This month, 46 years ago, The Second Lady of Marvel made her debut. The Wasp, aka Janet Van Dyne, made her first appearance in Tales To Astonish #44. She started out as the love interest to Dr. Henry Pym, The Astonishing Ant-man. When an alien monster killed her father, Vernon Van Dyne, she begged Pym (who was the elder Van Dyne's assistant) to inject her with the "Pym Particles", the substance he invented that gave him his powers to shrink. He agreed and she now had the ability to shrink, grow wings, and fire blasts of energy she called her "Wasp's Sting". Together they defeated the alien and started their career of adventure.
The Wasp (along with Ant-man) became founding members of Marvel's premiere super-team, The Mighty Avengers. Over the years Van Dyne would be one of the Avengers main heroes and on a few occasions be the team's leader and chairwoman.
She also has the distinction of having the largest collections of costumes of any super-hero. Being a woman of great means, Janet has designed many costumes for herself and her outfit could change from issue to issue (especially when drawn by artist George Perez).
Above Perez draws The Wasp in one of her more current outfits. With her is Yellowjacket, one of Henry Pym's later alter-ego's.
The Wasp is one of Marvel's premiere heroes of The Silver Age of Comic Books.
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