Wasp (Marvel)

Wasps Nadia and Janet van Dyne in Unstoppable Wasp v2 #2.

Wasp is the name of several characters in the Marvel Universe.

Wasp (Janet van Dyne)

Main Article: Janet van Dyne

Janet van Dyne was the daughter of Dr. Vernon van Dyne who was a prominent scientist that was seeking a means of communicating with other worlds. During this time, he sought aid for his work and it was then that the pair met Hank Pym though the scientist refused on account that his research went in a different direction. One day, Dr. van Dyne conducted his experiment leading to an inhabitant from Kosmos arriving with the entity being a criminal from his race who murdered Vernon before escaping the city. Janet came to find her fathers murdered body where she vowed revenge against his killer. She sought out Hank Pym who revealed that he knew of the events that transpired and revealed that he was secretly the hero Ant-Man. He offered to aid her and she became his partner where she underwent a treatment with specialised cells to give her the power to shrink whereupon she took the name of the Wasp. Together, they managed to defeat the alien criminal and the experience led to an attraction between the pair as Janet came to love Hank Pym. (Tales to Astonish v1 #44)

Wasp (Hank Pym)

Main Article: Hank Pym

Hank Pym was noted to had become the second Wasp in the wake of the Skrulls Secret Invasion when Janet van Dyne was seemingly killed at the height of the conflict. This saw a saddened Pym deciding to honour her sacrifice by creating a new costume and taking the name of the Wasp. (Secret Invasion: Requiem v1 #1)

Wasp (Nadia Pym)

Main Article: Nadia Pym

Nadia was the daughter of Hank Pym and his first wife Maria Trovaya' who was pregnant when she was abducted by agents of the Soviet Union. Given the name Nadia, she came to be trained at the Red Room to be an assassin until she was discovered to have an aptitude toward the sciences. Due to her heritage, her handlers decided to place her in that field where she became an accomplished scientist from a young age. As she grew older, she sought to learn more about her father and after dismantling a black-market Pym Particle she decided to leave for the United States to introduce herself to him. She was saddened to learn that he had seemingly perished and she used his laboratory to honour his legacy by creating a costume and becoming the new Wasp. (All-New, All-Different Avengers v1 #9)

Overview

The original Wasp Suit was designated by Dr. Hank Pym to help regulate her exposure to Pym Particles. These allowed her to shrink to insectoid proportions whilst retaining her mass. Another aspect of the suit was the addition of a pair of bio-synthetic wings on the back that allowed the user to fly when reduced in size. In addition, it was outfitted with a wrist device capable of discharging blasts of bio-electricity that was referred to as the wasp's sting. A further element of the Wasp Suit was that it was originally woven from Unstable Molecules. (Tales to Astonish v1 #44)

Notes

• The concept of the Wasp was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where it made its first appearance in Tales to Astonish v1 #44 (June, 1963).

Alternate Versions

• In Ultimate Avengers v1 #3 (2009), Petra Laskov came to take the identity of Red Wasp in the setting of the Ultimate Marvel reality designated as Earth-1610 in the Multiverse. She was a Syrian scientist who was married to Nikolai Laskov, a Georgian activist working for one of the Red Skull's enemies. The Red Skull held her, her husband, and their baby son hostage, forcing her to choose whether to kill her husband with a pair of old scissors or watch him shoot her baby. She chose to kill her husband, and took over an hour to kill him with the scissors. The Red Skull then threw her son out the window and ordered his men to rape her, 'just to send a message'.

In other media

Television

• In Avengers Assemble, the Wasp appeared in the animated television series fourth season Secret Wars where she was voiced by actor Kari Wahlgren. This version was based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe Hope van Dyne who referenced that her father was Dr. Pym.
• In Ant-Man, the Wasp appeared in the Disney animated television series where she was voiced by actor Melissa Rauch and was based on the Hope van Dyne version from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Films

• In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Wasp made multiple appearances in the shared continuity setting:
  • In Ant-Man, the Wasp appeared in the live-action film where she was was originally shown to had been Janet van Dyne who worked alongside her husband Hank Pym in the Cold War when he operated as Ant-Man. Together, they fought numerous threats until the Wasp had to break her suits regulator to shrink between the molecules of a warhead to prevent it from exploding. By the end, it was shown that Hank had created a new Wasp suit for his daughter Hope Pym so that she could operate as a superhero.
  • In Ant-Man and the Wasp, the Wasp appeared in the setting of the live-action film where the identity was shared between Janet van Dyne portrayed by actress Michelle Pfeiffer and Hope van Dyne portrayed by actress Evangeline Lily.

Appearances

• Tales to Astonish v1: (1963)
• Secret Invasion: Requiem v1:
• All-New, All-Different Avengers v1:
• Unstoppable Wasp v1:
• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Living Legends v1:
• Unstoppable Wasp v2:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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