20 most upbeat superhero stories

Cover of The Unstoppable Wasp #1 (Image via Marvel)

9. The Unstoppable Wasp

Nadia Pym — the secret daughter of Ant Man Hank Pym, naturally — has suffered through a seriously bad upbringing. For the first half of her life, she was raised in the Red Room, the infamous former Soviet training center. Now that she’s escaped, however, Nadia has no time for brooding. Like a Marvel-verse Kimmy Schmidt, she’s got so much energy and enthusiasm that it nearly eclipses her tragic past. It also helps that she’s a genius super scientist in her own right.

Clearly, the series has set out to encourage young girls and women to get interested in STEM. Nadia clearly takes a lot of joy from science — her adoration of Mockingbird’s research work is both touching and inspiring. When she teams up with other female superheroes, including the previously mentioned Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), it gets even better.

The first issue or so is tons of fun, though there are a few awkward moments where the script tries to make pop culture references or mimics teen-speak (listen, practically no one says “I wrote it for the LOLs”, anymore, and we don’t really need another “new phone who dis” joke). Given that this is one of the newest titles in the Marvel lineup, though, it’s fine to let the series find its feet.