One of the most underrated members of The Avengers, The Wasp, manages to put a clever twist on an iconic line from MCU’s version of Iron Man. The Avengers: Beyond series shows the team dealing with the return of The Beyonder, giving a chance to shine to Janet Van Dyne, who proves she deserves to be a member of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
In Avengers Beyond #2 by Derek Landy, Greg Land, and Frank D’Armata, the citizens of New York have become uncharacteristically savage and developed dangerous superpowers. One of them is Janet Van Dyne’s childhood friend, Constance. In her mind-warped state, Constance throws several verbal jabs at the founding Avenger, mostly criticizing the fact that she can’t seem to decide who she wants to be when she does so many things at once: “Who are you, Jan? A superhero? Designer? Socialite? Secret agent?”. Wasp then responds the following, “I’m the wonderfully winsome Wasp, Constance.”
Iron Man’s MCU Line Gets A Whole New Meaning
Whether it’s intentional or not, this exchange echoes a similar one in the first Avengers movie, where Steve Rogers and Tony Stark (who themselves are a bit mind-warped as their emotions are heightened by the presence of the Mind Stone within the Tesseract) argue, with the former asking the latter who he is without the suit. “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist,” Iron Man answers with one of the most memorable and quoted lines from the franchise.
Both Steve and Constance are attempting to attack the core of who their opponents are. The Wasp’s retort feels very much like Iron Man’s except in reverse. In Tony’s case, he’s acknowledging that under the costume, he’s a man who wears many hats, and has many professions to defend the insinuation he’s nothing without the suit. In Janet’s case, the Wasp is defined by all of her “hats” and suits. Being a superhero, designer, and socialite are all parts of Janet’s multi-faceted personality. Constance tries to bring Janet down by suggesting she has some sort of identity crisis, but all these identities are actually part of what defines the Wasp.
While Iron Man defines himself using Tony Stark’s professions and achievements, essentially weaponizing his ego, Janet instead showcases that she can essentially be whoever and whatever she wants without ever losing sight of her persona.. While The Wasp and Iron Man could not be more different as characters, both Avengers had the perfect retort to someone who tried to attack their personalities, showing just how larger-than-life these two heroes are.
Avengers Beyond #2 is available now from Marvel Comics.
