Warning: contains spoilers for Darkhold: Wasp #1
Content warning: mentions of domestic violence, abuse
The under the influence of Darkhold, is forced to relive her abusive relationship with Yellowjacket.
The Wasp first appeared in 1963’s Tales to Astonish #44, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Her father, scientist Vernon Van Dyne, accidentally unleashed an alien on Earth, killing him in the process. Janet used Hank Pym’s shrinking technology to help him fight the creature, and she decided to become the Wasp as a result. Later that year, she would become a founding member of the Avengers, even giving the team its name. Wasp would serve as team’s leader as well, longer than anyone other than Captain America. She also continued her romantic relationship with Hank Pym, who began experiencing a mental breakdown. When she tried to confront him in 1981’s Avengers #213 by Jim Shooter and Bob Hall, Pym struck her—a moment that would come to define both characters for the rest of their careers. While both have moved on, and even healed from the incident, it still lingers in fan’s memories and Darkhold: Wasp shows just how much it still defines Wasp. The issue is written by Jordie Bellaire, with art by Claire Roe, colors by Bellaire and letters by Clayton Cowles.
Under the Darkhold’s influence, the from the Avengers, goes to check on him. Just as in the original story, he backhands her. But here, being swayed by Darkhold, she kills him afterwards, stabbing him repeatedly, saying it is time to “spread [her] wings” and that she is “free.”
As mentioned earlier, Wasp was a founding member of the Avengers, as well as a long-serving leader. She was a freedom fighter in the Microverse; she also saved Hank’s long-lost daughter Nadia from the Red Room, inspiring Nadia to take Wasp’s last name. Wasp has proven herself time and again as a leader and a hero, but her relationship with Hank Pym continues to define her, even years after they split. Other heroes come under Darkhold’s sway as well, but they do not see visions such as Wasp’s: Iron Man relives his origin and Blade fights a world overrun by vampires—but Wasp is forced to relive abuse at her lover’s hands.
Blade and Iron Man see twisted visions of themselves as heroes, but Wasp gets no such thing. The issue acknowledges her heroic career but focuses more on her feeling unfulfilled in her marriage to Hank. Any mentions of a heroic career with the Avengers are glossed over, keeping the focus on her domestic situation. When Hank Pym hit his wife the Wasp, it became a defining moment for both, and 30 years later, it still lingers in the Wasp’s memories, overshadowing her heroic accomplishments.
