Evangeline Lilly In Talks For Female Lead On ANT-MAN

So far, Marvel’s has announced they’ve cast Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas and Michael Peña for Ant-Man, and now it looks like they have their eye on someone for the lead female role. Variety is reporting that The Hobbit star Evangeline Lilly is in early talks to star in the film alongside Douglas and Rudd. No details yet on what her role is, but some people suspect she will play Hank Pym’s daughter and Scott Lang’s lover interest. The Hollywood Reporter also adds that her appearance will not be a one-off appearance. Production is set to start on the film in April for a July 17, 2015 release date. Ant-Man  will kick off Phase 3 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Now, I’m not too knowledgeable on Ant-Man’s history. My experience with Pym is with his early appearances in the Avengers and when he makes a cameo in other Marvel books I’ve read. I know nothing about Scott Lang. However, there’s one female I know it quite prominent in Ant-Man’s life, and that’s Janet Van Dyne, a.k.a. The Wasp. In the comics, Janet joined Pym as his partner and eventually married him, although they divorce after his infamous mental breakdown period.

Since there’s no way Lilly would be playing Lang’s daughter Cassie (Rudd is only ten years older than Lily), the likeliest scenario is that she is playing Janet, and I really don’t know how to feel about this. On the one hand, it’s good that Marvel finally wants to put Janet in one of their movies and that they’re possibly setting her up for becoming Wasp. On the other hand, it seems odd to make Janet Hank Pym’s daughter rather than his wife. It’s possible that Lilly might appear in flashbacks as Pym’s wife, but that hardly seems like a leading role, let alone something that could last multiple films.

If they change her last name and just make her Scott’s love interest, fine, but to take a woman who is traditionally associated as Pym’s love interest and turn her into his daughter? It seems like a weird amalgamation for the character.

SOURCE: Variety