This article is about the first incarnation of Ant-Man. For his successor, see Scott Lang.
- “Second chances don't come around all that often. I suggest you take a really close look at it. This is your chance to earn that look in your daughter's eyes, to become the hero that she already thinks you are.”
- ―Hank to Scott[src]
Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym, known as Ant-Man, is a superhero from Marvel Comics. He is a brilliant scientist, and is the love interest of Janet Van Dyne aka Wasp. Pym was originally the first Ant-Man before being succeeded by Scott Lang.
He is one of the main characters in the animated series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, debuting in the 2015 film Ant-Man as the deuteragonist and returning in its 2018 sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp as the tritagonist.
Hank Pym was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Larry Lieber.
Background
Powers and abilities
Powers
- Size Manipulation: Through the use of the Pym Particles and a device fitted into his super suit, Hank is able to shrink himself down to smaller sizes. At this reduced size, he retains both his human-sized strength and voice. While reduced in size, Hank typically rides a winged ant or is carried by Wasp to travel. This size has often been considered inferior to his Giant-Man form, but Hank has used it time and time again to great effect. The downside to this form is that Hank could be squished much more easily by foes. He is called Ant-Man in this form. Through the use of the Pym Particles and a device fitted into his super suit, Hank is also able to increase his body mass and size, all while adding pound after pound of muscle to his frame. At increased sizes, Hank possesses superhuman strength, though it is almost inferior to both Thor and the Hulk. He is strong enough to lift enormous objects and throw them incredible distances with surprising force. The downside to this form is that Hank's larger body is a far bigger target than he is normally, and his pressure points are also larger and cause greater pain. While increased in size, Hank is known as Giant-Man.
- Superhuman Strength: Hank possesses superhuman strength when he is the size of an insect, his strengths becomes greater when he increases his size to that of a giant.
- Superhuman Durability: Hank possesses superhuman durability when he is the size of a giant.
- Insect Communication and Control: Through the use of his Ant-Man Helmet, Hank is able to communicate with ants. He can use the helmet to summon them from wherever they are, and can use it to command them to attack or surround enemies. Hank typically uses the insects as a binding force or to enter machines and disable them.
Abilities
- Genius-Level Intellect: Hank is often considered dangerous for this intelligence.
- Master Scientist: Aside from his superhuman abilities, Hank is an incredibly gifted scientist, having developed the Pym Particles that gave both himself and Janet Van Dyne their powers. He also created the Ant-Man Helmet.
Equipment
- Ant-Man suit: The suit Hank wears acts as conduit for his Pym Particles with his powers being activating by the device on its belt.
- Ant-Man helmet: Hank's helmet emits sonic frequencies which Hank can manipulation manually, which are most often used to speak to insect-life and have them help him diffuse opponents, but as the frequencies are variable, it can be used as a weapon against opponents weak to certain sonic frequencies.
Appearances
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Ant-Man
Hank Pym was recruited by S.H.I.E.L.D. after he discovered a particle that could shrink things and people. Despite his desire not to join that organization, Peggy Carter managed to convince him otherwise. Pym also married Janet Van Dyne, with whom he had a daughter named Hope. Janet managed to convince him to participate in the missions. In 1987, when a group of Russian extremists stole a missile and launched it to the United States, he and his wife were sent to stop it. As the two of them were unable to turn it off, Janet decided to become sub-atomic in order to stop the missile. The plan was a success, but she was trapped in the Quantum Realm.
After this tragedy, Hank turned away from his daughter to investigate everything related to the Quantum Realm. As he could not care for her daughter due to his research, he decided to send her to a boarding school. Two years later, Pym learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. were trying to replicate its formula. He then went to Triskelion and faces the S.H.I.E.L.D. board headed by Howard Stark. The Head of Defense, Mitchell Carson reproached his presence as he should be in Moscow on a mission. He gave his reasons before beating Carson (He referred to Janet's death). Pym submitted his irrevocable resignation and left the room. Hank later founded Pym Technologies and take as protected a young man with a lot of potential named Darren Cross. Since he protected the Ant-Man suit from other people, Cross with the help of Hope fired Pym and took control of the company.
