It’s been known for a few months now that a new Wasp was coming to the pages of Marvel Comics. Most fans assumed it would be a version of Evangeline Lily’s character from the Ant-Man movie, Hope Van Dyne, who only existed in the comics as an alternate universe daughter of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, the original Wasp. Corporate synergy and such seemed to demand the new Wasp follow in the movie’s footsteps.
Well, that’s not quite how it worked out. It was revealed by writer Mark Waid — in the pages of this week’s All-New, All-Different Avengers — that the new Wasp is only Hank Pym’s daughter, and therefore the step-daughter of Janet Van Dyne — and not her biological one, like in the movie. This character didn’t come out of nowhere, as it seems she’s the long lost daughter of Hank Pym and his first wife, Maria, who was supposedly kidnapped and killed by enemy agents way back in the day, as addressed in the original ’60s Stan Lee comics.
Apparently, Maria Pym was pregnant at the time of her kidnapping, where she gave birth behind enemy lines. Her child, which she called Nadia, was raised in the Red Room (think Black Widow) and trained as a fighter by none other than the Winter Soldier. So she’s not Hope, but she kind of is — after all, in Russian, the translation for the word “hope” is Nadia.
