While the character itself is fine, the Wasp has only been playing second fiddle to Scott Lang ever since Ant-Man. What’s interesting is, the character was supposed to make her debut in the very first Avengers movie, and she was even written as the lead.
As per the book The Story of Marvel Studios (via /Film), the Wasp was written into The Avengers when it was a possibility that Scarlett Johansson wouldn’t be able to reprise the role of Black Widow due to scheduling conflicts. Producer Jeremy Latcham explains:
“It was all about The Wasp. He wanted to cast Zooey Deschanel. [Wasp] was the funniest character in the whole movie, and well-written.”
Avengers director (and now cancelled) Joss Whedon also said about the Wasp:
The Wasp happened because there was a short period where it looked like we weren’t going to be able to get Scarlett [due to scheduling conflicts], so I was panicking. I thought, ‘Hold on, we could do The Wasp.’ Then I fell in love with that. But we did get Scarlett, and then I realized I had written this entire movie about The Wasp. Oops. I overcompensated there.”
There isn’t any reveal on whether the Wasp would have been Janet or Hope, but I think Deschanel would have been a great choice to play the character, especially with how big she was getting around the 2010s. For now, Deschanel has sort of focused more on her TV career, but I have no doubt that she would have been a fantastic Avenger.
For now, Marvel Studios is setting up for the release of Eternals on Nov. 5. The Wasp returns in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which comes out July 28, 2023.
