Hero Profile: Wasp

Superpowers come in all shapes and sizes. Some are very scientific, being based on advanced technology or genetic augmentation/mutation. Others are more mystical, being derived from ancient spells or rituals. Some are incredibly useful like super strength or flight. Some are downright dangerous, like being able to manipulate reality or time. And still others are just kind of weird. Like the ability to command squirrels or shrink and grow. Despite having one of the strangest combination of powers, Wasp has proven to be a force to be reckoned with. But more on that in a second.

She's like Tinkerbell, if Tinkerbell
was awesome.

Janet Van Dyne was a New Jersey socialite before becoming a superhero. Her main interests involved spending her father’s money and parties. She was not the most responsible young woman, but still possessed a good heart. Things started changing when she went with her father Vernon to visit a colleague of his named Dr. Hank Pym. Dr. Van Dyne was working on an interdimensional communication device and hoped Hank would be able to help. Hank declined, believing he couldn’t aid Dr. Van Dyne. And while the science talk bored Janet to tears, she found Hank to be…interesting. There was an almost immediate attraction between Janet and Hank, but while Janet was eager to see where things went, Hank did his best to ignore it.

A short time later, Dr. Van Dyne finished his communication device. Though like Dr. Erdel in the DC-verse, he actually made something far more interesting, a teleportation device. He plucked a creature known as a Kosmos from its home dimension and plopped it into his lab. The creature, unfortunately, claimed to be the greatest criminal on its world, killed him, and set about conquering ours. Janet finds the body, grief stricken and terrified she runs to Hank in the hopes that’d he’d known something to help her. Thankfully for Janet, Hank Pym was also the superhero Ant-man, and was more than willing to help Janet get a little payback. Hank does some tinkering with her DNA to give her insectoid wings and a supply of his Pym Particle capsules to help her shrink and grow. The two insect themed heroes stop the giant alien monster and decide to work together from then on.

Gambling can be dangerous,
who knew?

Their next really big adventure occurred when the rogue Asgardian Loki tried to force a confrontation between the Hulk and his brother Thor. He used an illusion to trick the Hulk into destroying a set of railroad tracks, and then diverted a radio distress call to Thor. His hope was the strength of the Hulk would finally best his brother. Unfortunately for Loki’s plot, Iron Man and Ant-man and Wasp also picked up the signal. The five heroes clashed, but then decided it was better idea to combine their efforts and kick the crap out of Loki. Afterwards, Hank proposed forming a superhero team, and Wasp dubbed it the Avengers. Huh, funny how these two were left out of the movie right?

Over the years Janet has grown immensely. Since her initial appearance she’s become the main financial contributor and Chairperson of the Avengers, battled a number of alien incursions, and even sacrificed herself to save the world. Don’t worry, she comes back.

I suppose I should readdress the elephant in the room of the Pym/Van Dyne spousal abuse. In the 1980’s Hank Pym, now going by the codename Yellowjacket, had a nervous breakdown. He made a series of costly blunders that made him worried that he was going to be kicked out of the Avengers. So, he did what any half crazed scientist would do, build a robot army that only he could defeat to boost his image. Janet found out just as he was about to unleash the machines, tried to stop him, and was knocked unconscious for her efforts. The Avengers stopped Pym’s robots, Hank was arrested and Janet divorced him. Over the years the two have somewhat reconciled, becoming friends again but I seriously doubt that a romance will be revived again, even thirty five years later. I give Janet props for being a “one and done” person with Hank striking her, and I also give her props for forgiving him (but not forgetting) down the line. Like I said in my Ant-man: my two cents post, this was less spousal abuse and more like teammate abuse, but it is still a huge violation of trust. The experience was a big bit of character development for both Janet and Hank. For Janet, it was her chance to be her own hero without being defined by her relationship to Hank. And for Hank, it gave him time to reevaluate himself and what being a superhero means to him. That’s less of a silver lining and more of a less grey lining, but hey, it’s better than nothing.

