Evangeline Lilly Condemns Disney’s Marvel Layoffs Amid AI Shift

Disney’s restructuring in early 2026 aimed to cut costs and accelerate adoption of generative-AI technologies across its media divisions. Executives framed the AI shift as a way to streamline production, prompting concerns that creative roles could be reduced or automated.

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In early 2026 Disney announced a company-wide reduction that included 1,000 staff across its divisions. Marvel Studios was among the units affected, with the dismissal of Andy Park, its director of visual development, after a 16-year tenure. The cuts are linked to Disney’s reported pivot toward artificial-intelligence tools for visual design.

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The layoffs impacted 1,000 Disney employees overall. Andy Park’s career spanned 16 years, during which he led visual development on 15 Marvel films and contributed to more than 40 movies. Actress Evangeline Lilly, who portrays Hope van Dyne/Wasp, has appeared in “Ant-Man” (2015), “Ant-Man and the Wasp” (2018), “Avengers: Endgame” (2019) and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (2023).

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Sources told Variety that Marvel intends to retain a reduced visual development team, hiring artists on a project-by-project basis, and affirmed a continued commitment to working with visual development talent. The reporting did not include a formal comment from Disney regarding the AI strategy or the layoffs. The company also indicated that AI tools would support, not replace, artists, though specifics were not disclosed.

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Lilly posted a video on Instagram denouncing Disney’s decision, accusing the company of discarding the artists who built the Marvel franchise in favor of AI. In her caption she demanded legal protections for human-created art and urged California lawmakers to intervene.

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• “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, Actress

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• “Where are the laws that REMOVE all human art from the AI bank?!?” — Evangeline Lilly, Actress

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• “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?!?!?” — Evangeline Lilly, Actress

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• “He said, ‘Yeah, it’s true.’ I can’t quite believe that… 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.” — Andy Park, Former Director of Visual Development, Marvel Studios

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The article presents Lilly’s accusations and Marvel’s hiring plan but provides no official Disney comment on the AI pivot or the rationale behind the layoffs. Details on how AI will be used in future Marvel projects remain unspecified.

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Lilly’s call for legislative oversight suggests possible California action on AI-generated art. Marvel’s shift to a project-based visual development model indicates continued reliance on AI, with future hiring decisions likely to reflect this new approach. The debate may influence industry standards for AI use in visual storytelling.

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