Evangeline Lilly Slams Marvel Studios Layoffs, Says Artists Who Brought MCU to Life Are Being Replaced by AI

Ant-Man star Evangeline Lilly is voicing her frustrations for the recent Disney layoffs that hit a number of Marvel Studios staffers.

CEO Josh D’Amaro informed staff about cuts in a memo on April 14, with a source familiar with the matter telling The Hollywood Reporter that around 1,000 jobs were eliminated. Marvel Studios was included in the cuts, and laid off members of its visual development team, notably 16-year veteran Andy Park, who was well known by fans.

In an Wednesday Instagram video, Lilly explained that upon hearing the news of layoffs, she reached out to Park, who confirmed that he had been let go.

“I reached out to my good friend Andy Park, who was the genius behind creating the original Wasp super-suit and the original Wasp concept drawings for the film Ant-Man and the Wasp, and just said, ‘Is this true? Is this really what’s happening?’” she said. “And he said, ‘Yeah, it’s true. I have been let go.’ And I can’t quite believe that, that Disney has let go of the artists who brought the Marvel Universe to life through their imagination and their genius.”

Park worked with Marvel for nearly two decades, beginning with 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor. He went on to lend his talents to most of the studios major projects across the MCU, including Avengers: Endgame; he additionally worked on the latter film’s long-awaited sequel, Avengers: Doomsday.

Lilly added she was shocked that “that the people who invented these characters, who designed them in the first place, are now being replaced by AI.”

It’s unknown if Disney does indeed intend to use AI for such work. The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Marvel Studios for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.

“AI that will take their designs and take what those artists created and use it to create iterations of that,” Lilly continued.

In the caption of the social post, Lilly directly tagged Disney’s Instagram account, writing, “SHAME ON YOU for turning your back on the people who built the power you are now using to throw them away.”

“Where are the laws that REMOVE all human art from the AI bank?!? Why do they get to steal our brilliance and use it to make executives rich while the artists responsible for feeding their robots go hungry?? Disgusting,” she wrote. “California lawmakers…where are you?!?!?”

Lilly joined the MCU in 2015 as Hope van Dyne (aka the Wasp) in Ant-Man. She appeared in the movie’s two sequels Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and Quantumania (2023), plus Avengers: Endgame.

In 2024, Lilly shared on social media that she was stepping away from acting. She is notably not a part of the cast list for the jam-packed MCU release Doomsday in December. However, her Quantumania co-stars Paul Rudd and Kathryn Newton will appear in the film.