SPOILER ALERT! The following article contains spoilers for Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man. If you haven’t had the chance to see the film yet, we recommend clicking away to another one of our wonderful articles!
As the plot of Marvel Studios’ new film Ant-Man unfolds, we learn that Michael Douglas’ Dr. Hank Pym used to have a wife named Janet Van Dyne, who was the mother of Evangeline Lilly’s Hope and would team up with Hank on shrinking-required S.H.I.E.L.D. missions - under the codename "the Wasp." Sadly, Hank and Hope lost contact with Janet forever when she shrunk herself down too much and entered the Quantum Realm – another dimension where space and time are meaningless. After watching the film, one question that audiences are left is whether or not there’s any possibility that Janet could have survived this trip, and while there isn’t an official answer on the table, Evangeline Lilly believes that she is… and also an ideal casting choice for the part.
During the Los Angeles press day for Ant-Man that was held earlier this month, I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down for a one-on-one interview with the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Hope Van Dyne, and it was while diving into spoiler territory that Lily revealed her personal thoughts about whether or not her on-screen mother is actually still alive. She told me,
Marvel hasn’t told me, but I kind of, again, fabricating my own… I think that she could be and that it could be a great, I mean, I would love to see a storyline where Hope somehow, I don’t know, tries to find her mom or meets her or something happens where there’s some amazing reunion. I think that would be super cool, and I have my dream casting already, for my mom.
Of course, I couldn’t just let this comment hang, so I asked if she could tell me the name of the actress she wants to play Janet. Her response?
It’s got to be Michelle Pfeiffer.
After making note of the fact that it would be Michelle Pfeiffer’s second comic book movie after famously playing Catwoman in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, Evangeline Lilly explained that role has a lot to do with her choice:
That was my favorite of all time of all the comic book female characters, but Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman. Not just anybody or anything, not even like in the comic books, Michelle Pfeiffer.
I personally love this idea, if not only because I think it would be amazing to see Pfeiffer team up with Michael Douglas. There is a potential hitch, however. If the Quantum Realm is in fact a place where all space and time is meaningless, then it’s possible that Janet hasn’t actually been aging during her time there. As such, Marvel would probably go for a younger actress who would probably be around Evangeline Lilly’s age. But all of this is really hypothetical.
Do you think that Marvel will eventually bring Janet Van Dyne back from the Quantum Realm? If so, who do you think should land the role? Hit the comments with your thoughts, opinions, and ideas!
