BLACK WIDOW
Real Name: Janet "Jan" Van Dyne
Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Reality-93060/Ultraverse) human mutate construct
Occupation: Adventurer
Group Membership: UltraForce (Black Knight
(Alec Swan), Prime, Prototype
(Jimmy Ruiz),
Quicksilver, Thor, Topaz) (all New World,
Reality-93060) (see comments);
formerly Avengers (Black Knight (Alec Swan), Prototype
(Jimmy Ruiz), Quicksilver (Pietro), Thor, Topaz) (Reality-32659)
Affiliations: Nick Fury (Reality-32659)
Enemies: Loki (Reality-32659), Mantra (New World, Reality-93060)
Known Relatives: Giant-Man
(Hank Pym)
(husband, deceased)
Aliases: Wasp (former codename)
Base of Operations: UltraForce Stockade, New
World (Reality-93060);
formerly Avengers Stockade, Arkansas, USA
(Reality-32659)
First Appearance: UltraForce/Avengers#1 (Fall,
1995)
Powers/Abilities: Through concentration, Janet
Van Dyne can alter her physical size by shrinking down to about one
inch in height, manifesting wings for flying when she does so; this is
likely via size-altering Pym Particles contained within some of her
cartridges on her utility belt (or may have permanently infused her
body). The wings self-heal quickly (and can even regrow). Either
through her gauntlets or prolonged storage of natural bioelectric
charge kept active from unresolved anger, she can shoot powerful blasts
from her hands to break through brick walls. Initially happy and
whimsical in nature, personal tragedy turned her demeanor into someone
much more grim and vengeful. Van Dyne is an athletic woman of above
average intelligence who is trained in unarmed combat and has strong
leadership skills.
Height: 5'4" (variable downward)
Weight: 110 lbs. (variable
downward)
Eyes: Brown (formerly blue-green)
Hair: Auburn
History:
(Avengers/UltraForce#1 (fb)
- BTS) - A cosmic game between Loki and the Grandmaster, manipulating
Reality-616's Avengers against Reality-93060(Ultraverse)'s UltraForce,
resulted in the merging of all seven Infinity Gems, recreating Nemesis,
the being from which the Gems had been spawned. Nemesis then unleashed
a reality warp across both the Ultraverse and Reality-616.
(UltraForce/Avengers#1 (fb) - BTS) - Nemesis' warp
generated a pocket
dimension (a few thousand miles across, shifting matter to create other
locales as needed), merging elements of Reality-616 and -93060 to
generate Reality-32659, including the people therein. This new reality's Loki's machinations
(inadvertently facilitated by Kevin Green) gathered local heroes,
notably Thor, Giant-Man (Hank Pym), Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) and the
sentinel-like Prototype (Bob Campbell) against the ghoul-like Hulk. But
in the clash, Giant-Man took
a fatal blast from Loki intended for Thor. After Thor attacked Loki,
who vanished in a lightning bolt, the Wasp
promised to avenge her husband. The heroes apparently soon formed the
Avengers with super serum-enhanced Black Knight (Alexander Swan) and
warrior woman Topaz joining plus Jimmy Ruiz replacing
Campbell as Prototype 2.0. Other Avengers came and went. Wasp's love
for Pym endured, but she became bitter and vengeful, and took on the
codename Black Widow, rarely using her miniature wasp form on missions.
She took fellow Avenger Quicksilver (Pietro) as an occasional lover.
(UltraForce/Avengers#1) - Ten years (local time in the merged reality) after the encounter with Loki, in the Avengers Stockade base, Swan scrambled the team when S.H.I.E.L.D. showed him carnage in Manhattan wrought by Loki, maddened from Thor's previous assault. The Avengers (Black Widow, Prototype, Quicksilver, Alec Swan, Thor, Topaz) confronted Loki, but their uncoordinated attack allowed Loki to grab the miniature Black Widow and pull off one of her wings. Black Widow cried out for the team to kill him and the others combined their powers against Loki, but when Topaz finally struck Loki, the contact of two elements from wildly different continua, the merged reality/pocket dimension shattered. A reality warp opened, showing Reality-616 and -93060, and transported these Avengers to New York-93060. The Avengers, especially Van Dyne, were shocked to see Giant-Man alive and well (unaware he was the -616 version), alongside Contrary-93060, who then explained how Nemesis had created the pocket reality and what had happened to it.
Reality continued to warp, merging and/or replacing beings with their alternate reality counterparts and ultimately these Avengers joined UltraForce-93060 and the Avengers-616 as well as numerous other counterparts and beings from various realities in assaulting Nemesis (who was also under assault from the sentiences from the Mind, Power, Reality, Soul, Space, and Time Gems). Only UltraForce-93060 and the Avengers-616 survived, and they again attacked Nemesis, apparently destroying the composite Nemesis and splitting all of the Infinity Gems apart again.
