W.E.S.P.E.
Membership:
Unrevealed;
former leader Dr. Evald Skorpion
Purpose: W.E.S.P.E. centers on nihilism, offering highly advanced technology and money as investments in the pursuit of future, large-scale destruction, murder and discord; this includes acts of terrorism.
Affiliations: Dr. Max Brashear (Dr. Positron), Cortex Inc. (Dr. Barry Adenauer, Jason Quantrell)
Enemies: Blue Marvel (Dr. Adam Brashear), Hauptmann Deutschland, Hydra, She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters), Spectrum (Monica Rambeau)
Base of Operations: Mobile in Europe
First Appearance: Mighty Avengers II#4 (February, 2014)
Paraphernalia: W.E.S.P.E. manufactured and distributed very advanced destructive technology, usually with a wasp theme, including poison bombs and large, armed, flying machines such as the aerial kill-bots.
History:
(Wasp I#2 (fb)) - W.E.S.P.E. was founded by Dr. Evald Skorpion.
(Mighty Avengers II#8 (fb) - BTS) - Although not at the same level as A.I.M. or Hydra, W.E.S.P.E. is a large, covert European-based organization cultivating villainous scientists by offering advanced technology for future favors.
(Captain America and the Mighty Avengers#6 (fb) - BTS) - As nihilists W.E.S.P.E. hated Hydra due to their fascist (Nazi) ideology.
(Wasp I#2 (fb)) - Some of W.E.S.P.E.'s most prolific members became dissatisfied with Skorpion's infantile schemes and were recruited by the Whisperer (Dr. Janos Trovaya) to become founding members of his new organization W.H.I.S.P.E.R. that set out to spy on spies and balance secret agencies.
(Captain America and the Mighty Avengers#6 (fb) - BTS) - Others stayed loyal to Skorpion even after his death during a fight against Blue Marvel and Max Brashear.
(Mighty Avengers II#4 (fb) - BTS) - The terrorist organization W.E.S.P.E. was readying to spread its deadly "sting-gas" (translation), but Hauptmann Deutschland and the Blue Marvel found out about the plan.
(Mighty Avengers II#4) - Hauptmann Deutschland and the Blue Marvel fought W.E.S.P.E. members at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany.
(Mighty Avengers II#8 (fb) - BTS) - The Blue Marvel went on to smash a large part of their operations. Soon after, W.E.S.P.E. supplied revenge-smitten Max Brashear with weapons to use against his father, the Blue Marvel.
(Mighty Avengers II#8) - Dr. Max Brashear (masquerading as Dr. Positron) used W.E.S.P.E. technology (notably their aerial kill-bots) to trap the Blue Marvel, Spectrum and She-Hulk.
(Captain America and the Mighty Avengers#6) - Seeking new technology that could save his corporation Cortex Inc., Jason Quantrell hired the remnants of W.E.S.P.E. for cheap. The super-scientists built a Skorpion Gate for Quantrell that could access what was outside the Omniverse. The agents were sure Skorpion would've been proud of their work and opened the Skorpion Gate. They seemingly died while Quantrell looked through the portal and got possessed by a rogue Beyonder.
(Captain America and the Mighty Avengers#7 - BTS) - Blue Marvel used the Skorpion Gate to bring his son Max back to Earth from the Neutral Zone. As it turned out Max believed he didn't belong on Earth anymore and took the rogue Beyonder with him to the Neutral Zone (?).
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(Wasp I#2 (fb)) - Many former W.E.S.P.E. agents had their bodies altered in monstrous ways by the Maker (Reed Richards) of Earth-1610 when he took over W.H.I.S.P.E.R.
Comments: Created by Al Ewing, Greg Land and Jay Leisten.
Presumably they have a screening process before they hand out any technology to make sure the candidate's actions result in considerable destruction and mayhem.
Like Osborn's H.A.M.M.E.R., we are yet to find out what the initials stand for. And there seems to be a bit of mingling with "Terror-Hives" and "W.E.S.P.E."
Wespe is German for "wasp," so I'm guessing the group is based in Germany or a German-speaking land - maybe they have a loose affiliation with A.I.M. (with their "beekeeper" outfits).
It's not yet been explained why they want to "bring about the end of the world"; is it to remake the world as they want it?
Given there was only one image and that Hauptmann Deutschland was shown and tagged in the main image pic, I've deliberately blurred the tag in the profile's main image so as not to confound anyone. It gets a bit confusing when there are multiple characters in the main image.
For unknown reasons some agents of W.H.I.S.P.E.R. kept wearing their W.E.S.P.E. uniforms as seen within the flashbacks in Wasp I#2-3.
Profile by Grendel Prime. Update by Markus Raymond (2015-NOW).
CLARIFICATIONS:
W.E.S.P.E. has no known connections to:
W.E.S.P.E. aerial kill-bots were wasp-themed, large, truck-sized flying machines armed with sophisticated weaponry. Max Brashear (as Dr. Positron) used them to herd and harm the Blue Marvel, Spectrum and She-Hulk as they flew to his base. All four in this attack were destroyed by the three Avengers.
--Mighty Avengers II#8
images: (without ads)
Wasp I#2, p4, pan1 (main)
Mighty Avengers II#4, p7, pan1 (uniform shot & group shot)
Mighty Avengers II#8, p7, pan5 (aerial kill-bot)
Appearances:
Mighty Avengers II#4 (February, 2014) - Al Ewing (writer), Greg Land (pencils) Jay Leisten (inks), Tom Brevoort & Lauren Sankovitch (editors)
Mighty Avengers II#8 (May, 2014) - Al Ewing (writer), Valerio Schiti (art), Tom Brevoort & Wil Moss (editors)
Captain America and the Mighty Avengers#6 (May, 2015) - Al Ewing (writer), Luke Ross (artist), Tom Brevoort with Wil Moss (editors)
Captain America and the Mighty Avengers#7 (June, 2015) - Al Ewing (writer), Iban Coello (artist), Tom Brevoort with Wil Moss (editors)
Wasp I#2 (April, 2023) - Al Ewing (writer), Kasia Nie (artist), Alanna Smith (editor)
First Posted: 02/09/2014
Last updated: 11/08/2024
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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