Pym and his daughter join forces to prevent Cross from replicating the formula. He decided to recruit Scott Lang, a former thief known for the incident of VistaCorp. When Cross called him to witness the design of Yellowjacket suit, Hank told Hope he already had someone to steal the suit and formula. He devised a plan to contact Lang, the plan was to start a rumor that at his mansion in a safe had a lot of money. This plan was successful as Lang and his friends were able to infiltrate at his home. Pym had sent ants with cameras in order to follow the theft being carried out. The next day, he communicated with Scott after this one put the Ant-Man suit. That night, Hank went to the police department and introduced himself as Scott Lang's lawyer. Pym revealed to Lang that he was the mysterious voice that spoke to him in the morning and now if he wanted his freedom should follow his instructions. He told Lang that he should stay calm when mounting an ant; however, Scott fainted and fell into the void (for his luck of the Ant-tony saved him).
The next day, Hank officially presented and also his daughter and asked Scott to help him to save the world. Lang said that they should call the Avengers, which Pym replied that he did not want Stark stealing his technology. Hank said that he would teach him to control the suit and Hope would teach martial arts. For several days, Pym undertook to teach Scott everything about the suit. With the training completed, he told Lang that he should infiltrate an old, abandoned warehouse and retrieve a special device needed for the mission. Flying over the warehouse, they discovered that it was not abandoned but was now being occupied by the Avengers. He ordered him to return the jet, however Lang decided to complete the mission. That night, Hank criticizes Scott for his actions before Lang revealed to him, he had managed to recover the device. Pym congratulated Lang for the achievement; suddenly they discovered that Cross was inside the house. Cross and Pym met for a while; the meeting ended abruptly when Darren was annoyed by the secrets of his former mentor.
When Lang gave the idea to recruit his friends, he refused because he did not consider them capable. Despite that, Pym eventually recruits and tells them that he was the one who let them enter his house. The time gave the reason as the three were left shocked after seeing the power of the suit. Pym tried to explain the functioning of the suit, but the trio fell asleep during the explanation. The next night, Hank was approached by law enforcement officers, Gale and Jim Paxton who wanted to talk to him. He told them he didn't have time since he had entered the facility to save the world. Paxton told him not to overdo it and when he was about to put him under arrest; Dave distracted the police by stealing their car and so allowed Hank to enter the building. Hank attended the presentation and found that Cross was looking to sell the suit and the formula to HYDRA. He asked not to do it which caused Darren to decide to kill him. However, Scott intervened and using the power of the suit managed to defeat the HYDRA operatives but during the fight Pym was injured.
While Lang chased Cross, he was taken to hospital. The next day, Hank asked Lang how he escaped from the quantum realm but his new protege could not remember what happened. Finished the meeting, Pym asked Hope to accompany Scott to the door. After hearing a mysterious noise, he opened the door and discovered Scott kissing Hope. Lang tried to explain what happened, but Hank didn't believe a single word. Days later, he revealed to his daughter that he and Janet were working on a new suit. Hank then told Hope that it was not the suit of her mother but hers. Pym told Hope it was time to finish it which she agreed.
Avengers: Endgame
The surviving Avengers of the snap went back in time to retrieve the Infinity Stones in order to reverse it. After failing to acquire the Tesseract in 2012, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers went back further in time to 1970 specifically because both the Tesseract and more Pym Particles were in the same location in Camp Lehigh. Steve managed to trick a young Hank Pym to leaving his lab and during that time, Steve took some Pym Particles in order for him and Tony to return back to 2023.
Hank was brought back to life by Hulk's use of the infinity stones. He did not join the battle, as despite his rebirth, the Pym Particles had still rendered him unable to continue use.
He later attended the funeral of Tony Stark, who had given his life to use the infinity stones to wipe out the temporal aberration that was Thanos and his forces. Hank's attendance showed that while he had great disdain for the Starks misusing technology, he was able to respect Tony for his noble sacrifice.
What If...?
