Ant-Man and the Wasp to feature Hope Van Dyne as the film’s queen bee

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

It's finally happening, folks! With the release of ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, Evangeline Lilly's Hope Van Dyne will become known as the first female character to lead a Marvel Studios film! Obviously, Paul Rudd's charming Scott Lang AKA Ant-Man will remain as an integral part of the film, though director Peyton Reed has stated that Lilly is poised to step equally into the spotlight for this one. 

"It's something we're excited about," Reed told Collider. He then goes on to share quite a bit of his perspective about Hope Van Dyne's potential future in the MCU: 

For me as a comic nerd, I always thought of Ant-Man and Wasp as a team and that’s a lot of what the second movie is really about is how they work together, what their personal and professional relationships are like. To show her finally fully formed in this movie is really exciting. We really get to introduce this character into that universe. I mean we’ve introduced the character, but we haven’t seen her with her full power set and everything, so to me she’s not a supporting character in this movie. It’s every bit as much her movie as it is Scott Lang’s.

For the moment, the buzz is that ANT-MAN AND THE WASP will begin production as early as this coming June, with an opening date for the film set for a July 6, 2018 release. Furthermore, you can expect to see more of Lilly's Wasp when her character joins in on the follow-up to AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR.

Well, it's about damn time, Marvel! Granted, you've been doing a wonderful job with the vast majority of your films thus far, but I'm glad to see that someone is finally taking the initiative to up your "lady game". In my opinion, it's time to branch out, and no longer inundate Black Widow with having to carry the torch for women in the MCU. Additionally, I'm positive that there will still be plenty of room for Rudd's Scott Lang to crack his witty jokes and "biggify" himself to ridiculous proportions. Honestly, as good as I thought ANT-MAN was, this sequel already sounds like it's going to be better than its predecessor.  

Provided that all goes well, we can expect ANT-MAN AND THE WASP to fly into theaters on July 6, 2018.