Would you believe me if I told you she is a fashion designer?

Janet’s powers were initially very technological but have shifted to the more biological as time went on. In her initial appearances she needed the Pym Particle Pills to shrink and grow, and a pair of wrist mounted airguns to shoot. The only “power” she really had were the tiny wings that grew when she shrunk down. Having been exposed to the Pym Particles for several decades, however, altered Janet’s genetic makeup and gave her the power to shrink and grow at will. She’s also been developed the ability to shoot burst of bio-electric energy which she’s dubbed her Stingers. She can fly at speeds approaching 40 mph. Somehow, shrinking down increases her strength. Something about condensing a 5’4” woman into a few centimeters apparently makes mini-fists pack a wallop. Janet has been trained by Captain America to fight, and by Hank Pym to fight with her size altering powers. SO normal sized or itty bitty, she knows how to kick butt. She’s also one of the most intuitive members of the Avengers, being the first to realize that a chemical accident had caused Hank Pym to have a schizophrenic break, and the first to figure out that Iron Man was Tony Stark.

Wasp has only appeared in a handful of Marvel media, for some reason. Probably the whole weird powers thing. Who knows?

Her biggest appearance was in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. She’s one of the founding members of the Avengers, like in the comics, and is the only one of the original five who remains with the team for the entire course of the show. She’s peppy and a little flighty, but for the most part when people underestimate her things go badly for them. It’s interesting to note that in the second season Hank Pym suffers a psychological break becoming the very aggressive Yellowjacket. During his initial rampage, where for some reason no one realizes it’s him, Janet is the only character that isn’t blasted or throw about by him. Way to dodge that bullet, writers. Overall, I’d say she is comic relief done right. She does funny things, cracks jokes when it’s appropriate or not, and just does her best to alleviate tense situations. This doesn’t stop her from being heroic, or from having dramatic or intense moments. If Jar Jar Binks had been half the comic relief character Janet is the prequel Star Wars… would still suck but would have been significantly more tolerable.

Latest costume design. I don't get the pin head look...

She also appeared in the direct to DVD Ultimate Avengers. It’s essentially the live action Avengers, a newly revived Captain America leading a superhero team against a Chitari invasion. The main difference being that Ant-man and Wasp are in and Hawkeye and Black Widow are out. It was an enjoyable movie, check it out.

According to my research, which in all honesty consisted of looking at the Wikipedia and IMDB pages, Janet Van Dyne is not going to appear in the Ant-man movie that will be out later this year. However, Evangeline Lilly (who you may remember from the last two Hobbit films as Tauriel) is listed as a Hope Van Dyne, whom I’ll assume is the daughter of Janet and will probably share a few characteristics in common. While I would have preferred to see the original bug duo at the forefront of this picture, it is an adaptation that I can at least accept.

My knowledge of Wasp manly comes from The Avengers TV show and from that alone I can say I really do like the character. She’s one of the superheroes that does actually love and enjoy the superhero thing. Like She-Hulk and Rescue, she was a character that was initially created to be a female sidekick, but has since gone far beyond that little pigeon hole. I think one of the best examples of her impact on the overall Marvel-verse is with her ex-husband Hank Pym. After the Secret Invasion story arc where Wasp is apparently killed, Hank takes up her mantel becoming the new Wasp. The man that gave her the powers and the drive to be a real superhero decided that the world needs a Wasp more than it needs a Yellowjacket, or whatever his codename was at the time. Seriously the guy has like ten. From flighty party girl to flighty superhero, this little Wasp packs a wallop. Next time, the greatest swordswoman in about a thousand years, Sif takes center stage.

 http://marvel.wikia.com/Janet_van_Dyne_%28Earth-616%29

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasp_%28comics%29

 http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/avengersearthsmightiestheroes/images/8/8a/Wasp_going_after_Whirlwind.png/revision/latest?cb=20120520195335

 http://www.comicvine.com/wasp/4005-1502/