The Wasp (Janet van Dyne) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee, Ernie Hart, and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Tales to Astonish #44 (June 1963). Janet van Dyne is usually depicted as having the ability to shrink to a height of several centimeters, fly by means of insectoid wings, and fire bioelectric energy blasts. She is a founding member of the Avengers and the one who gave them their name as well as a longtime leader of the team. She is also the ex-wife of Hank Pym and the stepmother of Nadia van Dyne. The Wasp has been described as one of Marvel's most notable and powerful female heroes. Michelle Pfeiffer portrayed Janet van Dyne in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films while Evangeline Lilly portrayed an original MCU version, Hope van Dyne (based on Hope Pym), in the films Ant-Man (2015), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).
Publication history
Janet van Dyne debuted in Tales to Astonish #44 (plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by H. E. Huntley, and drawn by Jack Kirby, June 1963) as Hank Pym's partner, becoming the Wasp to avenge the death of her father, scientist Vernon van Dyne. She co-starred in Tales to Astonish from issue #44–69 (1963–65). She was also the star of her own backup feature in issues #51–58 (1964). She was a founding member of the Avengers, appearing in the first issue and giving the team its name. It is with the Avengers that Janet became most well known. At first she was the weak link of the team, but later on became one of the smartest and craftiest of its members. Though she takes leaves of absence throughout the series, she is one of the longest active members and has acted as leader of the team for longer than anyone besides Captain America. During her absences from the core Avengers book, Janet appeared in various other publications, including appearing as a supporting character in several issues of a revived Ant-Man series in Marvel Feature issues #6–10 (1972–73). She has also made sporadic guest appearances in various other books, such as Captain America, Iron Man, and Fantastic Four. Janet became the leader of the Avengers in The Avengers #217 (1982), a position she held until issue #278 (1987), with the exception of a brief period where she handed leadership off to the Vision. She then appeared in issue #32 of West Coast Avengers (May 1988), becoming a full-time member in issue #42. She made occasional appearances in Avengers (vol. 3), returning as an active member of the team in issue #27 (2000) before resuming leadership duties. She and Captain America became co-leaders of the team starting in issue #38. After the events of "Avengers Disassembled", Janet appeared in the limited series Beyond! before rejoining the Avengers in The Mighty Avengers #1 (2007). She was presumed dead during the events of Secret Invasion in 2008. The Wasp returned in the Avengers "End Times" storyline that ran from issue #31 (December 2012) to 34 (January 2013). She then appeared as a member of the Avengers Unity Squad in Uncanny Avengers and as an Agent of Wakanda in the Fresh Start title of the Avengers. Janet became the romantic interest for her fellow Avenger Iron Man in 2018, and was a regular character in the Iron Man comic book until 2020.
Design In his 1970s run on The Avengers, artist George Pérez revamped the character's costume a number of times, having a significant impact on the character's development:
It became a joke. In the case of the Wasp, I noticed that she has so many costumes that eventually I said "Why not?" I think I was on the book long enough what was once just a little bit of idiosyncrasy about the character became fully part of the character's persona.
Fictional character biography
1960s
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