Evangeline Lilly dismissed ‘Ant-Man’ as "stupid" when she was first asked to appear in the film.
The 38-year-old actress wasn’t a fan of superhero movies but her agent persuaded her to consider the project and she realised not only was the script "really cool", the Marvel Cinematic universe (MCU) have produced a number of "unique and fun" films so she happily took on the role of Hope van Dyne.
She said: "I didn’t like superhero movies when I got offered this job. So, my initial reaction – do not tell Marvel – was ‘I don’t want to do a stupid superhero movie’.
"And my manager said, ‘Well, just hear me out’ – because he knows me quite well – ‘Paul Rudd will be starring.’ What? So I thought, ‘This is really cool. Whatever they are doing is not the superhero movie I have previously seen’ and it intrigued me.
"So then I did my homework… I went back and watched some ‘Avengers’ films and some other Marvel films and I just thought what they were doing was so unique and fun."
Evangeline – who has a seven-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter with partner Norman Kali – is very proud that her little boy is a huge fan of her superhero alter ego, The Wasp.
She told SFX magazine: "My son is already quite enamoured with the whole notion that his mom is The Wasp.
"The first day I was on the set – our incredible shrinking lab – I brought my son and he’s running and goes, ‘Mom, can I press the buttons?’ There’s so many buttons on the set. I said, ‘You can press any button you want, you just have to be very gentle and careful.’
"So, he’s sitting at this large control panel and is pushing all the buttons and he turns around and he looks at his dad and he says, ‘Dad, look at me, I’m The Wasp.’ That was a proud moment because I remember being a little girl, going, ‘Look at me, I’m Spider-Man’.
"And it’s usually the little girls pretending to be boy super heroes because we don’t have too many to choose from.
"And to hear my six-year-old little boy say, ‘Look at me, I’m The Wasp’, I just think that’s very exciting."
Evangeline Lilly thought superhero films were stupid
