Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantamania star Evangeline Lilly may have just spoiled the imminent return of Yellowjacket, the villain of the first Ant-Man film. Death has always been something of a revolving door in comics, and for years Marvel readers joked the only people who stayed dead were Captain America's sidekick Bucky and Spider-Man's beloved Uncle Ben. And then Marvel brought Bucky back as the Winter Soldier.

The MCU may play fast and loose with its comic-book inspiration, but it has certainly been true in considering death nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Time and again secondary characters have been apparently killed, only to emerge from the shadows when the time is right; all this came to a head in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, when Thanos killed half all living creatures in the universe - only for them to be brought back by the power of the Infinity Gauntlet. Now it looks as though another character's death may have been faked.

Related: 20 Times Marvel Movies Tricked Us With Fake Character Deaths

Ant-Man 3 star Evangeline Lilly celebrated receiving the script for the film with a photo she shared on Instagram (now deleted, but spotted by ComicBook.com). She added an excited comment about loving the script - and tagged a number of her fellow actors. Intriguingly, she included Corey Stoll in her list of tags, who played the villainous Yellowjacket in Ant-Man. Stoll's time in the MCU apparently came to an end when Yellowjacket's shrinking tech malfunctioned, seeming to kill him, but that tag appears to be a hint he'll be returning in Ant-Man 3.

Yellowjacket

A corrupt industrialist in Ant-Man 3, Darren Cross became determined to prove himself better than Hank Pym, and wound up going on a murderous rampage. If the malfunction in his suit didn't kill him, then it's reasonable to assume he was instead trapped in the Quantum Realm. Indeed, director Peyton Reed has previously hinted Yellowjacket could be in the Quantum Realm, defending himself against an accusation Marvel villains tend to be disposable. "If you watch his death in the first Ant-Man, the suit is compromised," he argued. "He shrinks and goes into a thing. I mean, he could be somewhere down there in that Quantum Realm." Concept art for Ant-Man & the Wasp suggested Marvel toyed with the idea of Janet Van Dyne scavenging the remnants of the Yellowjacket suit, but they pivoted away from that idea, leaving open the possibility Cross' suit wasn't fatally compromised.

It's safe to assume Ant-Man 3 will see the heroes return to the Quantum Realm, given the film is officially called "Quantumania." One scene in Ant-Man & the Wasp subtly suggested the Quantum Realm is inhabited, and - given Jonathan Majors has been cast as Kang the Conqueror - it may contain Kang's hidden city Chronopolis. If that is the case, Kang could well have recruited Yellowjacket to his side; he has a history of recruiting other villains to act as his pawns in the comics. Assuming Lilly's tag really does mean Yellowjacket is coming back, it will be fascinating to learn what has happened to him since his "death" - and even how much time he's experienced in the Quantum Realm. Ant-Man 3 is looking very promising indeed.

More: Why Ant-Man 3 Recast Endgame’s Cassie Lang

Source: ComicBook.com

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