Ant-Man 3’s Evangeline Lilly Says She Finally Gets Hope van Dyne

Ant-Man 3‘s Evangeline Lilly says she finally understands her character, Hope van Dyne. Previously known for the TV series Lost, the Canadian actress joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2015’s Ant-Man as the eventual second iteration of Wasp, reprising that role in both Ant-Man and the Wasp and Avengers: Endgame. The next film in her character’s core saga, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, is currently scheduled for release on February 17, 2023.

While both Lilly’s character and her counterpart, Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang, have occupied a more tangential role in the MCU thus far, fans expect that to change with the third film in the series from director Peyton Reed. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the next confirmed appearance of Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror, who was teased in the finale of Loki as Marvel Studios’ next big-bad. With the film a long way out in the Marvel release calendar, the story is still being kept secret, but Wasp could very well become humanity’s first line of defense against a force with the proven capacity to dominate the time-space continuum.

Related: Ant-Man 3 Still Has To Solve A Major Scott Lang Issue After Endgame

According to an interview with THR, that delayed spotlight might have been beneficial for Lilly, who believes she’s finally cracked her enigmatic character. She describes Hope as her most difficult role to understand ever, and while she’s played her across three films already, something finally clicked reading the script for Ant-Man 3. Not that she expects anyone watching her to notice:

Hope is an odd enigma for me. But the truth is that I find it harder to know and understand Hope than any other character I’ve ever played before. And I will say that after I read the script of [Quantumania], I did have a kind of eureka moment; I said to Peyton, ‘Oh my God, I think I finally get her.’ So I’m hoping that when we come to wrap and when I see the movie, I’m going to know the difference. But I don’t think anyone else will. I think I’m a good bluffer. That’s what I do for a living. But I know the difference and I’m hopeful that in this one, I’ll feel like I can watch it and go, “Yeah, you had a better handle on her in this one than you ever have before.” That’s my goal, anyway. That’s my hope.

While she has always been strong, intelligent, and capable, Hope has grown significantly from her introduction, when she was estranged from her father and resentful of his choosing Scott to carry his legacy forward. Becoming the Wasp is an important step in this transition, allowing her to embrace the destiny she always felt was hers, but her arc is also closely linked to the concept of family. After having grown up defined by the loss of her mother and difficult relationship with her father, she regains one each in the first two films, which must have had a profound impact on her psyche.

Marvel fans are likely to agree with Lilly that her inability to fully understand her character until this point hasn’t been noticeable, but even if they won’t be able to detect the difference in her performance, her revelation is definitely good news. The Wasp actress has already said she believes the Ant-Man 3 script is the franchise’s best, and if it provided her the key to unlocking Hope, it could do the same for the audience. As the MCU’s first female superhero to be named in a film’s title, paying her some serious attention in the next film would be a welcome development.

Next: Marvel Shows How Dangerous The Quantum Realm Really Is

Source: THR

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