main imageHORNET’S NEST

Classification: Terrestrial hideaway on Earth

Creator: Yellowjacket (Hank Pym)

User/Possessors: Yellowjacket (Hank Pym), Yellowjacket (bio-mass duplicate of Hank Pym)

First Appearance: Avengers I#59 (December, 1968)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Hornet’s Nest was a small headquarters that had been shrunk down to allow those at insect size access to it. It was equipped with statis tube to house prisoners and had equipment to feed the prisoners intravenously if needed.

History: 

(Avengers I#59 (fb) - BTS) – After Hank Pym became the delusional Yellowjacket, he designed the Hornet’s Nest, a secret treetop hideaway shrunk down and hidden amongst the trees on the grounds of Avengers Mansion.

(Avengers I#59) – As Yellowjacket, Hank Pym thought himself to be a different person and claimed he had killed Hank Pym. Thinking him a murderer, the Avengers attacked and Yellowjacket grabbed Wasp and fled to the Hornet’s Nest. Inside, Yellowjacket bragged about how much the Hornet’s Nest cost him but the Wasp wanted nothing to do with him.

(Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes II#6) – At the Hornet’s Nest, the Wasp asked if Yellowjacket had built the Hornet’s Nest by himself and Yellowjacket replied that ideas were cheap and that Hank Pym was a waste, better off dead. Wasp then asked him if he was sure Hank Pym was dead but Yellowjacket responded that she could not talk her way of being there with him. He then asked Wasp if he was not all she had wanted, a real man to replace the “bookworm.” Yellowjacket then once again stated that Hank Pym was a waste of a man but Wasp replied that Pym was a great man and leader. She then admitted that she did not believe that Yellowjacket had murdered anyone. Suspecting that Yellowjacket was indeed Pym himself, Wasp tried to get Yellowjacket to accept the truth of who he was but Yellowjacket exclaimed that he was tired of the mind games.

(Avengers I#59/Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes II#6) – Still inside the Hornet’s Nest, Yellowjacket knocked Wasp’s hand away, thinking she was trying to slap him. Feeling that she was emasculating him, Yellowjacket grabbed her in anger but suddenly kissed her instead. Confused, he told her she was free to leave.

(Avengers III#38 (fb) – BTS) – When a brief rift in reality caused a duplicate of Hank Pym to form from the mass pulled from the Kosmos dimension when he grew, the duplicate captured the real Hank Pym and placed him in a stasis chamber inside the long-abandoned Hornet’s Nest, which the duplicate hid from the other Avengers using vibrational energy fields to mask its location. Making sure that the true Hank was kept alive via intravenous tubes, the duplicate took Hank’s place as Goliath within the Avengers.

(Avengers III#37) - During an Avengers battle against Lord Templar and Pagan, Wasp wondered where Goliath was and why there had been no sign of him as she and Triathlon rushed past the Hornet's Nest, unaware it still remained in a tree on the Avengers Mansion property.

(Avengers III#38) – The duplicate returned to the Hornet’s Nest to check on the true Hank Pym. Very weak, the true Pym asked if the duplicate had come to gloat or if he had something more serious in mind. The duplicate replied that as long as the true Pym was a guest, he had to be kept fed and alive. Angry, the true Pym demanded to know why the duplicate did not just kill him but the duplicate quietly replied that Avengers did not kill.

(Avengers 2001 Annual) – When the duplicate became weak and began becoming incorporeal as a result, he revealed that “other” Hank was in the Hornet’s Nest in the maple tree on the grounds of Avengers Mansion. Wasp quickly rushed to the Hornet’s Nest where she found the true Hank Pym in a similar state of health. Freeing him from stasis, the Wasp brought the true Hank back to Avengers Mansion where Dr. Jane Foster attempted to discern what was causing their incorporeal state.

Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and George Klein.

There seemed to be some confusion as to whether this headquarters was  called the “Hornet’s Nest” or the “Hornet’s Hideaway.” In its first appearance, Yellowjacket refers to it as his “Hornet’s Nest” hideaway, essentially referring to it as a hideaway by function, not by title/name. In its final appearance in Avengers 2001 Annual, the Yellowjacket duplicate referred to it as “Hornet’s Hideaway” to the Wasp. The Avengers: Official Index to the Marvel Universe TPB officially lists it as the "Hornet’s Nest" in the entry on Avengers I#59 and then the “Hornet’s Hideaway” in the entry for Avengers 2001 Annual. For the sake of the profile, I went with the “First Appearance Rule” and referred to it as the “Hornet’s Nest.” Plus, I personally think it sounds cooler...

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Hornet’s Nest has no known connections to

images: (without ads)
Avengers 2001 Annual, p5, pan5 (Hornet’s Nest, main image)
Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes II#6, p3, pan1 (Hornet’s Nest original design, supplemental image)
Avengers III#37, p6, pan4 (Hornet's Nest in tree on Avengers Mansion property)

Appearances:
Avengers I#59 (December, 1968) – Roy Thomas (writer), John Buscema (art), George Klein (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Avengers III#37 (February, 2001) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Steve Epting (pencils), Al Vey (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers III#38 (March, 2001) – Kurt Busiek (writer), Alan Davis (pencils), Mark Farmer (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers 2001 Annual (2001) – Kurt Busiek (writer), Ivan Reis (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes II#6 (March, 2007) – Joe Casey (writer), Will Rosado (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Originally Posted: 01/01/13
Last Updated: 02/23/18

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