Ant Man is one of the first heroes of Marvel Comics and a founding member of the Avengers,
but he’s only recently gotten some mainstream notoriety.
He’s the true creator of Ultron, the Scientist Supreme of Earth, and has had more superhero
identities than I can count.
He is Dr. Hank Pym!
Hank was a simple unknown scientist until he discovered the game-changing subatomic
particles known as Pym Particles.
These are what give all of the Ant Men the ability to change size.
From these particles Pym was able to create two different serums: one to shrink objects
and another to bring them back to normal size.
But simply shrinking THINGS wasn’t enough.
No no, Hank decided to test the serums on himself which as all fine and dandy… until
he got trapped inside of an anthill.
Honey, I shrunk the- no.
No Drake no.
You’re better than that…
Bad joke…
No...
Hank studied these insects and was even able to build a helmet that let him communicate
with them!
This ladies and gentlemen was the birth of Ant Man.
Hank served as a superhero for many years, during which time he met the love of his life,
Janet Van Dyne, who would eventually go on to become the hero Wasp.
Hank and Janet helped form the Avengers, but despite being a member of the most powerful
superhero team that was ever made at this point in time, Hank had bigger plans.
Giant, even!
Hank discovered that he was able to use the Pym Particles to grow himself and amplify
his strength while in this large form.
It was with this discovery that he put aside the mantle of Ant Man and instead became Giant
Man.
Eventually, Hank gained the ability to shrink and grow at will, though it caused great strain
on his body.
Because of this, he and Janet retired from crime fighting... until Janet was kidnapped
by Namor the Sub-Mariner.
Because of this, Hank donned the new identity of Goliath and rescued his girlfriend.
Though things were looking up for Hank rejoining the superhero scene, he felt unaccomplished
as a scientist.
After all, the only important discovery he’d ever made in the past few years were the Pym
Particles.
He needed something new…
Something ULTRA amazing!
Artificial intelligence!
Hank Pym created the robot Ultron who then immediately hypnotized his creator, causing
Hank to forget that he even created Ultron in the first place.
Whoops.
So as you guys know, Ultron ended up becoming a huge bad guy and sadly, Ultron’s birth
was the first step in a slippery slope that would ruin Hank’s life.
Hank had an accident in his lab which caused him to inhale chemicals and left him with
a hardcore case of Schizophrenia!
Of course, this also made him take up ANOTHER new identity, this time Yellowjacket.
Yellowjacket claimed that he had killed Hank Pym, kidnapped Janet, and proposed to her.
Well Janet is not an idiot and she instantly recognized that it was her boyfriend under
the mask, but worrying that Hank’s condition would become worse if she refused, Janet went
along with the proposal and married Yellowjacket.
After the marriage, the villain Ringmaster attacked the Avengers and seeing Janet in
danger snapped Hank out of the new personality, but he did decide to continue being Yellowjacket
because frankly, it’s a really cool costume.
However, while Hank’s personality came back, he still had a LOT of emotional problems.
He had become a more angry person and was plagued with guilt for creating Ultron and
this affected his superheroing.
He was getting reckless, violent, and was sidelined on the Avengers, a team that HE
helped form!
Hank started suffering from a mental breakdown and hatched a plan.
He would build a robot to attack the Avengers Mansion with an intentional weak spot.
The PLAN was for Yellowjacket to take out the robot save the day, thus proving his worth
to the Avengers, but when Janet objected to the plan, he smacked her.
Pause.
In the comic book world, this was THE defining moment of Hank Pym’s life.
That second that Hank struck Janet forever labeled him as a wife beater.
Now I am by no means condoning domestic abuse because it is a serious problem, but this
reputation has never left Hank and it might not be entirely deserved because Jim Shooter,
the guy that wrote this DID state that this was NOT meant to be a malicious assault.
It was meant to be Hank throwing up his hands in anger and accidentally striking Janet,
but the artist not having enough time to actually understand what Shooter wanted and not being
able to redraw it in time because of a deadline meant that we got the infamous panel.
Hank was suffering from a hard core case of Schizophrenia and a mental breakdown and he
only hit Janet the one time.
Spider-Man did the exact same thing when he hit Mary Jane, but why don’t we consider
him a wife beater?
I just don’t think that everybody should be…
He’s so…
Hank has done enough stuff!
He created Ultron, he’s kind of a scumbag in general, but guys, really?
This isn’t Ultimate Hank Pym where he’s sicking a bunch of ants on Janet when she’s
tiny.
Completely different universe, completely different character.
So can we please drop it?
Please?
Un-pause.
Hank’s plan did NOT end up working out and Janet took down the robot instead.
Because of this, Hank Pym was expelled from the Avengers and Janet divorced her husband.
Things got only worse for Hank though.
He was blackmailed into stealing Adamantium, Janet started dating Tony Stark, and Hank
was suicidal.
There’s a long running joke that Hank Pym is the emotional punching bag of Marvel Comics
and yeah you can see why.
If that wasn’t enough, during the Secret Invasion, Janet was supposedly killed so Hank
took up the mantle of Wasp to honor his deceased ex-wife, rebuilt the Mighty Avengers, formed
the Avengers Academy, and became Giant Man all over again.
That brings us up to current day with the Rage of Ultron.
In it, Ultron tried to take over the world, but ends up MERGING with Hank Pym.
Yes, in the current continuity, Hank and Ultron are one being.
An organic machine complete with a heart.
For all intents and purposes, Hank is dead!
If you want to start reading more about Hank Pym, I’d recommend checking out Ant Man:
Season One, Ant-Man and Wasp, and The Mighty Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest
So what would you like me to do a video on next?
For a video on the Wasp, then click on Janet, but if you want a video on Pym Particles,
then click on Giant Man.
You can click on this annotation to see a video on all THREE of the Ant Men or click
on this one to learn about Ultron, Ant Man’s son.