Wasp: Bio, Origin & History

Real Name: Janet Van Dyne

First Appearance: Tales to Astonish #44 (June, 1963)

Powers: Can Shrink to Insect Size. When Shrunk Under 4’2”, Wings. She Can Shoot Bio-Electric Bolts.

Affiliation: Avengers, Uncanny Avengers, Avengers West Coast

Enemies: Most Avenger Enemies, Fly Swatters

Love Interests: Ant-Man (Henry Pym), Captain America (Steve Rogers, Earth 1610), Iron Man (Tony Stark)

Did You Know: Janet named the Avengers and that she originally used a mini-gun as the Wasp Sting before her mutation

A Little History

The world was introduced to Janet Van Dyne as she accompanied her renown scientist father on a trip to visit Dr. Henry Pym. What she didn’t realize at the time was that Henry Pym was actually Ant-Man and could shrink himself down to insect size and even control insects.

From the moment the two met, an immediate attraction was felt. While she was awestruck by his good looks, he couldn’t help but notice that she looked much like his deceased wife, Maria. Janet’s father explained to Hank that they had come for help in putting together a Gamma Ray Beam so they could detect signals from other planets.

Hank explained that his specialty was not associated to Gamma Ray’s and as such, didn’t see how he could help. Despite this, Janet’s father continued his work. At the conclusion of his work, he managed to open a portal to another world. He discovered a planet called Kosmos and accidentally teleported the most dangerous criminal of the planet into his lab.

Janet returned to the lab to find her now dead father on the floor and the machine smashed to pieces. In a panic, she called Hank Pym. He immediately shrunk down and appeared at the scene of the crime. He quickly deduced that the crime was, in fact, the work of an alien. At this exact moment, Janet vowed revenge.

Back at his lab, he called upon Janet and asked her to become his sidekick. He shared that he was Ant-Man and all of his other secrets. Janet was given the ability to shrink and grow. Above that, she was genetically modified to grow wings and antennae whenever she had shrunk down. She was also given a costume and a weapon that fired blasts called Stings. From this point forward, she was called Wasp.