‘Shame on you’: Evangeline Lilly blasts Disney for ‘turning its back’ after Marvel cuts 1000 jobs
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Evangeline Lilly, who portrays Hope van Dyne/The Wasp in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), slammed The Walt Disney Company on Instagram after it carried out layoffs affecting roughly 1000 employees.
She was particularly angered by the removal of Andy Park, a longtime member of Marvel Studios who had been with the studio for 16 years. Expressing her frustration, Lilly wrote in her caption, “Disney, SHAME ON YOU for turning your back on the people who built the power you are now using to throw them away.”
Evangeline Lilly criticizes Disney layoffs amid AI shift
The actor, who has long been part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, said the reported shift toward AI has left her deeply unsettled. She revealed that she personally reached out to Andy Park, a key creative force behind Marvel’s visual identity, to confirm the news.
“I reached out to my good friend Andy Park, who was the genius behind creating the original Wasp super-suit and concept drawings, and I said, ‘Is this true? Is this really what’s happening?'” Lilly said in a video post reacting to reports of Marvel layoffs amid a larger Disney pivot to AI.
“He said, ‘Yeah, it’s true.’ I can’t quite believe that... Disney has let go of the artists who brought the Marvel Universe to life through their genius and that the people who invented these characters and who designed them are being replaced by AI."
"AI that will take their designs and take what they created and use it to create iterations of that. I am so sorry, Andy. I am so sorry to every one of the artists who were let go.”
Lilly went on to question the lack of protections for artists in the age of artificial intelligence, calling out lawmakers and industry leaders. “Where are the laws that remove all human art from the AI bank?!?” she asked.
“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. California lawmakers... where are you?!?!?”
She also took a moment to recognize the contributions of Marvel’s creative teams, emphasizing that their work defined an era of storytelling and visual innovation.
Lilly also saluted the Marvel artists “who designed and brought to life the glory days of Marvel... I was there. I know what you did. I know how passionately you worked round the clock to make magic happen. You are the magicians, no matter what the Wizards of our new Oz make it look like going forward. I will never forget.”
Andy Park speaks out after Marvel layoff as studio restructures creative team
Andy Park revealed that he had been let go from Marvel Studios, marking the end of a 16-year run. Looking back, he shared pride in being part of the early team that helped redefine the studio’s visual style, contributing to more than 40 films and leading visual development on many of them.
As reported by Variety, Marvel is now expected to operate with a smaller core team in this area. The studio will likely rely more on hiring artists per project rather than maintaining a large permanent department, though it still intends to collaborate with visual development talent going forward.
