Evangeline Lilly, The Winsome Wasp and Women in Refrigerators

After a great many setbacks Marvel's first post-Age of Ultron project, Ant-Man, has begun filming. This is certainly good news for the troubled production which at one point looked dead following original director Edgar Wright leaving the project. But as the official stills and set photos trickle out a newly released behind the scenes picture has brought one of the biggest questions about Ant-Man back to the forefront and even raised the specter of superhero comics' most embarrassing cliches.

Above is a picture of actress Evangeline Lilly, who had been cast in the film earlier this year, released on her official Instagram to debut her new haircut for her mysterious role. No big deal, right? No, because this is a Marvel movie and even a haircut can be a clue for hardcore Marvel Zombies to speculate on. But this haircut could actually be something significant because it looks very much like the classic 'do of Ant-Man's longtime partner and wife, The Wasp.

Wasp in the comics (Note the similar Bob cut)

Let me explain for the non-comics fans reading. Janet van Dyne was a wealthy socialite and fashion designer, the daughter of renowned scientist Vernon van Dyne. Vernon was the mentor of the original Ant-Man Hank Pym, to be played by Michael Douglas in the film, so when he was killed by aliens Janet turned to Hank to help her avenge her father's death. Using comic book science Pym gave her the same size-changing abilities he possessed, along with special insect wings that let her fly and the power to shoot blasts or "stings" of bio-electric energy. Thus she became his superhero partner, the Winsome Wasp. After defeating the aliens Janet and Hank fell in love and helped found the Avengers, becoming cornerstones of Marvel's superhero community. 

So what the hell does that have to do with Ms. Lilly's new haircut? Well normally it wouldn't mean anything, but since it was announced that her character's name was Hope van Dyne it became important. Ever since the announcement of Ant-Man, the question of Wasp's role in the story has hung over it. Things became more complicated when Marvel told us that the film would be focusing on Scott Lang, the second Ant-Man, as the protagonist with Hank Pym in a mentor role. With no news coming from Marvel about the Wasp, some people were beginning to suggest she'd been fridged.

"Fridging" is a term relating to Women in Refrigerators, a particularly ugly storytelling technique wherein a female character, usually a love interest, is killed by the villain to motivate the male protagonist into action to avenge her. The term was coined by comics writer Gail Simone from an issue of Green Lantern in which the superhero's girlfriend Alex, who was well-liked by the book's readers, was dismembered by the villain Major Force and stuffed into Green Lantern's refrigerator for him to find. Women in Refrigerators is rightfully reviled as the lazy and sexist cliche that it is and its prominent and continued use in superhero comics is embarrassing, but based on the available information about the Ant-Man film I think it may be too early to call. 

The infamous "fridging"

From what we know about the story and characters, Hank Pym will be serving as Scott Lang's mentor. We can assume that he is the one who develops the Ant-Man suit and powers and, if any of Edgar Wright's script has survived, may have been Ant-Man himself back in the 1960s. An older Hank Pym would then suggest that if Janet van Dyne was still his love interest, she may have died sometime before the film opens and that Lilly's Hope could be her daughter. Now it may just be my writer's instinct, but when I first heard Marvel was going with an older Hank Pym I assumed the Wasp would be dead. It feels like a very natural place to take his character; older man with an adventurous past, withdrawn after a loved one's death, young turk busts in on his life, maybe he sees something of his dead loved one in him, comes out of isolation to help the young turk. And since the Wasp was the only character with a close relationship to Hank Pym, she fit into the dead loved one slot well. Though that's kind of sexist in its own way. But that's all just assumption, Marvel hasn't been afraid to shake up the canon in their adaptations. Maybe there was no Janet and Hope will become the Wasp on her own.

But going back to Women in Refrigerators, what I just laid out wouldn't qualify as a fridging. If my guess is correct, Janet van Dyne having been married to Hank Pym and dying before the film begins doesn't fall under Women in Refrigerators. Her just being dead isn't enough, it's the circumstances that make a fridging. We would need to know how she died and how Pym reacts before we can call it. If for say Janet is killed by a villain in her home, not in battle, and her body is displayed for Hank Pym to find, that's a fridging. If the only reason she's killed is to motivate Pym to go beat up the villain and give him something to be all angsty about, that's a fridging. But her just being his partner in the past and dead now, that's not a fridging. It's not about just killing a female character, it's about why they're killed. 

That's an awful lot to pull from just a picture of a haircut. Ant-Man is still coming together and Marvel, as usual, is playing its cards very close to the chest. So for now the question of the Wasp is still up in the air, but if we keep asking maybe Marvel will eventually throw us a bone.