Avengers (1963) #53
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Earth's Mightiest Heroes joined forces to take on threats that were too big for any one hero to tackle. With a roster that has included Captain America, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, Thor, Wasp and dozens more over the years, the Avengers have come to be regarded as Earth's No. 1 team.
British-born Mortimer Toynbee, abandoned by his parents so early in childhood that he cannot remember them, was placed in an orphanage where the other children, who regarded him as a freak due to his ugliness, his unusual physique and his leaping ability, continually tormented him.
When Janet Van Dyne's father died, she convinced her father's associate Hank Pym to give her a supply of "Pym particles"; Pym also subjected her to a procedure which granted her the ability to, upon shrinking, grow wings and fire blasts of energy, which she called her "wasp's stings."