Ant-Man and The Wasp is hitting theaters on July 6th, and many people are going in not knowing much about the character who was called The Wasp in the comics…
After all, Janet Van Dyne was a briefly-featured character Ant-Man, sacrificing herself to the Quantum Realm to save the lives of many. (Hope Van Dyne, her daughter, has a much bigger role to play in the MCU, especially now.) Let’s have a fun little trivia lesson!
Disclaimer: The Wasp facts we are listing are from across all forms of media (comics, film, TV, etc), and are not specific to the MCU. Potential comic spoilers are in affect here.
(Marvel)
The Wasp was the first leader of The Avengers in the comics.
Yup! It wasn’t Steve Rogers or Tony Stark who initially lead the iconic team of heroes, it was Janet Van Dyne as The Wasp. Janet was also the one to coin the name “The Avengers”. She almost changed her mind before Hank Pym (Ant-Man) interrupted her to exclaim at what a fine name it was.
While The Wasp’s size might be seen as a liability if you knew nothing about her powers, she was a great asset to the group in many ways: her problem solving and quick thinking skills helped the bunch through many close-calls. Out of the original members (The Wasp, Ant-Man, Thor, Hulk, and Iron Man), Janet Van Dyne served the team the longest, and eventually worked her way up to leading the Avengers longer than any other leader (aside from Captain America).
Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne in Ant-Man and The Wasp (Marvel Studios)
Janet Van Dyne was almost in the original MCU Avengers film.
Hope Pym as Red Queen (Marvel)
Joss Whedon, who wrote and directed both The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, initially had The Wasp as Janet Van Dyne included in the script before Scarlett Johansson was confirmed for the film to reprise Black Widow. However, he felt that the focus on so many characters could be overwhelming, so he scrapped the character. Eventually Janet joined the MCU in Ant-Man, played by Hayley Lovitt only in flashback form. Michelle Pfeiffer is confirmed to portray Janet in the upcoming Ant-Man and The Wasp. (But where has she beeeeeen…)
Hope Pym was a villain in the comics.
We all know Evangeline Lilly will take on the mantle of The Wasp in the MCU, but Hope has a very different genesis in the MC2 comics. For one, her name is Hope Pym, and she went by the moniker Red Queen. After her parents’ (Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne) deaths in this timeline, Hope set out to destroy A-Next (basically the next generation of Avengers). She also put together the supervillain team called “The Revengers” which is a pretty cool nod to Janet being a founding member and leader of The Avengers. We haven’t yet fully explored why Hope uses her mom’s name name in the MCU universe, but maybe we will…
Hank Pym as The Wasp (Marvel)
Hank Pym assumes the role of The Wasp after Janet Van Dyne’s death.
In another storyline: After the Skrull Invasion, Hank Pym took on the role of The Wasp after Janet’s untimely death to pay tribute to her life. As The Wasp, Hank Pym lead the Mighty Avengers, which is another nice nod to the Avengers’ original leader. He held the persona and title for a while before returning to his previous alias of Giant-Man.
Hope Pym was Nadia Pym in one alternate universe.
In this reality, be being married to Janet Van Dyne Hank Pym and had a Russian wife, Maria Trovaya, and a daughter named Nadia. Unfortunately, Maria was kidnapped and killed by Communist Agents on hers and Hank’s honeymoon. Eventually Nadia was adopted by Janet Van Dyne and went on to be The Wasp after her stepmother. A little fun fact is that “Nadia” is a variation from the Russian name “Nadya”, which means “hope”.
Nadia Pym as The Wasp (Marvel)
And that’s all the buzz we have on the many incarnations of The Wasp. Hope you learned a thing or two! If you’d like more fun facts on other Marvel characters, hit us up on Twitter (@lootcrate)!
Sign up for Loot Crate’s TEAM UP theme this month to get items featuring Ant-Man and The Wasp! Deadline is 7/19 – and in the meantime, The Wasp is still available in the latest Marvel Gear & Goods theme TAKE THE LEAD, through 7/15!
