COMICS: Rick Remender Explains The Wasp's Role In UNCANNY AVENGERS

The first time I read her was in SECRET WARS, and I remember she was infiltrating and pretending to have a relationship with Magneto. I remember thinking that she was super crafty and that she was playing Erik. SECRET WARS was the first comic I read and as a character I thought what a cool character she was. Wasp was so carefree; she was above everything that was happening. Then moving on past that, there was the Roger Stern era, which I really enjoyed quite a bit when she led the Avengers; a lot of Kurt Busiek’s take on her. I really just feel like it’s more of a gut instinct now that if you’re going to have an Avengers team, that Wasp is the leader. Wasp is the leader of the Avengers in my mind for some reason, even more than Cap, as ridiculous as that is.

There’s something really nice to me in having Wasp and Cap on the team; it shows such a solidarity that they’re really here to give this everything they can, so that when you see Havok and Rogue saving the day, [they’re] next to two of the leaders of the Avengers. When you see Havok being the leader, and Wasp and Cap are taking his orders, that’s something that’s really going to lend credibility to him as someone that the general population really needs to respect, and it maybe helps see mutants in a different light. I think Wasp really lends weight to the fact that this is a big Avengers unit and not just some amalgamation thing. She definitely helps solidify the fact that this is the Avengers.

She’s an Avenger and she’s always in the book; that’s her book since AVENGERS #1, even more than Hank Pym. It was always Wasp that felt more in control of things. I’ve also got big plans for her. I was talking to Kurt Busiek about this and one idea that came up is that she’s a very natural fit to help with the PR motive that this team is working under. She’s got plans, she’s got ideas, she’s actually going to market a line of clothing based on mutants. Their parents fear you, but the kids will think you’re cool. [Laughs] She’s like, “you guys are edgy and dangerous, and people like that, so if you want to make something more widely accepted, make it cool.” It’s a little manipulative, but at the same time, we’re going to see that play out in the Marvel Universe a little bit.

You’ll get a really clean idea in issues #5, #6 and #7 where she’s going to stand and how her personality jives with the X-Men. The soap opera is really important to me, so a big part of this for me is naturally throwing these characters together and seeing what happens based on their current states of mind. Wasp is back on Earth, having been thought dead for a long time and just gone through hell, so she’s got a very new perspective on life. She’s very optimistic, she’s very bright and cheery, but she’s also not going to waste any time. And that’s the reality of being on a team like this, is that hey, we could really go any minute. We could be killed by Kang in 30 seconds. I like her thirst for life and adventure and romance and optimism, and she’s going to be the one to point at the X-Men and quite frequently say, “god damn you dreary mutants, just cheer the f up.” And I like that, I like that she’s the one sitting around commenting on the drama, and she’s constantly making quips. And she has a big romance coming up as well.