New Girl Star Zooey Deschanel Was Considered to Play the Wasp in The Avengers

Evangeline Lilly's performance as the Wasp in the MCU has been well-loved by fans. But as it turns out, a different actress was supposed to play the character early on that would have resulted in a very different MCU.

Per ComicBook.com, according to the newly-released book The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry, New Girl star Zooey Deschanel was considered to play the Wasp in The Avengers. Apparently, during the earlier stage of its development, the Wasp was going to be the main character while Obidiah's son Zeke Stane would have been the main villain.

The idea came after a concern rose heading into production where Scarlett Johansson might not be available to reprise the role of Black Widow from Iron Man 2. Joss Whedon, writer and director of The Avengers, decided to rewrite the script that would have focused on the Wasp and he wanted to cast Deschanel for the role. When Johannson eventually became available, the Wasp storyline was scrapped.

"The Wasp happened because there was a short period where it looked like we weren't going to be able to get Scarlett [due to scheduling conflicts], so I was panicking," Whedon said in the book. "I thought, 'Hold on, we could do The Wasp.' Then I fell in love with that. But we did get Scarlett, and then I realized I had written this entire movie about The Wasp. Oops. I overcompensated there."

Also Read: Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania Star Evangeline Lilly Shares Filming is Halfway Done

Later on, as we all know, Lilly ended up taking the role of Hope Van Dyne in Ant-Man and donned the suit of the Wasp in Ant-Man and the Wasp. This is a great What If? question to ponder since, if they ended up doing that idea, the MCU would have been very different. Deschanel is an interesting choice for the Wasp. Whether she would be fit for the role, we will never know. At least we have Lilly who has been wonderful playing the character and is expected to have a much larger role in the future.