According to Variety, Edgar Wright’s wildcard Marvel Phase 3 movie Ant-Man is in talks with The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug star Evangeline Lilly to play the female lead opposite Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang and Michael Douglas’ Hank Pym.
Lily is rumoured to be playing the daughter of Pym and – predictably enough – the love interest of Lang, but another theory doing the rounds is that Lily could make use of the same technology and suit up as Wasp.
In the comics, Wasp is the alias of socialite Janet van Dyne, who is given access to Pym’s shrinking technology (as well as a set of wings) when her scientist father unleashes something horrible from another dimension.
Eventually the two become a couple, but with their comic-book history soured by domestic abuse (it’s not unique to the couple by any means, but it’s the most strongly remembered, perhaps thanks to Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s The Ultimates), it’s no surprise that Marvel wanted to keep their distance from Hank Pym.
Previous actors rumoured for Wasp were Desperate Housewives‘ Eva Longoria and New Girl‘s Olivia Munn, the latter turned out to be playing a completely different character in Iron Man 2 and nothing ever came of the former.
With Wasp being in Joss Whedon’s original draft for Avengers Assemble, could this be a clever new way to introduce the character, while allowing enough room to make her a stronger, more rounded character than the original?
Ant-Man will be released on 31 July 2015. Pick up Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz as one Blu-ray box-set for £16 or on DVD for £18.75 from Amazon.co.uk
