Ant-Man And The Wasp, the second solo(ish) outing for Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, hits screens this summer - but fans are already a-buzz about the film. The first Ant-Man was another surprise success for Marvel, and was soon followed by the Scott Land's appearance in Captain America: Civil War, where the hero revealed a new power - the ability to grow, not just shrink. Fans are excited to see more of Ant-Man when he returns, but are also getting keen to see more of his new super-teammate: The Wasp.

Played by Evangeline Lilly, Hope van Dyne was a major part of the first Ant-Man, where she was a no-nonsense foil to Rudd's charming thief, frustrated at being kept on the sidelines when she already knew the tech like the back of her hand. Fans were thrilled at the end of the film, when Hope's mother's suit was revealed, along with a promise that Hope herself could step up to become The Wasp.

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The first trailer for Ant-Man And The Wasp has shown that Hope is going to be front and center in the upcoming film, along with some cool tech that Ant-Man doesn't have (wings! blasters!). It seems that Hope is finally getting the credit she deserves as a superhero... but there is one major issue that has been at the forefront of fans' minds since we first saw Lilly suited up earlier this month: why on earth does the Wasp have boob armor?

The Problem With The Wasp's Suit: Boob Armor

There's a lot to love about this new suit, of course: the helmet looks amazing, the wings are perfect, and the colors (while not as bright as those in the comics) suit the style of Ant-Man's suit. However, the problem emerges when considering the Wasp's torso. Fans immediately noticed that the center panel and cups look very much like a certain part of the male anatomy (and once you see it, that giant chest-penis can never be un-seen), but this is only part of the problem. Despite the past decade of superhero movies under Marvel's belt, the women's costumes keep having the same issue (one that has long plagued female superheroes and warriors): Boob Armor.

There is absolutely no practical reason for the Wasp's suit to have two distinct cups on the chest, yet there they are, looking like Hope Van Dyne took some inspiration from early Madonna when creating her suit. Assuming that the suit is a stiffer material in the same vein as Kevlar, neoprene, or any other thick fabric, the most practical design would be similar to a wetsuit or sports bra - that is, flat across the chest. The cups aren't just impractical, but look incredibly uncomfortable; what woman wants her breasts bouncing around in a rigid cup while doing anything athletic? But of course, this suit is not designed to be comfortable or practical, but to make sure that no viewer can forget, even for a second, that the Wasp is a woman.

Isn't This Just Paying Homage To Marvel Comics?

The Wasp's costume Marvel comics

Of course, there is precedent for this kind of costume that plays up the female form. Comic books are notorious for portraying female characters in impractically sexy outfits that often mean our heroes are fighting crime in little more than a swimsuit and a smile. It's not just the costumes, either - female heroes are often drawn in poses that range from the unrealistically sexy to the anatomically impossible.

Yet the original Wasp costume from the comics is actually relatively restrained, in comparison; Wasp hasn't been one of the worst offenders when it comes to the impossibly sexy. She is mostly covered up, and while she is still routinely sexed-up in drawings, she's downright tame compared to many others. So isn't this new on-screen costume simply an accurate adaptation of the comics? Fans are notoriously vocal when it comes to comic accuracy in adaptations, and there's no denying that many artists have drawn Wasp in costumes that draw attention to her breasts.

The issue with this is that adaptations have a responsibility to pay homage to the original works, without carrying over problematic elements. There are plenty of ways to take the original costume from page to screen in a way that is still recognizable, but that doesn't include elements like boob armor that just look silly in real life.

Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie in Thor Ragnarok

The Wasp Isn't The Only One With The Boob-Armor Issue

Of course, Wasp is far from the only big-screen superhero dealing with boob-armor problems. From the tendency to give warriors metal boob-armor, to the superheroes wearing a wide variety of look-at-my-boobs costumes, female superheroes rarely get to wear something that doesn't flaunt their chest at the audience. The results range from simply eye-rollingly pointless to actually dangerous - as plate armor shaped this way not only directs sword-blows straight to the center of the chest, but risk a broken breastbone should the unfortunate woman be shoved into a hard surface chest-first.

Within the Marvel universe, multiple female heroes deal with over-sexed costumes, although it's encouraging to see that not all of them deal with this indignity. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), the first major female hero in the MCU, doesn't have boob armor per se, but does wear her catsuit unzipped to reveal some major cleavage. Any opponent can essentially pull her suit off by yanking the zip down, but instead of keeping it done up to minimize that, Widow spent her early on-screen appearances making sure she looked good in battle. Lady Sif's (Jaimie Alexander) shaped metal breastplate isn't quite as egregious as it could be, but it still curves to emphasize her breasts, while leaving her upper chest and throat bare and exposed. One of Marvel's most recent female heroes, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), initially has a somewhat reasonable black outfit (although one that is still not flat over the chest), but changes into her official Valkyrie armor, which includes gold cups over the breasts.

It seems that the only heroes allowed to have costumes that don't focus on the boobs are those who don't wear costumes at all. Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), who fights crime in jeans and a hoodie, looks like a normal person. Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) also manages to wear street clothes while fighting, and so while they occasionally involve some cleavage, they also look like normal outfits. Marvel clearly recognizes that street clothes don't outline or exaggerate boobs, so why must the majority of their super-costumes be designed to draw focus to the heroes' chests, not their faces?

Hope Van Dyne Wouldn't Take This

Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne in Ant-Man

In some cases, it can be argued that the character themselves are intentionally sexy. Black Widow is known for using her womanly wiles while on the job, and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) has no compunctions about doing the same, so seeing these two in slightly sexed-up costumes makes a degree of sense. However, Hope Van Dyne is certainly not someone that we can imagine wanting a costume that makes her look sexy. In Ant-Man, we saw a Hope that wore workout clothes or classic black suits - a woman who does not tolerate fools, who is capable and independent and who absolutely does not accept being underestimated or talked down to because of her gender. Her reactions to Scott Lang's assumptions that she couldn't win a fight against him are hilarious, and in the trailer for Ant-Man And The Wasp, she is seen saying that had she come with him during Civil War, they wouldn't have been caught. Even her father admits that he gave her tech that he didn't give to Ant-Man, because she's simply more capable than he is.

So if Marvel has established a Wasp who takes no guff, and a father who recognizes how capable she is... why would that father design a costume that includes exaggerated boob armor, and why would Hope consent to wear it? The Hope that we got to know in Ant-Man would have given her father a stern talking to about how female anatomy works, and told him to make her a suit that is flat across the chest. Unless she's packing some extra weaponry in there, a la the Austin Powers Fem-Bots, the eminently practical Hope wouldn't be on board with these boobs. This just doesn't make sense from either a character perspective or a practical one.

There are ways to create costumes that fit and flatter the female form without this kind of cartoonish outlining - and we can only hope that future female heroes in the MCU get to wear them. Thankfully, it does seem that Marvel is moving in this direction, as at least the first shots of Brie Larson on set as Captain Marvel show a suit that (while controversial for other reasons), protects the hero without sexualizing her.

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