MCU star Evangeline Lilly slams Disney for mass Marvel layoffs, replacing them with AI: ‘Shame’

Taking to her Instagram handle, Lilly addressed the mass layoffs at Marvel and said, “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?’ He said, ‘Yeah, it’s true.’”

She also expressed her stress over the possibility of AI replacing artists. The actor continued, “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.”

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The caption of her post read, “Disney, SHAME ON YOU for turning your back on the people who built the power you are now using to throw them away,” she wrote, praising Marvel’s 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.”

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“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. California lawmakers…where are you?!?!?” the Ant-Man star urged California legislators to intervene.

Lilly’s shared the post after many actors artists, technicians, and other crew members working on Marvel films were laid off. According to reports, the mass firing could be due to Disney studio’s pivot towards artificial intelligence.

For the unversed, Evangeline Lilly was seen as Hope van Dyke, aka Wasp, in Marvel films, which helped her gain a lot of mass popularity. The actor has featured as the character in three Ant-Man movies, as well as Avengers: Endgame.