The Wasp is one of those heroes that people like to poke fun at. After all, what's so threatening about someone who can shrink down and flit around like an insect? Ultimately, those people learn to eat their words, as the Wasp has proven herself a formidable and elusive combatant worthy to be on the Avengers or any other superhero team, and the same can be said for her successors. From Janet van Dyne to Nadia Pym, it doesn't pay to get on the wrong side of a Wasp. But the deadliest "hero" to take the name was Petra Laskov, the former Insect Queen, now known as the Red Wasp, who used her shrinking powers to become a deadly bullet.
In the Ultimate Universe - an alternate dimension used to tell modern stories free of Marvel's extensive continuity - Janet van Dyne was instrumental in defeating the Liberators, a team of international villains formed to prevent the overreach of American heroes. Syrian scientist Petra Laskov was part of the group, seemingly killed when the Wasp used the Giant-Man formula and crushed her underfoot.
Following the events of Ultimatum, in which Janet lost her life, Ultimate Comics: Avengers by Mark Millar and Carlos Pacheco introduced the Red Wasp as Janet's secret SHIELD replacement. When Hilary Clinton is threatened in Israel, the Red Wasp literally uses her size to her advantage as she takes out a group of assassins. With her costume and powers making her like a living bullet, she easily kills three terrorists by zipping in and out of their heads. She takes a brief moment to reveal to the last criminal standing that she is the former Insect Queen, rebuilt and apparently reprogrammed by Stark Solutions for SHIELD's counter-terrorism program, before using her Wasp Sting to kill him.
Ultimates co-creator Mark Millar plays on the classic comic book trope that you can't assume death if you never see a body, and takes it one step further in his return to the Ultimate universe. When the Insect Queen, easily one of the Liberators' weakest links, was last seen getting stomped by the Wasp in Ultimates 2, she was dead enough for SHIELD to steal her away to be repurposed. Using Tony Stark's brother Gregory, a cynical and amoral genius, they reformat Insect Queen to have powers and abilities similar to Janet Van Dyne but include an obedience chip to keep the former terrorist in line. Her outfit is even a parody of the Wasp's original mainstream costume, giving deadly purpose to the conical hat.
Petra is an interesting iteration of the Wasp because she's perhaps the most literal example of Millar's running theme (in both The Ultimates and much of his other work) of super-humans as potential weapons - even part of the military industrial complex. A superhuman who becomes a villain to try and curb America's policing of other countries, she's badly injured and then forced to fight for the very people she opposed, going from someone who used their powers to fight for what they believe in (however flawed) to someone who must use their body to kill people whose goals they admire. While working with the Avengers eventually gives Petra the chance for closure with the villainous Red Skull, she's one of the most viciously satirical heroes to be found in Marvel comics, offering readers a new version of the Wasp opposed to superheroes in every possible sense.