The Wasp



The Wasp is the name of two Marvel Comics superheroes: Janet van Dyne and her ex-husband, Hank Pym.

Janet van Dyne

The Wasp is a Marvel Comics superhero created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Making her debut in Tales to Astonish #44 (June, 1963), Janet van Dyne has been featured in more than four decades of Marvel comics history. One of the founding members of The Avengers, the Wasp famously gave the team it's name after the the heroes take down the villain Loki. Aside from a few solo adventures in Tales to Astonish, Janet is the only original Avenger never to receive her own series.

Hank Pym

Hank Pym took up the mantle of the Wasp after the events of Secret Invasion, a move that would be explored in the limited series: Ant-Man & Wasp. As the Wasp, Pym would open the Janet van Dyne Centers for Women: six centers designed to provide support for victims of domestic abuse.

Comics

 * Ant-Man & Wasp

Storylines
 * Secret Wars
 * JLA-Avengers
 * Marvel Zombies
 * Civil War
 * Secret Invasion

Video Games

 * Captain America and The Avengers

Western Animation

 * The Marvel Superheroes
 * The Avengers: United They Stand
 * The Superhero Squad Show
 * The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Tropes seen in these series include:

 * Action Girl
 * Animal Theme Naming: Guess.
 * Anyone Can Die
 * Applied Phlebotinum: The Pym Particles.
 * Baleful Polymorph: For a very brief period in the late 1990s, Jan was stuck in a mutated insect-woman form.
 * Battle Couple: Ant-Man and Wasp.
 * Not so much in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, as Jan enjoys fighting villains while Henry doesn't.
 * The Beast Master: Rarely used, Janet can produce small prehensile antennae from her forehead that allow her to communicate with and control insects.
 * Bio Augmentation: The source of Janet's wings and antennae.
 * Brain Uploading: The Killer Robot Ultron tried to upload Janet's mind into Jocasta, his newly-built female companion. Though the Avengers intervene before the procedure is complete, Jocasta retains enough of Janet's brain engrams to turn against her creator.
 * The Chick
 * Death by Origin Story: The death of her father at the hands of creature from Kosmos is what inspired Janet to contact Hank Pym, resulting in her transformation into the Wasp.
 * The Fashionista: Janet is a fashion designer in her free time.
 * Hand Blast: The Wasp can fire bio-electric energy blasts from her hands. At first Janet required special wristbands, but years of exposure to the Pym Particles allowed her to generate the blasts naturally.
 * The Host: Janet was the host of two TV shows in the Marvel Universe: "America's Next Superstar" & "America's Newest Superhero".
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl
 * Legacy Character: Hank Pym as Wasp II.
 * Made of Iron: The Wasp's density increases in her giant form, giving her greater durability.
 * Most Common Superpower: Sometimes, Depending on the Artist.
 * My Suit Is Also Super: Janet's various outfits can shrink and grow with her thanks to the Pym Particles.
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The Wasp retains her normal strength and weight in insect form.
 * Power Perversion Potential: More than just potential. Janet and Hank have used their powers to pleasure each other in creative ways.
 * Rich Bitch: Janet's personality for most of her early career. Hank Pym cited this as one of the reasons he was so hesitant to marry Janet in the first place.
 * Sexy Backless Outfit / Vapor Wear: A number of Janet's costumes have holes in the back for her wings, which are too tiny to see when she's at normal height.
 * Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Janet became trapped at insect size for a time after leaving the Avengers.
 * She's Got Legs
 * Sidekick Graduations Stick: Janet was generally treated as Ant-Man's young, flighty sidekick/partner at the beginning of her career. As a member of the Avengers, the Wasp gained considerable experience working alongside Iron Man and Captain America, eventually becoming Chairman and, later, leader of the Avengers.
 * Sizeshifter: Janet initially required doses of Pym Particles in order to change size, requiring her to carry special pills or gas canisters. Later, Janet's body would start to generate Pym Particles on its own, allowing her to change size at will.
 * The Smurfette Principle
 * Stalker with a Crush: David "Whirlwind" Cannon developed a romantic obsession with her way back in Marvel Feature #6, and recent events in Avengers Academy showed that her death didn't lesson it one iota.
 * Super Strength: Only available in giant form. A portion of the strength goes to supporting the Wasp's body, leading to diminishing returns if she grows too large. After a power upgrade in the Seventies, she has the same strength in tiny size that she does at regular height, leading some to mistakenly assume it's super.
 * Ten-Minute Retirement
 * Unfinished Business: Hercules and Amadeus Cho encounter Janet's soul in Erebus, stubbornly trying to win resurrection on one of the slot machines.
 * Unlimited Wardrobe: The Wasp has hundreds of different costumes thanks to her career as a fashion designer.
 * Weapon of Mass Destruction: The Skrulls turn Janet into one of these during Secret Invasion.
 * Wedding Smashers: Janet nearly died when the Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime attacked during her wedding to Hank Pym.
 * Willfully Weak: Janet is fully aware of the power and durability that come with growing to giant size, but she prefers to fight at insect size. She'll only break out the big guns when the shit really hits the fan.
 * Winged Humanoid: Hank Pym implanted two tiny wings on Janet's back, giving her the power to fly when she shrinks to insect size.
 * Working with the Ex: Happened quite often given the "on again, off again " nature of her relationship with Hank Pym.