Marvel’s Ant-man and The Wasp: Quantumania may not be getting universal praise. However, people are generally agreeing over some aspects of the film, and it isn’t just Johnathan Major’s performance as Kang the Conqueror. There’s one character in the cast whose comic book roots go back even further than Kang or Scott Lang’s, and she’s finally getting her MCU due. Janet Van Dyne, who was a founding member of the Avengers in the comics is finally getting the onscreen respect she deserves thanks to the legendary Michelle Pfeiffer.
Without getting spoiler-y, we can say that in Quantumania we really get to see Janet kick some serious ass in a way we’ve never seen before. Although we kinda sorta saw Jan in action as the first version of the Wasp (the character was fully suited up and was played by Hayley Lovitt, not Pfeiffer) in the first Ant-Man film, Quantumania is really our first time to see Janet in honest to goodness action.
It’s about time for a character who not only helped to found Marvel’s greatest super-team but who also served as one of its best chairpersons over the years.
Many fans expressed disappointment that Janet and Hank weren’t part of the team in the first Avengers film, There were a number of logistical choices that led to the MCU favoring Black Widow over Janet and opting to use Scott as the MCU’s primary Ant-Man. Still, many felt that the decisions, however they were arrived at, did little justice to a character who is one of the longest standing Avengers ever even beyond being the first woman on the team. Canonically, Janet has been with the team before Captain America and led the team for five years.
Janet getting her time in the spotlight has been long overdue. Here’s hoping they might even let her suit up again at some point.