(UltraForce Infinity (fb) - BTS) - This released a
tremendous burst of Creation Energy that successfully recreated what
Nemesis had destroyed, but with subtle changes, the new aspects
seemingly unnoticed by all, regardless how significant. But not all of
Nemesis' handiwork was
destroyed; a
reserve of the Creation Energy maintained the New World, a slice of the
merged reality, which was kept together with organic and technological
machines artfully shifting matter to maintain the illusion of a
complete Earth to its denizens; New World was off in far space from the
recreated Godwheel. The Avengers of Reality-32659 apparently became New
World's UltraForce, still led by Black Widow and based in the same
location, although Quicksilver was of different ethnicity and demeanor.
As with the main Ultraverse, no one retained memory of the cataclysmic
event or the team name change.
(UltraForce Infinity) - Alerted to the murder of industrialist J.D. Hunt, likely by the villainous Mantra, Black Widow scrambled the rest of UltraForce (Black Knight (Alec Swan), Prototype (Jimmy Ruiz), Quicksilver (not Pietro), Thor, Topaz), as Van Dyne considered it important to show that UltraForce could handle ultra criminals. As UltraForce seemingly traveled a great distance, the New World's reality shifted to facilitate this. At Black Widow's urging, Prototype recalibrated his sensors to filter past ambient radiation and locked onto Mantra's biosignature in a nearby building. Black Widow ordered UltraForce split up and seek her out, but only engage her in combat together. However, Mantra trapped Prototype and commanded him to remove his armor, but when the helmet came off, she was blasted away by the resultant energy burst. The rest of UltraForce quickly assembled and confronted Mantra. When Mantra threatened to unleash power to slay the heroes, Prototype unwillingly countered with a force blast from his helmet that apparently slew her. Prototype lamented whether he was still a hero, but Swan advised him justice exacts a price, while Black Widow looked on impassively.
Comments: Black Widow/Wasp of the Ultraverse adapted by Warren Ellis, George Perez, Larry Welch, Paul Neary, Art Thibert, Ken Branch, Dennis Jensen, Karl Kesel, Robin Riggs, Jon Statema, Al Vey.
The UltraForce shown in the (2nd) New World appears
to
be a
composite of Nemesis' constructs comprising duplicates (like Prime) and
mash-ups
(like Alec Swan), possibly alternate versions (like the 2nd
Quicksilver), and "original" (i.e., pre-Black September) Ultraverse
people (like Prototype/Jimmy Ruiz, who seemed to have been shunted to
New World and wasn't seen again in the "rebirthed" (i.e. post-Black
September) Ultraverse (altho' the Reality-32659 Prototype seems to have
been a construct, according to Contrary-93060)), along with (I assume)
certain characters like Reality-32659's Black
Widow, Alec Swan and Thor surviving its seeming destruction and making
it to the New World construct.
That the merged reality survived the Black September event as the spacebound New World construct, as shown in far orbit outside the Godwheel in UltraForce Infinity, is curious, as if more was intended for future storylines... "a prelude of things to come" (as per UltraForce Infinity).
While the Black September
event was a little controversial amongst some fans, the
UltraForce-Avengers crossover was of epic proportions with beautiful
Perez art.
Text of the slightly confusing events of UltraForce-Avengers crossover kerfuffle lifted from Snood's Prototype (Ruiz) profile.
Height & weight stats of Janet van Dyne taken from the Earth-616 version.
Profile by Grendel Prime & Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Black Widow/Wasp has no known connections to:
The heroic Giant-Man (Hank Pym) was the husband of
Janet Van Dyne in her original Wasp identity in the merged reality
(Reality-32659) created by Nemesis. Like his Reality-616 counterpart on
whom he was modeled, he was a genius researcher and could grow large
with
accompanying strength (likely from Pym Particles). Giant-Man was killed
by a stray blast from that
reality's Loki, who then vanished. In grief, Van Dyne took on the
identity of Black Widow to avenge him.
--UltraForce/Avengers#1
images:
(without ads)
UltraForce Infinity, p13, pan3 (main image, New World)
UltraForce/Avengers#1, p6, pan7 (original Wasp uniform, merged reality)
UltraForce/Avengers#1, p11, pan9 (Black Widow uniform, merged reality)
UltraForce/Avengers#1, p6, pan8 (Giant-Man)
Appearances:
UltraForce/Avengers#1 (Fall 1995) - Warren Ellis (writer), George Perez
& Larry Welch (pencils), Paul Neary, Art Thibert, Ken Branch,
Dennis Jensen, Karl Kesel, George Perez, Robin Riggs, Jon Statema
& Al Vey (inks), Hank Kanalz & Scott Bernstein (editors)
UltraForce Infinity (September, 1995) - Ian Edginton & Warren
Ellis (writers), John Royle (pencils), Jeff Whiting (inks), Hank Kanalz
(editor)
First posted: 06/22/2023 - celebrating 30 years of the Ultraverse!
Last updated:
06/22/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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