Outspoken Marvel star Evangeline Lilly has slammed Disney for its recent round of layoffs, which reportedly left 1,000 staff out of work.
Last month, job losses were reported at Marvel offices in both New York and Burbank and throughout the company’s comics, TV and film production. In particular, Marvel’s visual development department is believed to have been hit hard, with Disney moving to a contractor-based model for future projects.
Lilly, who played Hope van Dyne AKA The Wasp in the Ant-Man trilogy and Avengers: Endgame, said she had recently discussed the layoffs with Marvel artist Andy Park, who designed her MCU character’s superhero suit.
“[Park] said, ‘Yeah, it’s true. I have been let go,'” Lilly explained via a video posted to her Instagram account. “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.”
Originally formed in 2010, Marvel’s visual development team of artists, illustrators, designers, and other specialists has historically been a key component of steering the look and feel of film and TV productions within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Park was one of the team’s earliest members, working on numerous projects from the original Captain America and Thor back in Phase 1, to this year’s still-in-the-works Avengers: Doomsday.
Without going into detail, Lilly alleged that the layoffs were at least in part caused by the adoption of AI processes within Disney, something that was seeing human workers “replaced.”
“The people who invented these characters, who designed them in the first place, are now being replaced by AI,” Lilly claimed. “AI that will take their designs and take what those artists created and use it to create iterations of that.”
“SHAME ON YOU for turning your back on the people who built the power you are now using to throw them away,” Lilly wrote in a caption for her video. “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.”
In a note sent to staff at the time of the layoffs, newly-installed Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro did not mention AI specifically, but said the layoffs were a result of the company seeking to “streamline” its operations in order to “foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce.”
As for Lilly, the star previously suggested she is now on a break from acting, and there has been no suggestion she will reprise her Marvel role for Avengers: Doomsday.
Image credit: Jun Sato/WireImage.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
