Evangeline Lilly is in talks to take the female lead in Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man, according to Variety. Negotiations are still in the early phase, and it’s currently unknown who Lilly would play.
Lilly would join Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang. It’s worth noting that both Pym and Lang have appeared as Ant-Man in the comics. The film will kick of Marvel’s Phase Three, and is now scheduled for release on July 17, 2015 – the same date Man of Steel 2 used to hold before shifting to summer 2016.
Lilly is best known for her role in the hit TV show Lost, but can currently be seen playing Tauriel the elf in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. She will next appear in the final part of the Hobbit trilogy, There and Back Again.
Before Lilly was attached to Ant-Man, there was a good deal of speculation over who the female lead would be – not only who would play the role, but which female character would appear to begin with. When it comes to Ant-Man, the obvious female character that comes to mind would be Janet Van Dyne, also known as the Wasp. There’s a problem with that theory though.
Janet Van Dyn’s connection was with Hank Pym, who will be played by the 69-year old Douglas. Assuming that the 34-year old Lilly is cast as a love interest, it is more likely that she would have a romantic connection with Rudd. Still, it would make sense that Marvel would want to introduce another superhero, and Wasp is one of the oldest Marvel characters around. Plus, there’s no reason the cinematic take on Ant-Man couldn’t divert from the comics and have Scott Lang and Van Dyne hook up, though it might disappoint fans of the comic.
Another possibility floated in the Variety report theorizes that Lilly would play Hank Pym’s daughter. In the comics. Pym doesn’t have a daughter. Then again, in the comics, Pym isn’t pushing 70.
Filming for Ant-Man is expected to begin in April, so we should know more soon.
