Evangeline Lilly: 5 things to know about her role in Marvel's 'Ant-Man and the Wasp'
Are you ready for a little more Marvel magic?
“Ant-Man and the Wasp” hits theaters nationwide today. Evangeline Lilly, who plays the Wasp in the film, stopped by the ABC News studios to talk about the movie and her role. Here are five surprising revelations about Evangeline Lilly and “Ant-Man and the Wasp.”
1. The Wasp in the movie is history-making
The Wasp becomes the first Marvel woman to ever have her name in the title. Lilly was surprised to learn the news.
“I knew I would take on the mantel of the Wasp when I signed up for the first gig in ‘Ant-Man’,” Lilly said on “Popcorn with Peter Travers.” “I read the script. And at the end of the script she gets the suit and says, ‘It’s about damn time.’ But what they kept secret and didn’t reveal to me until we were well into pre-production on “Ant-Man and the Wasp” was that her name would be in the title. So they sent me a title card as a surprise. It was pretty amazing.”
She added, “At first I was just like, ‘Oh yeah, there’s the movie.’ And it didn’t occur to me that, like, hang on a minute, 'There’s a female superhero’s name in the title, and that female superhero is you,' which is the coolest thing ever.”
2. Lilly went extreme measures to stay warm in her costume
By all outward appearances, the leather wasp costume appears to be warm and snug. But that was not really the case.
“I spent most of the time in my suit wearing a parka on top of my leather suit with thermals under my suit,” Lilly said. “[I was] taking off to a heated room between takes to stand above a heater to try and get some warmth into my veins because Paul (Rudd) kept the set like a meat locker because he gets so hot in his suit that I was freezing in my suit.”
3. The Wasp was Lilly's introduction to superhero movies
Lilly almost passed on the role of the Wasp because she wasn’t familiar with the superhero universe.
“When Marvel first approached me to engage about the dialogue to find out if I would like to be a part of the "Ant-Man" film, if it would interest me, I actually felt like, 'No, it probably wouldn’t interest me because I’m not into superhero movies,'” Lilly, 38, told Travers. “I never read comic books. It’s just not my jam. Then my manager was like, 'Hang on a minute. Let me give you a little education. These guys are doing something really special and really cool.’ And so then I went and educated myself.”
4. The Wasp character was created for the film
While Michelle Pfeiffer’s character, Janet Van Dyne, was long established in the comics, Lilly said her character is new to the franchise.
“In the original comic books, Janet Van Dyne and Hank Pym are a married couple. They are the original founding members of the Avengers. They’re very important features in the comic books for the Avengers. And my character was fabricated for the “Ant-Man” movie. Her name is Hope Van Dyne. She took her mother’s last name because she had major emotional issues with her father after her mother’s death. And she’s a highly intelligent, highly driven, very disciplined scientist who also happens to be an expert in Muay Thai, ... an expert in controlling ants, and also happens to be able to create amazing super-suits and fly around and beat people up."
5. Lilly helped herself to a souvenir from the set
Who could blame any member of the Marvel cast for taking a little something to remember their time working on the film? Lilly has taken the souvenir thing to a whole other level. She holds on to a little keepsake from every film.
“Every Marvel film, I take the same thing. I keep forgetting that I have it already,” Lilly said. “I should choose something else. I took the necklace. Hope wears this necklace in all three films. And I took the necklace because it means something to me. It’s got this connection to her past.”
"Ant-Man and the Wasp" is in theaters everywhere.
Be sure to watch the full interview with Peter Travers and Evangeline Lilly in the video above.
Disney is the parent company of Marvel, "Good Morning America" and ABC News.
