Back in 2024, Ant-Man and Avengers: Endgame star Evangeline Lilly officially announced her retirement from acting. After becoming a major hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starring in The Hobbit trilogy of movies, and appearing in 120 episodes of LOST, Lilly revealed online she would be stepping away from “the obvious choice,” but did caveat a potential “return to Hollywood one day.” In May of 2025, Lilly suffered a freak accident after passing out on the beach and hitting her head on a boulder. Now, the former Hope Van Dynne actress has taken to social media to offer a somber confirmation to fans that her injury has resulted in lasting effects.
“I am entering into this new year, the Year of the Horse, with some bad news about my concussion,” Lilly said in a video posted to Instagram earlier this year. “A lot of you asked how I’m doing. A lot of you have inquired about the brain scans that you heard I got. And the results came back from the scans and almost every area in my brain is functioning at a decreased capacity. So I do have brain damage from the TBI, and possibly other factors.”
She continued, ““But now my job is to get to the bottom of that with the doctors and then embark on the hard work of fixing it, which I don’t look forward to because I feel like hard work is all I do,” Lilly said in the post. “But that’s okay. My cognitive decline since I smashed my face open has helped me to slow down and helped me to have a more restful finish to my 2025.”
Lilly’s announcement didn’t go unnoticed by her Marvel co-stars who offered their well wishes. Michelle Pfeiffer, who played Lilly’s mother, Janet Van Dyne, in both Ant-Man and the Wasp and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, commented on the post, writing: “You are a warrior. Nothing-not even this, will defeat you my friend. ❤️” David Dastmalchian, who also appeared in all three films, commented as well with a trio of hearts for Lilly.
Since making her debut as Hope in 2015’s Ant-Man, Lilly starred in all three movies alongside Paul Rudd and returned to her character in Avengers: Endgame as well. Given her retirement announcement almost two years ago, it was already unlikely she would return for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, but that doesn’t mean the character’s story won’t be addressed. Though Hope will likely not appear, she’ll no doubt be referenced in some way, as Paul Rudd will return as Scott Lang, and a recent leak revealed that Kathryn Newton will seemingly return as his daughter, Cassie. It would be pretty unthinkable for these two not to address Hope’s place in the MCU, but it does offer Marvel the opportunity to give the character a happy ending.