Hope van Dyne as the Wasp is the MCU character we all deserve

Hope van Dyne in Ant-Man and the Wasp proved to be a worthy superhero in the MCU. Here’s why she really rocks!

It’s easy to say that Scott Lang, or Ant-Man, is the obvious protagonist in Ant-Man and the Wasp. But let’s not forget that Hope van Dyne is also the protagonist of this movie, and sometimes is even more important than Ant-Man himself.

Evangeline Lilly played Hope (or The Wasp) brilliantly, and she brought something new to the line of female superheroes we’ve seen in the MCU so far. While there have been great female characters and superheroes in the movies so far, none have taken the spotlight before quite like The Wasp.

Here’s what really makes her a great MCU character:

She doesn’t take a backseat

This time around, The Wasp was not just in the background as the women who helps the main character and falls in love with him along the way. In Ant-Man and the Wasp, her character was really turned around, and most of the narrative revolved around Hope’s story as she took the lead. Right from the beginning, Hope barely needed any help dealing with those black market crooks, and she fought them pretty much all on her own. Really, in this movie, Scott Lang was just the bridge between the last few Marvel movies and Avengers 4. It’s all about Hope this time around!

She’s super smart

This might go without saying, but Hope van Dyne is smarter than your average wasp. Not that there haven’t been smart characters before in the Marvel Universe — its practically crawling with scientists. But of the many smart guys in the MCU, like Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and even Hope’s father, Hank Pym, there are only a few ladies who really get to shine and show their smarts. Much like Jane Foster and the beloved Shuri, Hope knows her way around a lab. She’s worked closely with her father on his technologies, and in Ant-Man and the Wasp, she went so far as to help perfect the tunnel that allows them to travel to the Quantum Realm. We know her dad’s smart, but after seeing her mother Janet’s brilliance, let’s just say Hope gets it from her mama.

She mixes feminine with fierce

When working on the role, Evangeline Lilly made sure to bring in a piece of her own identity into the character. And for her, that meant keeping things feminine yet fierce with Hope. For Lilly, it was important to make sure she brought that into a genre that typically doesn’t mix something traditionally seen of as “girly” with something action packed. If you notice in her fighting style, Lilly brings an air of graceful elegance to all her moves. Let’s just say she gives the saying “fight like a girl” a whole new meaning.

She’s caring and compassionate

At the center of Hope’s character is her big heart, as she cares deeply for her family and Scott, too. Unlike characters such as Black Widow who pretty much started out as a someone who’s all about business and fighting, Hope has something more at stake. We see how determined she is to get her mother back, and the two share a heartwarming moment once they’re finally reunited. And even though Ghost terrorized her, Hank, and Scott, she seems to care about helping Ghost get the help she needed — albeit, when her mother was actually safe; not while she was still in the Quantum Realm.

Hope van Dyne truly has a lot of great qualities that make her stand out in the MCU. Evangeline Lilly is lucky to play such a brilliantly transformed character, and we’d really, really love it if we could see her again in Avengers 4.

Home/Marvel Movies