#i need marvel to hurry up and have hank and nadia meet pls

[greerbaiting]

I asked someone else about this, but I have a really dark headcanon: in the present day, Hank's memories of Maria Trovaya are hazy, and he's more or less gotten over her death aside from the desire to find those responsible. If someone (say, Nadia) asks him about it, it would turn out that he had already forgotten many details about their time together, or if he remembered details, actually confused them with details about Jan (like her favorite color or what she wore on a certain date).

It's based on the fact that ever since the 70s, Hank seems to have moved on Maria, to the point that he barely talks or thinks about her, and even on his mission to rescue Maria from Soviets during the West Coast phase, seems to feel more obligation than affection toward her. Then when this rescued "Maria" was revealed as an imposter, it doesn't seem to affect him very much in the long run. in House of M, the reality that granted everyone's greatest wishes, Hank kept Maria dead, as opposed to the Avengers or X-men bringing back fallen comrades like Hawkeye and Magik.

(I also think what really puts the nail in the coffin for Hank and Maria was Jan's fakeout death during Secret Invasion. Finally, she was the one he grieved for and obsessed over at the cost of all his other relationships. She was the ideal that he would measure others against.)

The fallout, especially if Nadia is the one asking, would be very painful...

Sorry if all my Hank Pym headcanons swing between being extremely silly and extremely dark.

Interesting! I tend to write Maria as someone that Hank will never truly be "over" even as he moves on with his life. She was his first love and he lost her so soon after they got married. If anything I write the reverse where he's more likely to remember something about Maria but mix it up with Jan, since she's so imprinted on him.