A controversial ‘Quantumania’ star almost becoming Wonder Woman still stings to this day

There are plenty of casting “what could have been” questions in the DCU — like Arnie being Superman, or Anthony Hopkins playing Alfred in Batman Begins. One of the more recent what-ifs is the notion of controversial actress Evangeline Lilly playing the role of Wonder Woman — and possibly taking it from Gal Gadot.

The Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania star has already discussed how she loves the character of Diana Prince, telling viewers of The Kelly Clarkson show that her ideal MCU/DCU crossover would be the Wasp and Wonder Woman. But a couple of months ago, she also revealed that she was in line to be cast as the Amazonian metahuman in a Joss Whedon project that was ultimately canceled.

Josh Horowitz, the host of Happy, Sad, Confused, asked the Quantumania star about the rumor she’d met with Whedon, to which Lilly replied “Yeah, that happened…It felt like a real thing but I have no idea. You have to ask Joss.”

From the rest of the interview, it’s clear Lilly wasn’t too enthused by the project, despite her positive feelings towards the character.

“It didn’t appeal and there was nothing about the meeting that like jazzed me, or made me think like, ‘Oh, I gotta do this.’ I just didn’t– Nothing clicked. Nothing felt good. And I think that I, at that time and still to this day, I am way too authentic for my own good. I mean, it’s not good. If I’m not impressed, you’ll know and maybe you shouldn’t know sometimes. And I think there was maybe even a little bit of offence taken.”

She then added that she might have even burned some bridges with her forthright rejection, but that she’s “okay with not having everyone in Hollywood want to work with me.” This is something she’s been consistent on, as she’s showed in recent years with her dangerous and ignorant support of Covid misinformation and anti-vaccination causes.

This all allegedly took place well before the Gadot films, so we’re not exactly sure if Lilly taking on the role would have messed with the Israeli star donning the famous costume. However, none of that seems to matter to most fans, who are just as down on the concept of Lilly taking on the role as she was.

So, while some may be sad we never got to see Lilly in the role, we think it’s safe to say the way things have played out has been best for everyone.