Marvel opened their Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con with a retrospective look at their cinematic universe, and then jumped right into a discussion about Ant-Man. Kevin Feige brought out the film’s director and cast, and finally confirmed a few casting announcements that we’ve been speculating about.
House of Cards alum Corey Stoll is playing the film’s villain, Darren Cross a.k.a. Yellowjacket, a role he was rumored for about a month ago. Cross was once a protege of Michael Douglas’s character Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man. At some point the two have a falling out, and Cross takes over Pym’s company. He then uses Pym’s technology to become the supervillain Yellowjacket, who “causes a lot of havoc.” On his character’s motivations, Stoll said:
“I was Hank Pym’s mentee, a genius scientist as well. I’ve taken over the company, and some judgemental people may think it’s going in an evil direction, but I’m just taking it into the future.”
Yellowjacket’s actions lead Pym to orchestrate a heist to steal back his tech, and hires thief Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) for the job.
The second big reveal came in the form of announcing The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug actress Evangeline Lill’s character. We’ve heard for a while now that she was circling the film, but didn’t have confirmation about her involvement until this weekend. She was brought on stage and announced as Hope Van Dyne, the daughter of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne. In the comics, Janet is the Avenger known as Wasp, and it appears that Lilly’s character will take up that mantle. Hope has been estranged from her father because of his tumultuous relationship with Janet, which gets a bit abusive in the comics.
Tell us, are you happy about these casting announcements? I’m personally excited to see Wasp on screen, and think Lilly is a solid choice for the role. As far as Stoll goes, he impressed me in House of Cards, so I’m definitely looking forward to see him take on a villainous role here.
Ant-Man hits theaters on July 17th, 2015.
