This article is about the first incarnation of the Wasp. For the second incarnation, see Hope Van Dyne.
The Wasp (real name Janet Van Dyne) is a superheroine from Marvel Comics. The daughter of a wealthy family, Janet is the girlfriend, and later wife of Hank Pym, the superhero Ant-Man, and the mother of Hope Van Dyne, who helped him fight crime as the Wasp. She is a posthumous character mentioned throughout the 2015 film Ant-Man, but is revealed to be alive within the Quantum Realm, and returns in the sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Janet Van Dyne was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
Background
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Size Manipulation: Through the use of the Pym Particles and a device fitted into her super suit, Wasp is able to shrink herself down to much smaller sizes or grow to gigantic size. Eventually, her extended stay in the Quantum Realm mutates her genes, giving her the ability to change size without the need of Pym Particles.
- Flight: Wasp is able to fly when she is the size of an insect.
- Energy blasts: Wasp can emit small bursts of bio-electrical energy into powerful electrical blasts, also known as "stingers."
Appearances
Marvel Animation
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
Wasp is a regular in the series. She wants to use her powers as a superhero, while Hank is reluctant to do the same. She gets her chance when she stops Whirlwind. In "The Man in the Ant Hill", Wasp arrives at Hank's laboratory in Wakanda after Pym as Ant-Man maintained a fight with Klaw and his men. Later, Janet fight with Whirlwind, who was hired by Klaw to steal a Sonic Disruptor from a university. Finally, Ant-Man and Wasp defeats Whirlwind and send it to the Big House. Nick Fury offers Hank and Janet work for SHIELD and joins the Avengers, Janet shows excited but Hank refuses to join them. It is only in the two-part pilot "Breakout" that Janet gets that chance, as she alongside Hank and other heroes face the villain Graviton and find they work well together, so they form the Avengers. After the team is formed, Wasp participates in recapturing the escaped villains all around the world.
In "Ultron-5", Wasp is captured by Ultron after the robot became corrupt, although he did not try to kill her due of his programming of not hurting her. She manages to break free when suddenly become into Giant Wasp and hits Ultron really hard but returns to normal after her first experience as a giant. In "The Ultron Imperative", she, Hawkeye, and Black Panther fight against Iron Man Armors, who were controlled by Ultron. She later went to Helicarrier with Iron Man and Hulk to try to stop Ultron. When Ultron is stopped by Hank, she congratulates him but Hill reminded them that Hank's fault because he was the one who created him.
In the season one finale, Janet tries to convince Hank not to leave the Avengers but Hank already had taken its decision. Later, she finds the Norne stone in the Arctic but this was only a trap of the Abomination. She fights fiercely against him until Abomination overwhelms her before the arrival of Giant-Man, but all three are transported to Jotunheim. When Loki's army is heading to Earth, Wasp, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Hawkeye, and Hulk appeared to face them. With the help of Sif and the Warriors Three, the Avengers managed to defeat them, and avoid the conquest of Earth. Later, they faced Loki but end up being easily defeated because Loki had absorbed the powers of Odin. However, after a hard battle, the Avengers manage to defeat Loki. After the battle, Odin thanked the Avengers to have helped Asgard.
In "Who Do You Trust", Janet is present when Iron Man reveals to the Avengers the existence of the Skrulls. After Iron Man and Black Panther leave the Avengers suspecting a traitor among them, she, Hawkeye, Hulk, and Captain America (the real Skrull) decide to remain as Avengers. In "Secret Invasion", she, Hawkeye and Miss Marvel went to Washington to stop Skrulls. Once arrived there, they are outnumbered by Skrull. After an arduous battle, the Avengers manages to defeat the Skrulls.
In "Behold...The Vision", she and Jane were watching a horror movie at the mansion. Suddenly, Vision appears demanding to know the location of Captain America's shield. Seeing as Vision was hurting Wasp, Jane tells the location of the shield, Vision then retires to address Wakanda. After regaining consciousness, she calls her teammates to warn them about the new enemy, but it was too late because Vision was already fighting against them. Later, Jan told Jane to reconsider not date with superheroes for her safety. In "Ultron Unlimited", Wasp encounters Vision again, who uses his solar beam to neutralize her. Wasp discovers that Ultron is still alive and that he plans to replace the Avengers with machines. Ultron also informs her that he wanted to remove her brain and place it into a robot female for himself to make her perfect. She was later released by Vision.
In "Yellowjacket", Hank is supposedly killed in an explosion from his lab. On the night of Hank's funeral, Wasp faced Yellowjacket, who claimed to be responsible for the murder of Hank. She tells the other Avengers that Yellowjacket could be Hank, but they refuse to believe her. She later unmasks Yellowjacket and shows that her theory was true. After escaping from the prison, Wasp asks Iron Man to let Hank rejoin the Avengers.
In "Avengers Assemble!", Wasp was present when Terrax, a herald of Galactus came to Earth. Terrax informed her and the other Avengers that Galactus was coming to devour the planet. Seeing that it was not a mere threat, Captain America called all the heroes of Earth to help to save the planet. Wasp teamed up with Wolverine, Human Torch, Thing, and Hawkeye to face Stardust, a herald of Galactus; she manages to defeat Stardust. Later, she and her teammates were hailed by the people of New York.
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Ant-Man
Janet appears in flashbacks and is discussed throughout the film. Janet Van Dyne was married to Hank Pym, a scientist who discovered the shrinkage technology. Together, they had a daughter named Hope. After Hank was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D., Janet insisted Hank to join the organization. Janet also accompanied her husband Hank in different missions where she was the first to don the Wasp suit under the codename Wasp.
