The MCU’s Avengers Just Reversed Phase One’s Wasp Snub

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Marvel's What If...? episode 5, "What If...Zombies?!"

In Marvel's What If...? the Avengers just reversed its Wasp snub from the core Phase 1 team, seeing Hope van Dyne proving herself to be an extremely capable Avenger in some pretty big ways. In episode 5 of What If...?, zombies have overtaken the globe, including many of the Avengers themselves. However, a few remain to keep fighting while searching for a cure, and Hope herself is very determined to restore the world and save those who have been infected. That being said, The Wasp is featured with quite a large role, epically taking out hordes of the undead while proving that she should have been one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes from the get-go.

In the original script for 2012's Avengers before Joss Whedon came onto the project as its director with quite a few rewrites, a version of the Wasp was supposed to be a member of the MCU's original Phase 1 Avengers, falling in line with the first team of Earth's Mightiest Heroes from the comics that consisted of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Ant-Man, and the Wasp herself (War Machine might have been involved with the original MCU phase 1 team as well). However, Ant-Man and the Wasp's inclusion on the team was eventually discarded despite their comics' status as founding Avengers.

That being said, Wasp gets a brand new chance beyond Ant-Man & The Wasp and her brief moments in Avengers: Endgame to prove that she should have been one of the original Avengers from the beginning. Being one of the last surviving heroes, Hope unleashes her impressive skills on the hordes of Marvel zombies attempting to consume her and her fellow survivors, controlling armies of ants to shred the zombies to pieces, using her energy blasts to thin out the herds, and even sacrificing herself so the rest of the surviving Avengers could continue on to find a cure, having grown giant-sized in order to get them through a sea of the undead. As a result, it's pretty clear that Hope van Dyne would have been an impressive member of the core Phase 1 Avengers team.

On a personal level beyond powers, Hope would likely have fit right in with the rest of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, as she was potentially going to fill the female spot on the team before being replaced in favor of Black Widow. That being said, not only did she have great chemistry with heroes such as Spider-Man in episode 5 of What If...? but she also displayed a fierce determination and willingness to set things right, seeking to avenge the sins of the past due to the origins of the zombie virus having come from the Quantum Realm with her infected mother Janet. Hope's death in the episode was incredibly heroic and she held the qualities of a classic Avenger, cementing her worthiness even further.

While the MCU was still successful despite holding Hope back until 2015's Ant-Man, one has to wonder what it would've been like had she been included with the Phase 1 team. Regardless, whether it's Ant-Man & The Wasp, Endgame, or more recently with Marvel's What If...?, The Wasp has certainly proven her worth to be just as formidable and worthy of the Avenger title as any other Marvel hero, especially those from the core Phase 1 team.

More: How Marvel’s Zombie Avengers Still Have Powers

Marvel's What If...? releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.