WASP

 

WASP

Real Name: Janet Van Dyne

First Appearance: Tales to Astonish (Vol. 1) #44, June 1963

Powers: Wealthy socialite Janet Van Dyne was given a special wasp serum by Dr. Henry Pym to ingest and later performed cellular implantations on her to give Jan powers he himself did not possess.

Using Pym Particle vapors, the Wasp could shrink down to insect size, in the process growing wings from her back and antenna from her forehead. These allowed her to fly under her own power and hear the voices of the insect kingdom, respectively. Jan initially had no offensive abilities, and was often reduced to having to carry a knitting needle twice her body length for protection (like Ant-Man, Jan retained her full-sized strength even when shrunk). Hank soon gave her a set of wrist-shooters which fired highly compressed blasts of air to "sting" her opponents. As time passed, Wasp's metabolism adapted to the constant exposure to Pym Particles, enabling her to generate them and thus change size at will, without any additional aids. Her antenna stopped growing after a time, however, leaving her cut off from the insect world. She occasionally wore a cybernetic choker on her neck that approximated her insect communication powers. At one point, Pym was experimenting with their powers and discovered a way to increase Jan's abilities. Developing a new derivation of the wasp serum, he had her ingest it to alter her abilities.

The Wasp's physical powers now actually increased the smaller she became. At her wasp-size, Jan was now strong enough to bend a steel pipe in half. She also developed superhuman speed, reaction time, and resilience when shrunk down. Wasp could also produce bio-electricity from her cells, conducting it into energy stings fired from her hands. These blasts were functional to a small degree in her full-sized form, but increased dramatically in power the smaller she became. Initially, she required artificial aids to gather and discharge her bio-stings, but later the process was internalized so that she could project her blasts without wrist-shooters of any kind. With practice, Jan also learned how to manipulate the growth of her wings. Normally they extended automatically when she shrunk down to a few inches tall, but Wasp learned how to make them grow with her, allowing her to maintain fully functional and proportionate wings even when she increased her height to up to 4' tall. Jan was also capable of manipulating Pym Particles in certain ways like Hank could, causing other objects to shrink or grow along with her if she was in contact with them, or increasing her size to become a giant with superhuman strength. Jan prefers to stick with her standard Wasp powers most of the time, however.

For a brief period, Jan was mutagenically transformed into an insect woman. After Pym had an encounter with the Kosmosians, virtually every other size-changer on Earth who employed Pym Particles lost their abilities, including Jan. Unable to shrink, she was limited to only using her weak, full-sized bio-stings. After the renegade Iron Man mortally wounded her during the Crossing, however, Pym used his equipment to stimulate the wasp cells in her body, causing Jan to produce a regenerative cocoon around her body to save herself. The procedure was successful, and Wasp emerged fully healed but dramatically transformed. She now had amber skin, opaque eyes, magenta hair, antenna, and elongated fingers. She had full sized wings allowing her to fly, and bio-stings that were much more intense that previously. This transformation was reversed thanks to her passage into the Franklinverse and subsequent return home.

Janet Van Dyne is also a gifted fashion designer, skilled amateur screenwriter, and an experienced leader and strategist.