Season 1
Hank appears in episode 3 "What If... The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?" voiced by Douglas. In this version, Hank went insane from the grief of losing both his wife and daughter; Hope joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and died on a mission. Driven by his now-blind hatred for S.H.I.E.L.D., Hank targeted the current director and wanted Fury to experience the pain of losing what's precious to him. Using Hope's credentials, Hank learned of the Avengers Initiative that Fury wished to set up and decided to kill everyone on it regardless if they were close or even trusted Fury.
The day after Tony Stark's 40th birthday, Hank used his Yellow Jacket suit to hide in the injector Fury planned to give Stark a shot to sober him up and push back the poisoning from his arc reactor. When Natasha Romanoff gave the shot, Hank entered Stark and fatally wounded him. With Romanoff now suspected, he followed Fury to New Mexico, where Hank forced Hawkeye's fingers off his bow and caused Thor to be fatally shot. He then repeated his attack on Stark on Hawkeye, killing him. Hank then went after Bruce Banner, forcing him to Hulk out and then used a growth disk to force his body to explode; unintentionally killing Thunderbolt Ross as well.
Hank then killed Romanoff, but not before she sent Fury a message about the motive. The next day at Hope's grave, Hank (clearly insane) confronted Fury, who managed to outwit and corner him. It turned out to be Loki in disguise; he had allied with Fury to avenge Thor, with Hank being taken prisoner by the Asgardians. Due to Hank's actions, he left the world vulnerable to Loki, who took over at a UN meeting after bringing peace between nations.
Hank later appears in episode 5 "What If... Zombies!?" In this version, Hank travels to the Quantum Realm in search of his lost wife, who got infected by the disease known as the Quantum Virus.
Season 2
Hank reappears in "What if... Peter Quill Attacked Earth's Mightiest Heroes?". He loathes at his wife's death and has to take care of his daughter alone. When he receives a call from Howard Stark, he hung up. However, he changes his mind after he saw the news about the boy attacking New York. He decides to put the past behind him and accept the invitation to Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. There, he reunites with his ex-colleague Bill Foster (also known as Goliath), much to his chagrin, and collaborate with the Black Panther; King T'Chaka, Mar-Vell, and the Winter Soldier. Together, Peggy and Howard formed the team known as the Avengers.
They arrived at Coney Island to subdue the half-Celestial but failed to do so. Unable to stop him, they retreat to her Asis but got caught by Peter's power, until they get an unexpected rescue by Thor.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
In 2026, Hank and his family are still studying the quantum realm and he, Hope and Cassie have not told Scott that Cassie has been able to build a system that allows them to get a signal down to the realm. The family are then sucked into the realm where Hank learns that Janet had a relationship with Kang the Conqueror while she was stuck in the quantum realm for 30 years. Shocked, Hank tells his wife that while she was gone, he dated a woman named Linda. Over the course of the film, Hank and his family explore the quantum realm where they meet Kang the Conqueror and his former enemy Darren Cross, whom survived being shrunk in 2015, but has been turned into a weapon. Once Darren has a change of heart and turns against his leader, Hank and his family mourn their new ally as he dies and are able to escape the quantum realm, resuming their lives.
Marvel Animation
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
In Africa, Hank was studying Vibranium when Klaw and his mercenaries attacked him. He defeated them and asked Janet to stop the ants from eating the shrunken down mercenaries, which did not make her feel happy.
Janet found Hank's research boring and battled Whirlwind. Ant-Man helped her because he didn't want her to get hurt. Wasp defeated Whirlwind and placed him in the Big House. When Nick Fury wanted her and Hank to join S.H.I.E.L.D., Hank refused, but Janet liked the idea of joining S.H.I.E.L.D.
Breakout, Part 1
In the Big House, Hank is interrogating with Mad Thinker about what he talked with Whirlwind that something will happen, which Mad Thinker replied that not what but when it will happen.
Hank gets surprised that the jails are mysteriously opened and that the prisoners are walking out. Ant-Man engages in a fight with Mandrill and King Cobra and evades them both but is captured by King Cobra. Mandrill attacks Hank, but counterattacks with a kick and shrinks. He goes behind King Cobra and grows back to normal size to punch him.
