Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, is one of the Marvel Universe’s most polarizing characters. Primarily known for his comical narcissism, genius inventions and his status as a founding member of the Avengers, Tony has also had his share of problems — and he’s committed some non-heroic acts, as well. In one long forgotten story, he even murdered a fellow Avenger: Rita DeMara, a.k.a. Yellowjacket.
While Rita DeMara’s stint as Yellowjacket was short and mostly forgettable, her death is one to be remembered. Introduced in Roger Stern and John Buscema’s Avengers #264, Rita was originally a supervillain who stole the Yellowjacket armor from Hank Pym during his retirement. She was never portrayed to be more than a minor threat and was largely featured as an antagonist to Janet Van Dyne’s Wasp. Rita later joined two iterations of the Masters of Evil, as well as the Femizons, to round out her criminal career.
Rita eventually began more heroic pursuits. At a time when no Avengers were active, Rita’s suit received a distress call from Steve Rogers. This prompted her to go to Avengers Mansion, where she met the unconventional Avengers lineup of Beast, Hercules, Steve Rogers (not going by Captain America), Falcon, Hulk and Jocasta. Yellowjacket joined the team and was instrumental in helping the Avengers defeat the High Evolutionary in the Evolutionary War storyline.
Yellowjacket’s time with the Avengers was short-lived, but Rita later joined the original Guardians of the Galaxy. When she was with the Masters of Evil, Rita was forced to work with the Guardians to face an alien onslaught during the Infinity Wars. When Doc Oc turned on the Guardians, Rita refused to join him and instead joined the space-faring team.
Unfortunately, becoming one of the Guardians eventually led to Rita’s death. Homesick after spending so much time with the Guardians in the 31st century, Rita attempted to return home to the 20th century. She stopped in the near future and was alerted of a potential disaster involving the Avengers, so she returned to the present to warn them.
Unbeknownst to Rita, the Avengers were in the midst of a emotional battle with Iron Man, who was being mind-controlled by Immortus (in the guise of the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror). Upon reaching her target date to warn the team, Yellowjacket was met and killed by Iron Man.
Years later, the Chaos War storyline resurrected Rita to defend the Underworld from the Grim Reaper, along with fellow dead Avengers. After surviving the Grim Reaper’s attack, she was given a second chance to live, though she has not been seen since the event.
Rita’s relatively small role in the Marvel Universe prior to her death and the plethora of unconventional storylines of the ’90s Marvel Universe likely led to this event being buried in Marvel history. However, the story is noteworthy, as it sees one of Marvel’s most beloved heroes take the life of a fellow Avenger, albeit under mind control. Based on previous storylines, it isn’t hard to imagine a writer taking Tony down a path of grief and remorse for his actions.
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