Though it seems to take its roots in a now classic Avengers storyline - the one in which Hank Pym slaps his wife and is subsequently expelled from the Avengers, apparently not under any kind of Skrull influence after all(TM) - it was a story less than a year old when What If? #35 came out. A bit like the equivalent of Civil War where Iron Man slaps Captain America's soul, but without the Internet reaction. Unlike other attempts to cash in on then-recent storylines, we still talk about the Pym slap to this day. And while it does not reappear in this issue per se, it stayed current! But what if it had gone another way?What If Vol.1 #35 (October 1982)
Based on: Avengers #212
The true history: Before leaving to fight the Elfqueen, an unstable Hank Pym (Yellowjacket) has an embarrassing row with his wife Janet (the Wasp). In Washington D.C., the Avengers fight the Elfqueen and just as Captain America negotiates a cease-fire, Hank shoots her in the back. Perhaps thanks to Cap shouting "Yellowjacket, no!!!", she manages to rebound from the sting and throws a truck at Pym's head. The Wasp shames Pym by saving his ass from the truck, and he is subsequently thrown out of the Avengers for ungentlemanly conduct. Divorce proceedings ensue.
Turning point: What if the Wasp has stopped at one of those delicious airport shops?
Story type: Phoenix Forced
Watcher's mood: Youthful.
Altered history: In this other reality, Janet is so humiliated by Hank's latest outburst, that she hesitates at the airport. Should she just go home now rather than the Drama with a capital D rearing its ugly head on the Capitol steps? She probably thinks "meh, I'm just the Wasp, they'll be fine without me." But of course, she rejoins the team at the last minute, or really, one minute too late. She's unable to save Hank's bee-hind (get it?) from a most undignified end.
The funeral is poorly attended. Two surprising things here: 1) The Avengers are rather unforgiving jerks, dude just died on the job. And 2) Hank Pym's rather more religious than I would have thought.
That's when the Wasp goes off the rails, blaming Cap for saving the Elfqueen from Hank and causing his death. It doesn't help that Cap's going around telling journalists that he'd stopped hostilities and that Pym back stabbed an opponent who was powering down. The Wasp is so distraught that she shrugs off a chance to go shopping with Tigra and takes the vigilante route, going into dangerous neighborhoods looking for fresh meet.
As you know, you can't go to the dark side in comics without changing your name. So meet the Black Wasp!
She'll sting a man when he's down. Looks like murder, but no, the Avengers later confirm that it's just assault and battery. This leads to a tense Avengers meeting, though this team doesn't like confrontation. There's a lot of intense thinking, but they rarely say what they think. Don't wanna rock the boat!
Prophetically, Iron Man is one the Wasp's side, but he doesn't dare saying anything to contradict Golden Boy America. The next mission has the Avengers save people from a burning building. Cap puts himself in harm's way and the Black Wasp looks on with revenge in her eyes as a collapsing wall is about to fall on him. Tigra saves him though and is badly injured.
Janet realizes she's gone off the deep end and how unselfish the other heroes are. She quits the team to put recent events behind her. But you can't quite take the selfishness out of the debutante...
It was too early to tell, at the time, what other impacts losing the Pyms would have on the Marvel Universe. In the Wasp, we ARE talking about the member in longest standing, and an able leader through the Roger Stern years (including the attack on Avengers Mansion by the Masters of Evil). In Hank, we have a key element of the Skrull's secret invasion and the founder of Yet Another Group of Avengers(TM).Books canceled as a result: None. The Avengers brand will go on.
These things happen: Hank Pym was never killed, though the Yellowjacket persona came and went. Pym changes identities like the Wasp changes outfits.
Next week: What if the Fantastic Four Had Not Gained Their Powers?
My guess: But She-Hulk's fine, right? We can still have She-Hulk?
Comments
Secondly, they often had the stench of self-justification about them, as if they were written to answer fan complaints about the original: "See, we had to end our story the way we did, or the world would have died or something such." Pshaw!!
If Aquaman can use the estatutes to rock two Leagues, so can the Pym!
Roger
Tomayto-Tomahto