Evangeline Lilly has taken to social media to publicly call out Disney following recent layoffs that have affected Marvel Studios employees, including longtime creative collaborator Andy Park.The actress, best known for playing Hope van Dyne aka The Wasp in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp’, took to her Instagram handle to express her anger after coming across the post. In a video release, Lilly confirmed that approximately 1,000 employees were reportedly laid off across the company.Confirming the news, “I contacted my good friend Andy Park, who was the genius behind the creation of the original Wasp super-suit and concept art, and I said, ‘Is it true? Is this really happening?'” he said.“Yes, it’s true,” he said. I can’t quite believe this…that Disney has let go of the artists who brought the Marvel Universe to life through their genius and that the people who invented and designed these characters are being replaced by AI. AI that will take their designs and take what they create and use it to create iterations of it. I’m sorry, Andy. I feel sorry for every artist they left.”In a powerful caption accompanying the video, Lilly blasted the production company and its parent company for “turning their backs on the people who built the power you’re now using to throw away.”He also raised concerns about the growing use of AI in the creative industries. He asked, “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 enrich executives while the artists responsible for feeding their robots go hungry? Disgusting. California legislators… where are you?!?!?”Lilly paid tribute to Marvel’s creative community, writing, “To the @marvelstudios artists who designed and brought to life the glory days of Marvel… I salute you. I was there. I know what you did. I know how passionately you worked to make magic happen. You are wizards, the Wizards of the Wizards of our new Oz that I will never look like again.”Lilly made her MCU debut in 2015’s ‘Ant-Man’ and reprized her role in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’. He was last seen in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’.
