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“Okay, that’s it. I’m officially done with the Marvel movies.”
‘Uh huh.”
“I mean it. I just don’t care anymore.”
‘Uh huh.”
“I mean, I’ll probably watch Infinity War 2.”
‘Uh huh.”
“And any new Thors.”
‘Uh huh.”
“And Black Panther 2, definitely.”
‘Uh huh.”
“Oh, and I’ll probably check out Captain Marvel.”
‘Uh huh.”
“But other than that, I am DONE.”
“Yikes. Careful hon, going cold turkey is dangerous.”
“Ugh. Curse your sexy irresistible snark and flawless reliability as a narrator.”
Yes, the grim spectre of Marvel Fatigue has reared its skeletal head in the Mouse household, rattling its chains and wailing about lacklustre villains and nondescript movie scores. And while this malignant spirit has claimed my beloved spouse I, thankfully, remain immune.
Or so I thought.
Coming up to this particular review I experienced, for this first time in this series, something in the outer boroughs of dread. The first Ant-Man, was fine but only fine and the closer the time to review Ant-Man and the Wasp crept the more I realised that I just didn’t care and would much rather skip ahead to whatever reader request I should have done like two years ago (I’m trying guys, I’m trying).
So, because I have little to nothing interesting to say about the movie, how ‘bout some comic history? You know you love it.
Janet Van Dyne aka The Wasp was the second major female superhero created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in the early sixties, coming a few years after Sue Storm and a few months before Jean Grey and the Scarlet Witch. And she was, much like her sisters, originally a bit crap. To put it bluntly, the superheroines of this era were drippier than a melting ice-cream who just stepped out of the shower to answer the phone.
Pictured: The time Stan Lee invented millennials.
Jan was first introduced in the pages of Tales to Astonish as the daughter of Vernon Van Dyne, a scientist who once worked with Hank Pym, the world’s Most Generic Man. When Vernon is killed, Jan comes to Hank looking for help and he’s all:
- I’m Ant-Man.
- I could make you an Ant-Woman. Would you like that Jan? Would you like to be my Ant-Woman?
- Vernon would totally have wanted us to bone.
Hank gives her shrinking powers, making her a god among mortals, as well as some nifty little wings and energy blasts and they fight crime as Ant-Man and the Wasp. They also became founding members of the Avengers, with Jan actually being the one who comes with the name for the team. Originally depicted as shallow and flighty the character has been deepened and expanded on by various writers over the years into one of the most respected superheroes in the Marvel universe.
She’s also the only one of the founding Avengers to never have her own solo series. For some reason.
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