The Wasp is a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics' universe, and is a central member of The Avengers. She was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Tales to Astonish #44 (June 1963).

Janet van Dyne was a shallow, self-centered, flighty heiress, daughter of wealthy scientist Vernon van Dyne. During an experiment, however, an alien monster was unleashed and Dr. van Dyne was killed. Her father's associate, Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym, had created a substance called "Pym particles", which allowed the user to grow or shrink in size, and had become the superhero Ant-Man; when Janet's father died, she convinced Pym to help her, and he gave her a supply of "Pym particles" and subjected her to a procedure which granted her the ability to, upon shrinking, grow wings and fire blasts of energy, which she called her "wasp's stings". As Ant-Man and The Wasp, they defeated the monster and sent it to its own dimension, and had several more adventures together.

Soon afterwards, the superhero team called The Avengers formed, and the pair were among its founding members.  Although they took occasional leaves of absence, the two have almost always remained members; during the course, Janet grew as a person, and several years later would be elected leader of the team.  However, her relationship with Pym became rocky, as he suffered a series of mental problems.  Shortly before their wedding, he became amnesiac, and only fully recovered after the wedding.  A few years later, he had a complete breakdown, and became completely paranoid.  During the course of this breakdown, he became overbearing and verbally abusive.  At the nadir of his degeneration, he struck her, and then proceeded to concoct a plan to make himself look good in front of his teammates by staging an attack upon them which only he could win.  This plan backfired and Pym was exposed, disgraced, and expelled from The Avengers, and the couple divorced. She remained with The Avengers despite these hardships, and after Pym's mental state returned to normal, the two became friends again and, some years later, resumed a romantic relationship.

Recently, during the events of Avengers Disassembled she was knocked into a coma by an attack on Avengers Mansion. Hank watched over her as she lay in the hospital, and when she recovered they reconciled. The two have retired from the Avengers in order to pursue a new life together in Oxford.

See Also: Avengers Henry Pym.