The Mighty Avengers Meet the Masters of Evil!

This is reprinted from Avengers #6

Stings

The Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) heads to the city for some time alone. She has to or else she will go crazy due to the lack of recognition she gets from her fellow Avengers. The fact that the team others her for being the only female on the team makes her want to scream. In fact, she pulls over on the side of the road to do just that.[1]

Janet’s thoughts are interrupted when a speeding truck speeds off the highway and slams into a tree. She quickly rushes to help the driver only to have a gun pointed to her head by the passenger, who was unharmed in the crash.

These people are Chris and Laura, who were fleeing the police after robbing a bank. Despite the danger posed by Laura, Janet says they need to get Chris to the hospital. However, Laura refuses as this would get him arrested and orders Janet to load him into her car instead. She takes Janet as a hostage, making her drive them someplace to hide. As they drive, Laura threatens her not to try anything. Van Dyne tries to relate with her in an effort to convince her to turn herself in so Chris can get to the police. Laura doesn’t fall for it and notes that Janet is driving a fancy car and assumes that she is incredibly wealthy.

Janet waits for her opportunity to act when Laura pauses to pop a pill to feed her addiction. While her gun is lowered, Janet shrinks to Wasp size just as they are coming up on a police roadblock. She then knocks Laura out with a wasp sting. She then flies into Chris’ mouth down into his stomach. There she uses her sting to cauterize his wound from the inside.

By the time she flies out again, Laura has recovered and is ordered to put down her weapon by the cops. When she refuses, they shoot her dead. This devastates Janet, but rather than reveal herself as the Wasp, she climbs into the trunk and returns to normal size for the police to find. After giving a statement, she is allowed to leave.

Traumatized by her experience, Janet returns home and asks her boyfriend Hank to hug her and she is relieved to be back home.

Recurring Characters

Wasp, Giant-Man

Continuity Notes

1. The flashback we see here shows the Hulk among the Avengers. This is impossible since Captain America is also present and Iron Man is wearing the riveted helmet version of his model 2 armor. Cap joined the Avengers in Avengers #4 and Iron Man started wearing this armor and helmet combo starting in Tales of Suspense #54. Both of these changes occurred after the Hulk left the team in Avengers #2. That said, we could assume that this is fantasy based on her frustrations that feature every Avenger at the time this story is set rather than a specific memory.