He gets assaulted by Griffin but tried to dodge by shrinking and got pushed to the wall and fell down and changed back to normal size to cushion the fall. He then gets into a fight with Whirlwind with the latter winning and holding him. Griffin tries to assault again, but Hank dodges by shrinking and gets freed by Whirlwind who got pushed by Griffin. Hank falls down but gets caught by Janet.
Avengers Assemble
Hank united with Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, and Janet and took down Graviton. He helped form the Avengers. When Hulk was being controlled by the Enchantress, he tried to get Hulk to stop attacking the other Avengers. He later helped them defeat Enchantress. Hulk then left the team. Hank and the other Avengers found Captain America frozen in ice, thawed him out, and later fought Doughboy and defeated him. He saved Iron Man from Wonder Man and tried to get him to the Arc Reactor but failed. Wonder Man was saved by Enchantress, who let him join the Masters of Evil.
Hank helped Black Panther and the Avengers save Wakanda and defeat Man-Ape, Klaw, and HYDRA. When the Avengers left, he stayed behind to study Vibranium. He saw the Leader's speech that told him and the world that they would be affected by Gamma. However, his plans were stopped by Hawkeye, Thor, and Hulk.
Masters of Evil
When the Masters of Evil attacked the other Avengers, Hawkeye and Black Panther picked up Ant-Man from Wakanda and distracted Zemo and his team while Hank got supplies for the fight. He helped free the others. While fighting them, Janet warned him to run, but he freed her and the others. The Avengers eventually defeated Zemo's team. After the battle, Wasp wondered when Ant-Man got back from Wakanda.
Later, he and Janet visited Carol Danvers and battled a Kree sentry drone. Captain Marvel, Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor helped them fight the robot while preventing it from using its Nega-Bomb from wiping out the planet. Hank got knocked out, but before telling Janet that he loves her. After the robot was destroyed, He was taken to the hospital, where Janet says that she is sorry for her attention-hungry behavior and asks him to repeat what he said before passing out, but never gets an answer.
Kang the Conqueror
Hank, Janet, and Thor brought Blizzard to Prison 42 and later Kang the Conqueror, who was trying to kill Captain America. He later showed Ant-Man and the other Avengers that Earth would soon be wiped out by the Kree and the Skrulls, but in the end, it was Captain America (he didn't realize that it was actually a Skrull that would wipe out Earth). The Avengers made it back to the present time and defeated Kang.
Kang returned and tried to take over the world. Hank programmed Ultron to fight the robots. Later, he and the other Avengers fought Kang in space. Hank got knocked out, but recovered when Janet warned the others that if the time drive was destroyed, then Ravonna would die. Kang was defeated and imprisoned. Hank and Reed Richards observed Ravonna, who was moved to the Baxter Building.
When Malekith the Accursed unleashed the Casket of Ancient Winters and froze the planet, Hank and Ultron fought the Dark Elf souls. They were fought near New York's universities. The souls were later defeated.
Hank watched Hawkeye shoot an apple when the power went out. Black Widow told him and the other Avengers about the Cosmic Cube. Ant-Man went with Hawkeye and Black Widow. They fought HYDRA agents. Hawkeye later fired an arrow with Hank on it toward Baron Strucker's location. Ant-Man grew to normal size and punched Strucker. He later fought the Dreadnaughts and defeated them with the help of Hawkeye and Black Widow. Captain America defeated Strucker and then the Avengers celebrated their victory over HYDRA and A.I.M. Hank thought of what would have happened if HYDRA won.
Ultron
Hank invented Ultron as a peace keeping robot, designed to help with his efforts to stop the fighting the Avengers were forced to do to stop criminals. However this robot gained sentience and came to the conclusion that the only way to save the world was to destroy the humans that inhabited it. Fortunately Hank developed Ultron's mind based on the Human mind. By that logic, he perceived himself as a threat and imploded.
Hank then decides to leave the Avengers, thinking that it's his fault on creating Ultron despite Janet's protests.
This Hostage Earth
Hank arrives to save Wasp from the Abomination over the Norm Stone in the Arctic and holds off the Frost Giants long enough for Janet to destroy the Stone. But as a result of them being teleported to Jotumheim as the others were on other realms.
