The Wasp Getting Meaty Role In Ant-Man 2; Filming Begins This Summer

04/23/2017 05:30 pm EDT

Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) was itching to put on the Ant-Man suit in the 2015 film, but her estranged and overprotective father, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), had no desire to put her life at risk -- especially since his wife and her mother, Janet van Dyne, went sub-atomic. By the end of the film, after proving that she was just as qualified to be a hero as master-thief Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Hank presented his daughter with an unused Wasp suit he had built for Janet.

Originally, we were going to see Lilly as Wasp for the first time in superhero-on-superhero airport fight sequence in Captain America: Civil War, but Marvel had a change of heart, wanting to save that very special and highly-anticipated moment for the Ant-Man sequel.

During a recent interview, the director of Ant-Man and the Wasp promised that Hope will have a more substantial role in the upcoming film. "It's something we're excited about," Peytron Reed told Collider. "For me as a comic nerd, I always thought of Ant-Man and Wasp as a team and that's a lot of what the second movie is really about is how they work together, what their personal and professional relationships are like. To show her finally fully formed in this movie is really exciting. We really get to introduce this character into that universe. I mean we've introduced the character, but we haven't seen her with her full power set and everything, so to me she's not a supporting character in this movie. It's every bit as much her movie as it is Scott Lang's."

And when will filming begin? Marvel boss Kevin Feige replied, "Assuming everything stays on schedule, we start filming Ant-Man and the Wasp in June."

MORE: David Dastmalchian Confirms Ant-Man And The Wasp Return / Giant-Man Will Return In Ant-Man And The Wasp / New Ant-Man and the Wasp Costume Details Revealed

The next evolution of the Marvel Cinematic Universe brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the first time with Marvel Studios' Ant-Man. Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Doctor Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.

Ant-Man earned $180.2M domestically and $339.1M internationally for a global total of $519.3M. It was directed by Peyton Reed. The story was conceived by Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, and the screenplay was written by Adam McKay and Paul Rudd.

The cast also features Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne, Corey Stoll as Darren Cross aka Yellowjacket, Bobby Cannavale as Paxton, Michael Peña as Luis, Judy Greer as Maggie, Tip "Ti" Harris as Dave, and David Dastmalchian as Kurt.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is set to crawl into theaters July 6, 2018.

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