In 1987, she became sub-atomic in order to deactivate a Soviet ICBM in mid-flight and prevent a tragedy in America. After her demise, Hank sent Hope to boarding school in order to devote himself to find a way to bring her back to their world. It is revealed that she and Hank worked on a Wasp suit, but after her demise, Hank decided to leave that project. In 2015, Hank and Hope reactivated the project, believing that Janet intended this Wasp suit for Hope.
Ant-Man and the Wasp
While in house arrest, Scott Lang has a dream of him seeing Janet in the Quantum Realm before the dream shifts to Scott as Janet playing hide-and-seek with Hope. He contacts Hank about the dream despite having three days before the house arrest is over, prompting Hank to send Hope to recruit Scott. It is soon revealed that Hank and Hope have been constructing a Quantum Tunnel in the hopes of finding Janet.
Hope, Hank, and Scott are forced to fend off Ava Starr and Bill Foster, who seek the Quantum Tunnel to cure Ava's condition, while finishing the tunnel. While the tunnel is completed, Janet possesses Scott and sends her coordinates to the group.
In a final battle in which Hope and Scott fight Sonny Burch, Hank travels to the Quantum Realm to track down Janet, eventually reuniting with her. Meanwhile, Ava steals Hank's lab and leeches energy from Janet, but Scott and Hope fend Ava off. Janet arrives and uses quantum energy to stabilize Ava, but soon realizes that Ava will need more energy to completely heal.
In a post-credits scene, Janet, Hank, and Hope have Scott enter the Quantum Realm to gather energy for Ava. However, due to the events of Avengers: Infinity War, Janet, Hank, and Hope disintegrate from Thanos' fingersnap.
Avengers: Endgame
Janet is resurrected when Hulk/Bruce Banner uses the Infinity Gauntlet to undo the snap and bring everyone back to life. Janet attended Tony Stark's funeral after the latter sacrificed himself to defeat Thanos and his forces.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
In 2026, Janet is having dinner with Hope, Scott, Hank, and Cassie at the Pym residence, where she and Scott learn that Hope, Cassie and Hank are building an item that sends a signal down to the quantum realm after learning more about the mysterious location. Although originally impressed, Janet soon orders her granddaughter-figure to shut down the signal, much to everyone's confusion. When asked to why she wants it turned off, Janet tells them that it isn't what they think the place is like, without explaining too much. However, before being able to explain anymore, Janet and her family are suddenly sucked into the quantum realm.
Janet finds herself in the realm once more with Hope and Hank, separated from Scott and Cassie. Without once again explaining herself, Janet informs her husband and daughter that they must find Scott and Cassie immediately and get out of the realm, as it is incredibly dangerous. Janet is quickly bombarded with questions about the area, but asks her daughter to just trust her that they need to escape as soon as possible. However, Hope finds it hard to trust her mother as she has not told her or Hank about her experiences like they asked. As they start to walk around the realm, Janet explains that they are in a location outside of space and time and this place has universes within universes, which explains the different creatures and people who live in the realm.
Janet takes Hank and Hope to meet Krylar, a former lover of her's and asks him to help her family find Scott and Cassie. Kryler soon informs Hank and Hope of Janet's time here and of her teammate known as Kang the Conqueror. Feeling betrayed, the Pym family soon escape in a ship and Janet is asked once more about what Kryar meant, as well as learning he was a lover of her's while she was down in the realm for 30 years, explaining to Hank and Hope that she "had needs", much to Hope's disgust. Once the family land, Janet decides to finally inform her husband and daughter of what happened during her time in the realm and tells them about Kang. it is revealed that kang crash landed in the realm and Janet originally agreed to help him fix his ship, believing he was an innocent man, whom was trapped. Janet helped Kang find his multiversal core, but soon learnt he had the desire to destroy all universes throughout the multiverse. Seeing Kang's true colours, Janet betrayed him and made sure he could never escape the quantum realm. Hope apologises to Janet for having to deal with that, but assures her mother she no longer has to face Kang alone, agreeing to help her mother defeat Kamg. The Pym-Dyne family are then soon reunited with Scott and Cassie.
However, soon after, Janet is reunited with Kang and is taken hostage by one of his goons, while Hope, Hank and Scott are all knocked out , while Kang steals the engine core and the rest of her family are in danger. Kang shows Janet the empire he has built over the 30+ years he has been down in the realm and plans to take the empire with him when he finally leaves the realm. Janet then watches as Cassie is able to submit a message across the quantum realm, to ask the resident's help in order to stop Kang and escape, followed by Scott and Hope enlarging to stop Kang.
Shortly after, a fight breaks out between Kang, Hope and Scott, whom try to defeat the conqueror once and for all, which Janet and Hank watch. During this, Janet reopens thee tunnel that allows her and her family finally leave the quantum realm. However, while most of the family, Janet included, are able to go back to earth, Scott is pulled back in by Kang and is forced to brutally fight Kang to ensure he does not leave. Janet watches as Hope jumps back into the realm to rescue Scott, whom is on the verge of death by being attacked by Kang. After Scott and Hope successfully defeat Kang, Janet, Hank and Cassie are reunited with their family.
Sometime later, the family are seen having a peaceful family meal in a resturant to celebrate all of Cassie's birthdays they missed while being dusted for five years.
What If...?
The story of Ant-Man and the Wasp gets a drastic twist, as Janet contracts an infectioud disease known as the Quantum Virus. Hank travels to the Quantum Realm to find Janet, but when he reunites with her, he gets infected by Janet. This created an outbreak that the Quantum Realm spreads across the globe.
Gallery
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