spotlight overnight when the series was a breakout hit for ABC. Kate herself was central to several of the series’ earliest mysteries, including her identity as the prisoner on the plane and the crime she committed before she went on the run to Australia.
Lost developed a reputation for killing off its main characters, but Kate made it all the way through to the end of the series. And she made it into the afterlife as well, but nobody seems to want to deal with the way that Lost ended in any meaningful way.
Ant-Man Evangeline Lilly Spotlight: The Long Weekend (2005)
Sometimes your breakout success means that your old movies will come back to haunt you.
Case in point, Lilly’s appearance in The Long Weekend, a sex comedy starring Chris Klein and Brendan Fehr as a pair of mismatched brothers. Lilly appears as Simone, a dead supermodel whose funeral takes place during the movie. Essentially, she plays a body in her brief appearance in this film.
All things considered, it could have been much worse.
Ant-Man Evangeline Lilly Spotlight: Afterwards (2009)
If you’ve never heard of Afterwards, that’s because it was not a widely seen film. It was a French and Canadian movie that featured Lilly as Claire, the ex-wife of a man named Nathan (Romain Duris) who attempts to reconcile with her after hearing a prediction of his impending death.
John Malkovich co-starred as the doctor who could predict when people would die, but that was about the extent of this film’s star power.
Ant-Man Evangeline Lilly Spotlight: The Hurt Locker (2009)
The Hurt Locker was Lilly’s first real taste of movie stardom. She played Connie James, the ex-wife of Jeremy Renner’s character, Sergeant First Class William James,
This film was primarily William’s story, but it earned Lilly a share of two Best Ensemble Cast awards. The Hurt Locker also cleaned up at the Oscars, taking home Best Picture and Best Director, among four other prizes.
Ant-Man Evangeline Lilly Spotlight: Real Steel
After co-starring with future Marvel Cinematic Universe actor Jeremy Renner, Lilly’s next film put her opposite Hugh Jackman, who is best known for playing Wolverine in the X-Men movies.
Real Steel is essentially a boxing robots tale, based upon a classic Richard Matheson story. Lilly played Bailey Tallet, the daughter of Charlie Kenton’s (Jackman) old boxing coach. Technically, Bailey is Charlie’s love interest in the movie; but the story does take the time to build a relationship between Bailey and Charlie’s son, Max (Dakota Goyo) while also giving Bailey a personality and a drive of her own.
Ant-Man Evangeline Lilly Spotlight: The Hobbit (2014 & 2015)
In the second and third movies in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit adaptation, Lilly played Tauriel, an elf from Mirkwood. This was a source of controversy among some fans, as the character did not appear in J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels. Instead, Jackson and his writing partner, Fran Walsh created Tauriel to give the films a female lead.
Lilly professed her longtime love of Tolkien’s novels and she had to learn swordfighting and Elvish to prepare for the film. One of the key subplots of the final two Hobbit movies was the never fully consumated romance between Tauriel, and Kíli (Aidan Turner).
If nothing else, Lilly should be well prepared for a superhero movie after her time on The Hobbit.
Ant-Man will be released in theaters on Friday, July 17.
