Nadia PymWasp

Raised from birth in the captivity of the Red Room, the young girl known as Nadia was trained to become an assassin. However, Nadia’s natural aptitude for science inspired her captors to reveal that she was the long-lost daughter of Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man and a founding member of the Avengers. Inspired by Pym’s example, Nadia escaped from the Red Room and adopted the heroic identity of her stepmother, Janet Van Dyne. Now an Avenger, a Champion, and the founder of G.I.R.L., Nadia has become the Unstoppable Wasp.

Long Lost Wasp

Years before he became a Super Hero, Hank Pym fell in love with Maria Trovaya, the daughter of renowned geneticist, Dr. Janos Trovaya. Following the suspicious death of her father, Maria married Hank and they went on a honeymoon to start a new chapter in their lives. Unfortunately, Maria was soon kidnapped by enemy agents and Hank was told she had been killed. In reality, Maria lived long enough to give birth to their daughter, whom she named Nadia.

As a child, Nadia was indoctrinated into the Red Room, a Soviet training program for assassins. While she was trained to become a killer, Nadia’s talents and intellect were deemed to be more suited for the Red Room’s Science Class, which was overseen by the enigmatic cyborg known as Mother. Nadia excelled in her new calling, and soon learned who her parents were. The Red Room shared that knowledge with Nadia in the hope that she could recreate Hank’s research. But discovering her link to Pym gave Nadia the inspiration to find a way out of the Red Room’s clutches. Her chance finally came when she was given a Pym Particle to study. Nadia was soon able to use it to shrink herself and escape from the facility.

Nadia traveled to America to meet Hank, only to discover he had recently been declared dead after an encounter with his murderous creation, Ultron. Nadia subsequently used her newfound shrinking ability to break into Hank’s abandoned laboratory to learn more about her father. She used the materials he left behind to create a costume and became the new Wasp. The original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne, was still active as a heroine; but she graciously shared the identity with Nadia and embraced her as a stepdaughter.
 

More Than an Insect’s Intellect

Although Nadia is an extremely formidable hand-to-hand fighter, her greatest asset is her genius level intellect. She uses a black market Pym Particle to give herself the ability to grow and shrink at will, and later refines her abilities to include the bioelectric blasts utilized by the first Wasp. Additionally, Nadia crafts the Bio-Synthetic Wings, which she installs in her costume. Nadia also demonstrates the ability to increase the mass and density of her helmet.

Nadia is surprisingly empathetic toward potential adversaries, and she shows a willingness to talk instead of senselessly fighting. Nadia also has an innate ability to befriend other people. Through sheer force of personality, Nadia brings together a new team of young female geniuses who have been overlooked by the rest of the world.
 

Cruel Competitors

Mother, the leader of the Red Room’s Science Class, is personally responsible for Nadia’s instruction as a scientist. She is extremely ruthless in her attempts to bring Nadia back into the fold. Mother claims to have taken control of the Red Room’s remaining operations and assets, but her cybernetic parts are badly damaged during her last encounter with Nadia. However, Nadia leaves Mother alive and even thanks her before leaving her behind.

Nadia’s career as a heroine has been brief, but she has already gone up against evil super scientist, Monica Rappaccini, as well as low-level threats like Whirlwind and the Beetle (Janice Lincoln). Nadia is also instrumental in defeating Kang and the Scarlet Centurion during their recent battle with the Avengers.
 

Pym’s Partners

The original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne, is Nadia’s most loyal supporter. Although not related by blood, the two Wasps have a strong mother and daughter connection. Nadia even claims the Van Dyne last name as her own, with the full blessing of Janet. The Avengers’ long-time butler, Edwin Jarvis, also becomes a parental figure for Nadia and forms a close emotional bond with her.

Inside the Red Room, the young woman named Ying was Nadia’s only true friend. They reunite years later when Ying is assigned to retrieve Nadia. Instead, Nadia convinces Ying to join G.I.R.L. (Geniuses In action Research Labs) alongside her new friends, Lexi and Tai Miranda, Shay Smith, and Priya Aggarwal. Bobbi Morse AKA Mockingbird signs on to be a G.I.R.L. mentor after Nadia reawakened Bobbi’s desire to pursue scientific research. Nadia even recruits former villains, Poundcakes and Letha, to act as G.I.R.L.’s bodyguards and protectors.

Matt Murdock uses his legal expertise to help Nadia gain U.S. citizenship, and he also protects G.I.R.L. from Red Room agents as Daredevil. Nadia also demonstrates a fondness for the reformed Doctor Doom, who seems to return her affection and mutual admiration. Additionally, Nadia is closely linked to the Avengers and the Champions as a member of both teams.

Following Her Father’s Footsteps

Shortly after her marriage to Hank Pym, Maria Trovaya Pym convinced her new husband to take a trip to her native Hungary for their honeymoon. Their union proved to be short-lived, when Maria was kidnapped and Hank was injured during the attack. Hank’s efforts to find Maria proved to be in vain when he was informed of her death. Heartbroken, Hank never discovered that Maria was pregnant with their child. For months, Maria’s captors kept her alive until she gave birth to her daughter, Nadia. Maria died soon after, and Nadia was sent to the Red Room to be trained as an assassin.

