Size Manipulation: Hope was able to reduce herself to the size of an insect by using Pym Particles in the belt of the suit to distance her atoms, effectively compacting her physical structure and allowing her to shrink down whenever necessary. She still maintained her regular sized strength and durability while in a reduced scale as the process amplifies the amount of force she can generate and increases her density. Basically, Hope is granted super strength and durability while shrunk. Additionally, the process of altering size compresses force and energy, manifesting as brief shockwaves of vibration around the target, which briefly augments her force and momentum as she returns to normal size.

Flight: By utilizing four artificial insect-like wings, Hope could fly at impressive speeds and maneuver with great agility with ease.

Energy Projection: Hope can fire bolts of energy from the wrists of her gauntlets. They are powerful enough to blast burning holes in reinforced materials and knock a man unconscious.

Van Dyne Prodigy: With her parents both being geniuses in discovering Pym Particles and paired with a college education, Hope is very intelligent in matters of science, Pym Particles, and business.

Training Exercises: With her being ousted from the business and losing custody of her daughter, Hope found solace in training herself for long portions of the day. She prepared herself for the day that she would become the Wasp.

There was a time when Hope had an ordinary life but that began shaping her into something more was the death of her mother. No thirteen year old should have to see their mother die slowly from cancer and it was this belief that drove Hope to do something about this. She excelled in school and got into Ivy University, a prestigious scientific school. From there she took a series of difficult medical technologies curriculum, still determined on developing that cure to cancer.

Her time at the university had brought on another event that shaped her life drastically. Raymond Palmer a man of equal potential had been Hope’s classmate and close friend throughout her grueling years of academia. Their relationship would only blossom into something more, falling in love and eventually marrying shortly after graduating. They had a child, Nadia, early in their marriage. For a nearly a decade, they had happily developed Pym Industries together alongside Hope’s father. Pym Industries had flourished into a serious medical developer and had become a household name for the medical profession.

Despite life going well, Ray Palmer wanted more out of life believing his brilliance was wasted by not expanding upon the original idea of Pym Particles. It was about this time that Darron Cross came into the picture, suggesting and influencing Ray to pursue weaponizing Pym Particles. He manages to design a suit that is capable of shrinking and effective weaponry to be used alongside the suit. In an attempt to convince Hope, he tried presenting the suit and the untapped capabilities of Pym. Hope despises the idea, the two argue, and in a desperate attempt to control the meeting, Ray accidentally fires a shot from the suit that hits Hank’s chest. The shock to Hank’s system put him in cardiac arrest and he died before help could be administered.

Hope would try and move on from that event in her life, confiscating Ray’s work and trying to keep him honest. However, Ray developed a new suit in secret and was planning on defecting to Darron Cross’s company. Hope tried to stop Ray but failed initially due to his new suit, forcing Hope to wear the prototype suit to pursue. The two would fight a miniature battle out in the street, people unaware of what was occurring around them. Hope accidentally caused Ray’s death by knocking him into a the tire of a moving car where it was presumed he was squished. She was arrested on suspicion of murder and forced to resign in the company. Despite Hope’s reservation against weaponized Pym, she feels it is the only option to stop Darren Cross from obtaining original schematics left over by her father and husband.

So I did a lot of reading to get to this point but I think I have a story that utilizes some very interesting avenues. I did some research and put together a group of shrinksters and then built a story, and by extension Hope’s character, around those individuals.

Ray Palmer, the Atom from his original story and Yellow Jacket in the Ultimate version, is the villain to Hope’s origin story. With similar motivations as Yellow Jacket in the movie, he became obsessed with Pym Particles wanting to militarize this technology. Naturally the Hank and Hope would disapprove as they wanted to work on developing medical applications in honor of Janet with the most iconic development being shrinking tumors down to become virtually non-existent. There was never any intention on weaponizing Pym but Ray Palmer worked in secret, developing a prototype and revealing it to Hank and Hope looking for approval. He wouldn’t get that approval and in a fit trying to demonstrate the usage of Pym Particles, he killed Hank.

Obviously this would traumatize both, Ray and Hope, and in an effort to make amends Ray promised he would give up his obsession. However, their marriage was never the same scarred by that event and in anger Ray would turn to the whispers of Darron Cross, promising to reveal the secrets of Pym application. Ray’s resumed obsession would have him working on a new suit to present Darron which would go noticed by Hope and when confronted, he would reveal his intention saying he was through with her. In an attempt to stop Ray, Hope would use the prototype suit to confront him. There confrontation leads to Ray’s accidental death.

Now with two mysterious deaths/disappearances being centralized around Hope, she would be arrested and then tried. With no intent on revealing Pym applications, she had little evidence to support herself. Darron was likely involved in some shady dealings to get Hope hit with the book but due to some clever work by Pym Industries paid lawyers, Hope got off easy. Unfortunately she lost custody of her daughter but Ryan was there, ready to adopt to keep Nadia close.

Ultimately, Hope is on her own dealing with stress and grief of her past. However, she knows that Pym Industries is in good hands with Ryan and besides, she still suspected Darron hadn’t given up his own obsession with Pym Particles. In an effort to stop him as well as redeem herself and the weaponized Pym, Hope tries to take the mantle of the Wasp.

Former S.H.I.E.L.D scientist, he left to join Pym Industries to work alongside his daughter. He is credited for the discovery of Pym Particles and the many medical applications that came after it. He lost his life in an effort to stop Ray Palmer.

She passed away from cancer shortly after Hope’s thirteenth birthday and her memory became Hope’s motivation to find that elusive cure for cancer.

Ray Palmer was a long time friend of the Van Dyne family ever since meeting Hope in college. Hope and Ray would eventually marry and produce a daughter, Nadia. He joined Pym Industries and helped Hank, his now father-in-law, to develop uses for the Pym Particles. However Ray’s work with Pym Particles consumed him and eventually turned against Hope and Hank. He is presumably deceased after Hope confronted him.

At only fifteen years old, Nadia is the daughter of Hope and Ray. Following the events of her father’s death, Hope was adamant about changing their names back to Van Dyne in light of Ray’s betrayal. Due to legal reasons, Hope is not allowed custody of her daughter but was adopted by Ryan Choi.

Hope’s business partner for Pym Industries, he managed the business end of the company while Hope, Hank, and Ray lead the development of the Pym applications. He was instrumental in keeping Pym Industries operating after the Ray Palmer incident and one of the few that knows the truth. He still assists Hope in whatever way he can.

The potential corrupting influence of Ray Palmer by promising massive amounts of wealth for military applications of Pym. The failure of Ray Palmer had caused him to become quite bitter towards Pym Industries, vowing that he’ll ruin them eventually.