'Ant-Man and the Wasp' Cast, Updates: Evangeline Lilly Confirms Sequel to Feature Hope Van Dyne's Origin Story

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ star Evangeline Lilly confirmed that the follow-up to ‘Ant-Man’ will be an origin story for Hope Van Dyne. She also confirmed that although her character will not be featured in ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, she may be appearing in the yet untitled ‘Avengers 4’.

According to Cinema Blend, Lilly confirmed that the upcoming sequel to the superhero film ‘Ant-Man’ is set to feature her character Hope Van Dyne’s origin story. Lilly was first introduced as Hope in Peyton Reed’s 2015 release alongside Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang a.k.a. Ant-Man.

During an appearance at the New York Comic-Con, Lilly revealed, “An initial script has been created, but it has not been approved by the higher powers that be -- the Feiges haven't seen it yet.”

She continued, “I have talked to Peyton [Reed] about where they're headed and what they want to focus on. I'm excited because it's essentially going to be the origin of The Wasp. Of course, we'll get to see the Wasp take on the mantle for the first time, and put on the suit and fly about and do her thing.”

It was previously speculated that the Wasp will be appearing alongside Ant-Man in the upcoming ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ film directed by the Russo brothers but Lilly confirmed that her character may have to wait it out for a while.

She said, “Following that one, there’s an Avengers series coming out that’s a two-parter and the Wasp won’t be in the first part, she’ll be in the second part because they really want to preserve that reveal for Ant-Man and the Wasp so that they can give it its due time.”

Hope was introduced as the estranged daughter of Hank Pym, who took her mother Janet Van Dyne’s maiden name. She was a senior board member of her father’s company Pym Technologies and initial business partner to Darren Cross, Scott’s first nemesis. When Cross attempted to create and sell a replica of her father’s Ant-Man suit to terrorist organization HYDRA, Hope reunited with her father and allied with Scott to take him down.

Although Hope became the villainess Red Queen in the original Marvel comic books, she is set to become Ant-Man’s partner and heroine in the big-screen adaptation.

According to Hit Fix, the director expressed his enthusiasm for Lilly’s character saying, “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.”

 ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ is an upcoming action-adventure and fantasy film directed by Peyton Reed and written for the big screen by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari. It is produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and is scheduled to premiere in U.S. theaters on July 6, 2018.

Its predecessor received positive reviews from critics and was deemed a commercial success, grossing $519.44 million worldwide on a production budget of $130 million.