With the "Ant-Man" film coming up, I'm certain people will know Hank Pym and Scott Lang fairly soon. Little do people know-ha, little joke-there was a third Ant-Man who took the tiny mantle for awhile. This man is Eric O'Grady: Z-Lister, SHEILD Agent, and The Irredeemable Ant-Man! Also, he's a real creep!
So sure, Hank Pym hit his wife once and Scott Lang was career criminal, the Ant-Man name hasn't been worn with much of a success rate all things considered, but this Eric O'Grady fella, he takes "not a hero" to a whole new level. See Eric was a low-level agent of SHIELD-a position he took advantage of-who craved an outlet for his lack of morals. A day came when his best friend-Agent Chris McCarthy-was assigned to test Hank Pym's new Ant-Man suit. However, an invasion by HYDRA resulted in Chris getting shot in the head and Eric stealing the suit off his friend's corpse. Eric then goes on to sleep with Chris' girlfriend Veronica and get her pregnant by accident. The first chance he gets, Eric shamelessly abandons Veronica.
Eric learns the next SHIELD agent who was supposed to test the suit was his idol Agent Mitch Carson, but because Eric had taken the suit Mitch was forced to use a prototype suit. Eric and Mitch fought for the stolen suit until it's jet boosters burnt half of Mitch's face and left him half blind and half deaf. Eric took Mitch to a infirmary before running off again. Now this is were things get creepy. Eric frequency used the suit's powers to shrink himself and stalk attractive women, hiding in their homes and watching them undress. One his favorite women to stalk was Ms. Marvel of The Mighty Avengers. He also used the suit to commit crimes, once working out a deal with another criminal named Black Fox to steal pearls from a pawn shop and make off with $150, 000.
While trying to start a new life, Eric starts working for Damage Control under the fake ID of "Derek Sullivan" and the superhero name "Slaying Mantis". During all this he started a relationship with a girl named Abigail. Things seem perfect: Eric has a steady job, a beautiful girlfriend, and his new identity keeps SHIELD from finding him. However, things fall apart when Abigail reveals to him that she is a single mother. In fear of fathering a child, Eric uses Abigail's secrecy as an excuse to break up with her. After a confrontation with The Hulk, Eric wakes up aboard a helicarrier and is tortured by Mitch Carson. Mitch reveals to Eric that he had used his position at SHIELD to cover crimes he committed in his past. Eric uses Mitch's confession to cover his own tracks, telling Iron Man that he took the Ant-Man suit to keep Mitch from abusing it's power in the first place. It took the arrest of Black Fox to convince SHIELD that Eric wasn't a bad guy. Eric was given his SHIELD status back and happily proceeded to break Black Fox out of prison.
I could go on about how Eric had various battles with other members of the Ant-Man family-placing his past misdeeds on Scott Lang and beating up Scott's daughter Cassie-but for all the terrible things Eric O'Grady has done-and boy are there a lot-Eric did stay committed to Abigail and her son, Eric did pay child support to Veronica, and Eric did die a heroic death protecting a child from a group of henchmen. Then he was replaced by a robot. So, was Eric really a hero? No. But did he at least do some good with the Ant-Man suit? Yeah, I guess. It's just hard to appreciate all the good he's done in comparison to the unspeakable crimes he's committed. I guess nobody's perfect. I can at least say without a doubt, Eric O'Grady is the worst superhero ever. Go on, challenge me on that! Anyway, thanks for reading!
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