Writer Jeremy Whitley has taken the ‘Unstoppable Wasp’ on a fascinating journey in the first four issues of her stand alone title and now in the fifth we’ll be seeing her returning to the Red Room. For those who haven’t been following the adventures of Nadia Pym, Hank’s daughter with another mother was kidnapped at an early age and taken to the Red Room for indoctrination into the world of espionage. Somehow, it didn’t stick. Likely due to her heightened intelligence she has a positive outlook on life that can’t be diminished.
Only, her old captors aren’t done with her quite yet and still want her back. The upcoming arc won’t just deal with the Red Room trying to take her back but also how it changed our outlook on life and will set the stage for when it means for Nadia going forward.
One crucial fact about the character though is that she isn’t as cold-hearted as Natasha or other assassins that we’ve seen and Whitley extrapolates on his reasoning behind that:
Well, I think part of it has to do with the fact that Nadia never actually functioned as an assassin. While she went through training, they pulled her to join the Science Class before she actually had to kill anyone. Beyond that, I think some of it is just a natural optimism. Nadia sees things differently. It’s part of what makes her innovative in science. Rather than seeing the time that she has lost and feeling angry about it, Nadia sees the potential to do big things now.
One thing that this book has always pushed was women pursuing STEM fields, and they also help foster this idea in the interviews done in each issue. With the Red Room forcing her into these sciences how did that impact her?
We talk a bit in the book about the lack of women in many STEM fields in the real world. Studies have shown that a lot of that has to do with the way we discourage girls from pursuing these field either actively or passively. On the other hand, people have told—even forced—Nadia to pursue these fields. She knows she can do amazing things. She has had to do it to survive. As a result, Nadia has a superb sense of confidence and self-esteem. She knows her value and intelligence. The means were pretty awful, but at this point, she doesn’t need anyone to validate her.
While she never had to perform as an assassin, she did get the training. This will be something we see more of as well which should lead to some fun action sequences:
I think her knowledge of her worth is certainly one thing. I think her desire to meet and connect with people the way she does has a lot to do with not having had the opportunity to forge those relationships in the Red Room. And, as readers will find out in issue #4 this week, some aspects of her assassination training are harder to kick than others, especially when she gets pushed too far.
We’ve seen Nadia go pretty far so far in the first few issues of this series. She is working to become a superhero. She has started G.I.R.L. She has yet to find a way to become a citizen, so she doesn’t get deported. The first of these two might be directly related to her years spent in the Red Room and the last, while not hinted at by Whitley, might be as well:
To some extent. She obviously wants to make the most of her time now that she finds herself free in the world, and she considers acting as a superhero part of her answer to that. The fact that all the people she looks up to are superheroes—her father [Hank Pym], Janet [Van Dyne, the original Wasp], Bobbi Morse) has a lot to do with that decision as well.
As for G.I.R.L., I think her time in the Red Room showed her what’s possible and that there are tons of super-intelligent girls out there. Her push to do it comes from both her need for human connection and her need to make up for the time she has lost thanks to the Red Room. She knows that by doing this, she can make an impact both on the world and on the lives of the other girls in G.I.R.L.
While one could easy think of her as a distracted genius which is why her papers haven’t been put in order quite yet, I feel that this will be related to either the Red Room or her past in some other aspect. Only time will tell!
Are you looking forward to Nadia going up against the Red Room? Do you feel that we’ll be seeing Natasha making an appearance soon as she has recently been going up against shades from her past? Share your thoughts below True Believers!
‘Unstoppable Wasp’ #5 will be available in comic shops everywhere on May 3rd, 2017!
Source: Marvel
Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!
