The Darkhold: Wasp — "King Maker"

[deh_tommy]

Following a stinging personal assessment from Kang, Janet van Dyne’s doubts and frustrations regarding her marriage to fellow Avenger Hank Pym are starting to take a toll on her mental well-being.

Comments

[lordultimus]

The sad thing is this is one of the better portrayals of Hank in recent years.

[blueprintstyles]

Why does Marvel have to keep demonizing Hank Pym? The one Avenger that's identified with a real mental illness and they keep turning him into a monster. it's not like Tony keeps falling off the wagon and driving drunk.

[bravest_spinja]

Janet was never a "make him a sandwich type" was she? Like, between her wealth, and "superhero as a career woman" thing (major sources of Hank's insecurity, really) I wouldn't be surprised if she was pretty unfamiliar with her way around the kitchen. Is she roleplaying as therapy?

[lilacsigil]

I don't think a sandwich counts as knowing her way around a kitchen, though! I do think this is meant to be roleplaying, trying out "marriage" stuff.

[jgraygaming]

Jan is the only founding Avenger to never headline her own book until this one. And somehow it is STILL more about Hank than it is about her.

She’s a superhero, world famous fashion designer, and one of the most effective leaders the Avengers have ever had. Yet, somehow she’s trapped on this one moment in the same way most writers can’t seem to write Barbara Gordon without adding in images of the Joker in a tropical shirt with a camera.

Both deserve better.

[starwolf_oakley]

Hank hitting Janet, despite the unusual circumstances (she doesn't want him to use a remote-control robot to attack the Avengers during a court-martial), is seen as "every day evil."

As long_silence posted:
There's cartoonishly evil stuff like cloning Thor and then there's actions that could and do happen every day in real life.

It's like how fans hate Umbridge more than Voldemort. No-nose has done objectively worse things but Umbridge's abuse resonates more because it's relatable.

https://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/7135577.html?thread=187724121#cmt187724121

[doctor_spanky]

Wow she's really never had a book? That's like a huge waste, especially since there are so many opportunities to make supporting characters / villains for her by pulling from the insect world. There's like a whole Microverse that's barely been written about.

I always kind of felt the same way about the Falcon - he got this great moment in the sun when he was Captain America, but now it's like he's been discarded and is an afterthought of a supporting character again. Why don't authors do stuff like pit him against the Vulture, or the Owl, or invent some totally new thematically relevant villains for him to fight? Investing some effort in giving these underutilized characters their own rogues galleries is a great way to build them up as their own properties.

[deh_tommy]

To be fair, these are messed up alternate reality scenarios, not strictly meant to represent the mainline universe. Previous issues before this had Blade kill humans and vampires indiscriminately and Tony Stark becoming a Cyberman.

[jlbarnett]

the thing is the way the art is depicted originally it could have easily been accidental, with the big issue that he was in the middle of a breakdown and didn't care

[tinygaylaura]

Did you read Unstoppable Wasp?

It was a good book and Jan was part of the cast and handled well there. The stuff with Hank was referenced but it didn't define her entire role in the story

[tinygaylaura]

I feel like I know the depressing answer why an industry overwhelmingly dominated by white men were only interested in briefly spotlighting a black man to grab some some headlines and then shuffled him off to sidekick/comic book limbo status as soon as that was done with :(

[tinygaylaura]

They've literally turned him into a monster at this point since he's a weird zombie Cyberman thing fused with Ultron

[jgraygaming]

Unstoppable Wasp was delightful and I adore Nadia, but that wasn't Jan's book. She absolutely played an important role and I love her being "mom" but it isn't the same.

[deh_tommy]

Nah, he died that day and they’ve been driving that nail in every subsequent time he shows up.

[thanekos]

" Well, that escalated. " - Kang, watching from outside time, probably

[jlbarnett]

well part of the key there is she's one of the most effective leaders of the Avengers. She's a team character

[shakalooloo]

Only because no-one ever took a chance to give her her own title. It would be one thing if she had a book that never sold and got cancelled, but no-one has even TRIED to let her fly solo.

Carol Danvers keeps getting relaunched, but Marvel has never given poor Jan a fraction of those opportunities.

[tinygaylaura]

"You can't just go piloting peoples corpses around"

Warlock: Self wishes that selffriends had informed self of this before now

[tinygaylaura]

It was great when it all began

She was a regular Hank Pym fan

But it was over when he had the plan

To start a-working on a robot man

[shakalooloo]

Spider-Man got forgiven for smacking MJ in a similar circumstance. If Marvel kept bringing that up as much as they do Hank's abuse, would that be the case?

[tinygaylaura]

I do agree her time as leader of the Avengers was basically the best leadership the team ever had

Steve is good at being INSPIRING but he's not really a leader of a team

And Iron Man is...well, he's a rich white man who became a worse person after he STOPPED drinking so that says it all really...

[donnblake]

Kang commenting on people's marriages is oddly amusing to me.

Not so much because his great love is generally either frozen in time or actively leading armed forces against him.

But because I one hundred percent conclude that he's read torrid romance novels starring the Avengers written hundreds of years after their deaths.

[cygnia]

The ones written by Pyro, no doubt.

[deh_tommy]

In some respects that was kind of worse there because she was pregnant and he sent her flying into a wall, then ran off while she was hurt and calling his name.

In MARVEL’s defence, though, (a)that occurred in the Clone Saga and only the bravest (or most foolish) dares to open that can of worms, and (b)that was likely undone with One More Day because that happened when Peter and MJ were still married.

[mastermahan]

Okay, that's not bad for a first act. Where does it go from here?

Oh wait, this is a climax. It's a what if story where the deviation is the ending. Which misses the entire point.