Loki's War
On "The Fall of Asgard", he was startled by Frost Giants and attacked them immediately with the axe he grabbed in an intention of no longer being diplomatic to hostiles. After being almost defeated by the Frost Giants, he confessed to Janet that he loved her. While the Giants attempted to kill him, he was rescued by Sif and her Valkyries. Sif was impressed that a mortal can turn himself into a giant and can fight well. Hank then replied thanks.
A Day Unlike Any Other
Hank and Janet were reunited with others who has made new friends while being stuck on other realms. Then they marched into Asgard to confront Loki and free Thor. But when Loki defeated them and attempted to kill them, Iron Man saved them and fought him to delay him long enough to stop him.
After Loki's defeat, Odin and the Asgardians hailed them as true heroes despite they're mere mortals.
Back on Earth, he left the Avengers temporarily to make up his mind.
To Steal an Ant-Man
Hank and Janet had an argument at the Mansion and Hank see Ant-Man robbing a bank. Hank hires Luke Cage and Iron Fist to find the thief and it turn out to be Scott Lang. Lang steals Hank's Ant-Man costume to save his daughter Cassandra. Hank, Power Man, and Iron Fist helps Lang to save his daughter. In the end, Hank allowed Scott to be the new Ant-Man, even though Scott wanted to return the suit to him.
Yellowjacket
After Hank Pym left the Avengers, he had been in a state of disorder before being visited by Iron Man and Wasp. When they visited him, he showed them his micro-prison. He quickly got angry at the two and told them to get out of his lab immediately. As the two left, an explosion happened in his lab that supposedly killed him. Hank had a funeral held for him by the Avengers. This would have been the first death of a member of the team.
After the explosion, Hank became Yellowjacket and took matters into his own hands with supervillains. He took down the Serpent Society by blasting them with his gun and putting them in his micro-prison. He was pursed by Captain America and Black Panther, who told him they could take the supervillain he was facing at the time. He blasted the villain and began to fight the two. He stopped fighting when he saw Janet.
He was unmasked by Janet during their next encounter. He had a standoff with some of the Avengers before his gun was knocked out of his hand, it exploded and they were all caught in the explosion. Hank revealed to them that he had been using his weapon as a way to keep the Serpent Society captive.
When his gun almost killed them, he used his intellect to save them. After they were out, Hank told them Ant-Man was no more and from that point on, he was Yellowjacket. He was allowed back on the team thanks to Wasp persuading Iron Man.
Kree Threat
When the Kree tried to destroy the sun, Yellowjacket stayed at Hydro-Base while the other avengers went into space. When they tried to free Ronan the Accuser, he stopped them. Agent Brand informed him that Yellowjacket needed to defuse the Kree explosive, forcing him to retreat. He gave up on trying to disarm the Kree explosive, and shrunk it into the Microverse, where it detonates but harms very little, at that scale. Hank later revealed to Brand that he was merely making fun of her during the bomb diffusion, which earned him a sucker punch from her.
Gallery
Trivia
- During development of Avengers: Endgame, Hank Pym and Janet were considered to take part in the final battle using their old suits, but it was later scrapped as they didn't want to make it a "character orgy".[1]
- In the comics, Hank Pym was one of the founding members of the Avengers, and the creator of Ultron. Later, he became known as Yellowjacket before he passed the Ant-Man mantle to Scott Lang.
- In later comics, Pym became a member of the Illuminati, a group made of the smartest and most powerful characters in the Marvel Universe, including Black Bolt, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Medusa, Stephen Strange, and T'Challa. The Illuminati were later shown in the MCU, in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, without Hank Pym as a member.
- Michael Douglas originally requested for Hank to die in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but it was denied.[2]
References
- ↑ "‘Avengers: Endgame’: The Screenwriters Answer Every Question You Might Have". New York Times (April 29, 2019).
- ↑ "Michael Douglas reveals 'fantastic way' he wanted Hank Pym to die in Ant-Man sequel". Entertainment Weekly (April 16, 2024).
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