Super Serious 616 Presents: WHAT IF... Marvel was real
What If Marvel was Real?
Episode 61: Wasp-woman and The Ant (Tales to Astonish #44) --June 1963
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In this episode:

In this episode, Mike and Ed discuss a different type of alien invasion - an intergalactic monster! What happened, and how was the invasion repelled? Can we believe Ant-Man’s claims? Why weren’t the Fantastic Four involved? And what are the implications of a second super-small superhero - does this mean that Ant-Man’s powers can be duplicated?

Tales to Astonish (1959) #44 | Comic Issues | Marvel

In this issue:

Hank Pym recounts, to himself, how his wife was kidnapped and killed. He swears revenge, and is actually inspired to become Ant-Man by a comment that she made to him about ants generally. After reminiscing about this terrible chapter in his life, Pym meets Dr. Vernon Van Dyne, a scientist, and his lovely daughter Janet. They get to talking about their research, Van Dyne about a gamma ray beam that can pierce space and detect signals from other planets; Pym about molecular cell transition; and depart. Shortly thereafter, Van Dyne, while conducting his research, is visited by a monster from the planet Kosmos. The monster escaped his prison on his home planet by following Van Dyne’s gamma ray. The monster kills Van Dyne. Janet discovers the crime and decides to call Pym for help. Pym changes into his Ant-Man persona and inspects the crime scene. He returns to his lab, and Janet meets him there. Pym reveals his secret identity to her, and tells Janet that he can share his shrinking technology with her so that she can become the Wasp and help bring her father’s killer to justice. Janet agrees, and so begins her life of fighting crime. Together, Ant-Man and the Wasp join the battle against the monster from Kosmos, who is still on Earth and battling the military. They defeat the monster by shooting him with a special bullet.

Assumed before the next episode:

People are wondering about this second super-small superhero.

This episode takes place:

After Kosmos has been defeated.