One of the big questions surrounding Marvel's Ant-Man from the very beginning has been whether it would feature Janet Van Dyne aka The Wasp, wife to Henry Pym (Michael Douglas) and a founding Avenger in the comics. She was rumored to appear in The Avengers but was eventually written out for unknown reasons. For the most part, Marvel has kept any news on The Wasp under a veil of secrecy, but that's no longer the case. Marvel's Kevin Feige revealed to numerous outlets during a set visit that Wasp does indeed have a small but revealing role in the film. Here's how Feige puts it...
“It factors in, in a number of spoiler-ish ways, but we will see Janet Van Dyne in action in this film. And part of sort of what happened to her. And then we will understand why that is the reason that he doesn’t want his daughter to follow in those footsteps. One of the reasons why he’s always so upset about superheroes in general, dismissive of them in general and also a reason why he doesn’t want her to put on the suit."
That fills in the blanks on something we'd previously known about Pym, that he holds some kind of resentment towards SHIELD and superheroes in general. There's also a significant strain on the relationship between Pym and his daughter, Hope (Evaneline Lilly), who may have decided to take her mother's last name for a reason. One can assume that something happened to Janet that he blames superheroes for, while Hope blames him. Is it that she was killed? Or, and this would be an interesting possibility, maybe Janet was shrunk down and sent to the Microverse or someplace like that? It would open up the door for her to eventually return. In fact, Feige says her face is hidden by a helmet so presumably they could cast a name actress for the role later.So we may not see much of Wasp but her presence will be felt in a major way. She's pretty much the reason for Pym turning to a thief like Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) to steal the Ant-Man armor....
"Another very logical question in the movie is ‘Why are you hiring this ex-con to put on your suit and do this?’ The answer is because he has abilities in cracking security networks and in pulling off heists that nobody else has, which is really why he has to do it, but Hope is infinitely more capable of actually being a superhero in the beginning of this film, and we learn sort of, that’s ultimately when Hank reveals for the first time, to the audience and even the first time to Hope, what actually happened in the past, and why he’s so nervous about putting on that suit."
Don't be surprised if Hope Van Dyne has taken on the Wasp mantle by the time the movie is over. Ant-Man hits theaters on July 17th.
