Evangeline Lilly Explains Why She Was Happy the Wasp Was Cut From ‘Captain America: Civil War’

Fans may have had to wait a little bit longer for Hope Van Dyne/The Wasp to become a fully-fledged Marvel Cinematic Universe hero, but it sounds like the wait was worth it.

Evangeline Lilly, who stars as the heroine in Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp, spoke about her character’s evolution in the Marvel Studios: The First Ten Years book. As she explains she’s actually happy that the plans for Hope to appear in Captain America: Civil War were scrapped, because it gave the heroine time to get her proper origin later on.

“There was actually talk of me being in Captain America: Civil War, and I was a little bit worried about that because she would have been introduced in a story that has nothing to do with Hope or her first taking on the mantle of the Wasp.” Lilly revealed. “I would have been nervous and a bit disappointed that the first titled female Super Hero in the Marvel Universe wouldn’t get an origin film. Marvel Studios called me to say, ‘We’re not gonna use you in Civil War any more.’ and I thought, ‘Woo-hoo! That’s great!’ They said, ‘Let us explain, don’t be upset – we really want to give her an origin film. We want to give her a full film and to really make a moment of this.’ And I was way ahead of them already and very eager for that to happen!”

While Wasp appearing in Civil War was close to becoming a reality – even getting concept art of what that could look like – it sounds like Lilly and others tied to the MCU helped make sure her debut wasn’t rushed.

“Oh yeah, I went nuts,” Ant-Man director Peyton Reed admitted earlier this year. “‘No, we can’t do that.’ And also, there are so many characters in Civil War and also in Infinity War that it became a thing where, you can’t have Wasp’s coming out party in the movie, because you are only going to be able to devote this much screen time to her and that’s what our movie really wanted to be about. Those kinds of things are conversations that happen and they just sort of organically reveal themselves.”

And ultimately, it seems like the nature of Hope’s debut was ultimately handled in the best way, with her getting the chance to really shine in Ant-Man and the Wasp.

“This whole movie was about putting her at the forefront and was about making good on the promise of the end of the last film where she says, ‘About damn time.’” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige explained to ComicBook.com. “And that whole movie was about the fact that clearly she was qualified to put on a suit and do what was right but she kept being prevented by her father, for reasons that were revealed in that film and reasons that have to do with her mother and now, of course, she becomes the key hero to attempt to rescue her mom and seeing that father-daughter relationship repaired in this movie was something that was great fun for us and to see here step in the forefront.”

“I feel like she’s born into it and made for it more than I am,” Paul Rudd echoed to ComicBook.com during a set visit. “She has the focus and the drive and I think the desire to do it maybe more than me, at least at first.”

Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and the Wasp are now available on digital platforms, DVD, and Blu-ray. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019; the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019; and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.