Peyton Reed on the growth of Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp in Ant-Man sequel

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Throughout ANT-MAN, Evangeline Lilly's character frequently questioned her father (Michael Douglas) about why she wasn't chosen to wear the Ant-Man suit, but at the close of the film her father unveiled the Wasp costume which prompted Hope van Dyne to say "it's about damn time." The upcoming ANT-MAN sequel, titled ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, will see Lilly take on a much larger role alongside Paul Rudd, and ANT-MAN director Peyton Reed spoke with Entertainment Weekly to tease the direction the Wasp will take in the sequel.

Evangeline is an amazing actress. The first movie was really about her coming into her own as a hero, even though we didn’t see her suit up yet. So we’re so excited about now being able to show her fully formed and what she is as a superhero. Her power set, how she fights, and what are the injustices that matter to her that she wants to right. That’s part of the really fun thing of the next movie. She’s a complicated character and a rich character. We’re really, really having fun writing that.

Evangeline Lilly's ANT-MAN co-star Paul Rudd will be appearing in CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, alongside almost every other hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and at one point there was even talk of Lilly making her debut as the Wasp in the film. CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR screenwriters Christopher Markus and Marcus McFeely spoke with Collider recently and revealed how close they came to putting Wasp into the film.

You know, almost everybody made it in. There was a period where we talked about bringing Wasp in. There was actually a draft Wasp was in because she was so almost on the edge of being in Ant-Man, but then you’re taking something awesome out of the Ant-Man team’s quiver if it’s like, “Well, we’re doing her!” Plus she had a similar skill set, so it’s like “Well, maybe we just isolate it to Scott.

Peyton Reed agreed that leaving Wasp out of CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR was probably the best choice as she will be allowed to more properly take the spotlight in ANT-MAN AND THE WASP. "It just didn’t make sense for Wasp [to be in Civil War] because there’s so many characters in this movie, and you really want to see her become a hero and really spend time with her." Can't find fault with that. Development on the ANT-MAN sequel is still in the early stages, with Peyton Reed saying that "we're all holed up and we’ve been doing these sessions and structuring the movie. We’re working on it for a little while. Coming up with some ideas … It’s creatively fulfilling, and challenging, and daunting, and exciting, more than anything. So we’re in the structural phase now, and it’s fun.” While I found ANT-MAN to be a very pleasant surprise, Peyton Reed is also aware that audiences will be expecting something different with the sequel.

The challenge in Ant-Man and the Wasp is just topping everything that comes before. But that’s a challenge I think with every Marvel movie, with every hero movie. You don’t want the audience to get bored and feel like, oh man, I saw that in the last movie. You always got to give them something different.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP will hit theaters in July 6, 2018.