Despite the relentlessly harsh training and environment, Nadia found a friend and kindred spirit in Ying, another student of the Red Room. When their bond was discovered, Nadia and Ying were separated by their instructors. Although Nadia sought to impress her superiors and convince them to return Ying, her hopes were dashed.

Although she had been raised to be a killer, Nadia’s natural intelligence convinced Mother and other members of the Science Class that she had inherited her father’s intellect. Nadia’s curriculum was shifted, and her scientific training took precedence. Mother believed Nadia held the key to unlocking her father’s unrivaled work with Pym Particles. While that theory turned out to be true, the revelation of her true parents unlocked a deeper desire within Nadia. Once armed with the knowledge that Hank Pym was her father, Nadia dreamed about the day she could follow in his footsteps as a Super Hero.

Nadia’s opportunity came when the Red Room obtained a black market sample of a Pym Particle. As predicted, Nadia was able to decipher its secrets and use it to gain the ability to shrink and grow at will. But instead of using that knowledge in the service of the Red Room, Nadia made her escape and traveled to America in search of her father.

Once she arrived, Nadia was devastated to learn that Hank had perished during an encounter with Ultron. The truth about Hank’s merger with Ultron had been kept secret by the Avengers, and Nadia believed she had missed her chance to meet her only surviving parent. To forge a connection with her father and learn more about him, Nadia broke into one of Hank’s labs and began studying his remaining experiments. Using parts from Hank’s discarded costumes, Nadia created her own Wasp outfit and adopted the heroic identity of her stepmother, Janet Van Dyne.

Eager to find her place as a heroine, Nadia introduced herself to the Avengers in full costume as the all-new Wasp.

Although the Avengers and their butler, Edwin Jarvis, were initially suspicious of her, Nadia proved her worth when she saved the Vision’s life and explained who she was. Jarvis subsequently introduced Nadia to Janet, and they quickly bonded with each other. Janet even saved Nadia from agents of W.H.I.S.P.E.R. who attempted to bring Nadia back to Russia.

During the second Super Hero Civil War, Nadia was convinced that her super science skills could end the conflict between the heroes if she found a way to improve the accuracy of Ulysses’ visions of the future. Janet followed Nadia to her subatomic lab and brought her back after Nadia’s experiment spectacularly failed. Janet realized that Nadia’s world view was somewhat out of touch with reality, but she admired Nadia’s drive. She also resolved to keep Nadia ignorant about Hank’s dark side and his true fate.

After the Civil War ended, Nadia formally joined the Avengers and participated in a devastating war with Kang that nearly erased her teammates from history. Jarvis and Janet tried to get Nadia to focus on gaining her U.S. citizenship, but a random encounter with Mockingbird made the young heroine realize that female geniuses with the capacity to change the world had been consistently overlooked by their male counterparts. Nadia resolved to change that by founding G.I.R.L.

Nadia quickly located and recruited Priya Aggarwal and Shay Smith as well as Lexi and Tai Miranda. Nadia was also surprised by the return of Ying, before learning Mother had sent her friend to bring Nadia back to the Red Room. Ying actually managed to incapacitate Nadia, but Jarvis convinced her that returning Nadia to captivity would kill her. Ying released her friend and revealed that Mother had implanted an explosive device in her skull that would detonate if she failed to return with Nadia.

Unwilling to let her friend die, Nadia blew off her immigration hearing and assembled G.I.R.L. to save Ying’s life. Mother saw this as an opportunity to blackmail Nadia into returning, while planning to kidnap Ying and the rest of the young women for a resurgent Red Room. However, the newly formed G.I.R.L. rose to the challenge and saved Ying’s life and Nadia defeated Mother. But in the immediate aftermath, Ying collapsed and appeared to be near death.

Distraught, Nadia lashed out and struck Janet when she tried to calm her down. Nadia also despaired when the Red Room’s attack appeared to doom G.I.R.L. before it fully got off the ground. Janet caught up to Nadia and comforted the young woman before they united against Whirlwind and the Beetle’s attempt to kidnap Ying. During the battle, Ying awoke and convincingly threatened to kill Whirlwind before he and Beetle were arrested.

Janet took both Nadia and Ying home with her, while also taking steps to keep G.I.R.L. alive on a much grander scale. Nadia was overjoyed to discover Janet had kept her team together and given them access to one of Hank’s previous labs. Nadia was also touched when she witnessed rare footage of her parents together and realized how much she looked like Maria. However, that joy turned to despair when Nadia overheard an offhand remark about Hank striking Janet when they were married.

Nadia’s perception of her father was shattered, but Janet calmly explained that Hank was not evil despite doing an evil thing. Janet added that no one could possibly live up the hero worship that Nadia had for Hank, not even Janet herself. For the first time, Janet and Nadia openly expressed their love for each other. When Nadia finally won her U.S. citizenship, she chose Van Dyne as her legal last name, which strengthened their mother-daughter bond.

During the clash between the Grandmaster and the Challenger, Jarvis was gravely injured while saving a child. Nadia refused to leave Jarvis’ side even when the fate of the world was at stake. With help from Beast, Nadia was able to save Jarvis’ life from a virulent pathogen. When the Challenger went berserk, Nadia and Janet fought side-by-side in the final battle. The Avengers emerged victorious, and Nadia managed to convince Jarvis that he was still needed by the team.

Following the return of the founding Avengers, Nadia joined her friends on the Champions alongside Ironheart (Riri Williams), another new recruit for the team.