Adapting comic book visuals can be tricky a balance between honoring the original source material while still creating a look that doesn’t seem out of place in a live-action context. In the case of creating Hope van Dyne’s first superhero suit for Ant-Man and the Wasp, it seems that a creative compromise was reached.
Speaking to CBR, Director of Visual Development Andy Park recalled how there was debate over how much silver or gold should feature in the Wasp’s outfit, leading them to settle on a color that lay somewhere in between.
“That was during the manufacturing with the costume designer. The question was: How gold do we go? And then I think a lot of people wanted to veer away a little bit from the gold and see how silver we can make it. And so, eventually, they decided that they wanted to do something they called ‘gilver.’ So, something in between gold and silver, and that’s kind of what they landed on.”
Not every Marvel movie has split the difference like this. In the same interview, for example, Park also recalled how Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi would reject his more realistic designs and continually push for visuals that were more in line with the comics.
As for Peyton Reed’s recent film, Park suggests that designing Hope’s costume was largely a matter of considering its in-universe context.
“The Wasp design is still [Pym’s] suit, but is modern. He built that one initially for Janet, but at the end of Ant-Man, the end tag, you see that it’s still being made, so it’s a modern suit … The function is different than Ant-Man’s: it can fly, it’s on a woman, it’s sleeker, it’s more agile than the more square Ant-Man. Being able to play off the Ant-Man design, that’s kind of the fun in designing both suits. Trying to make it uniquely Hope’s and also taking into account her personality.
Like in a lot of ways, she’s more capable of being Ant-Man than Scott Lang was in the first film. But because of the story, because of Hank Pym, that’s why she wasn’t able to. So, being able to play off the Ant-Man design, make them complements, you could tell that it was the same designer, but at the same time trying to create the contrast. They’re not just parallel suits, that there’s definitely like a, ‘Oh wow, she’s got blasters, she’s got wings, she can fly, the colors are different.’”
To date, Ant-Man and the Wasp remains actress Evangeline Lilly’s one outing in the Wasp suit, and seeing how she was disintegrated in the movie’s mid-credits sequence, it could be a little while before we see her in action again.
That being said, we do know that the character will still have a part to play in next year’s Avengers 4, and that she won’t be the only element of the latest MCU installment that will continue into the Avengers: Infinity War sequel. For one thing, it’s pretty clear by now that the Quantum Realm will be of great significance in this upcoming release, and Scott Lang may even have a new friend to journey with him through this mysterious place.
Either way, we’ll find out when Avengers 4 comes out on May 3rd, 2019.
