During my Ant-Man set visit last year, I learned a lot about the movie, which is surprising because sometimes a studio, especially one as secretive as Marvel, can be very cagey with what they choose to divulge.

Perhaps the biggest thing I learned on the set visit is that Hank Pym’s wife, Janet Van Dyne, will make an appearance in the movie. For those who don’t know, Janet Van Dyne, aka “Wasp”, was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in 1963. Like her partner Hank Pym, she has the ability to shrink down, but she also has the ability to fly and [per Wikipedia], “fire bioelectric energy blasts.” Also like Pym, she was a founding member of the Avengers.

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Image via Marvel Comics

In Ant-Man, we see her briefly, although they didn’t cast a name actress for the role because you only get a close-up on her eyes. Wasp, who is Pym’s wife in the movie, appears in a flashback, and while we don’t know if she dies or gets lost in the microverse, Pym blames S.H.I.E.L.D. and resents superheroes. It’s a clever motivation for why Pym hasn’t been active as a superhero for decades, and it also explains why Wasp isn’t a main character in the movie. Furthermore, if she’s been “lost” and isn’t dead, it opens the door to bring her back later even though, like Pym, she’d be much older unless the microverse slowed down time or something.

If Wasp does appear later in the MCU, I expect to see Pym’s daughter, Hope Van Dyne, put on the wings, which would be pretty cool. Either way, while the MCU is getting crowded, I hope that there’s room for Wasp, and the fact that they’re including her in flashback signals that they haven’t forgotten the character. Knowing how Marvel operates, I doubt Wasp would be so easily discarded, so hopefully we’ll see her sometime down the line.

For more from my Ant-Man set visit, click on the links below:

 

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