Marvel Studios released the first trailer for The Ant-Man movie last night. This take on Ant-Man is bound to have staggering differences, the first being the man presented as the Ant-Man we'll be following in the movie is the second person to take the mantle. The first Ant-Man was Hank Pym, as he'll be played to be more of a mentor in the movie, I thought I'd sit down and tell you readers how Marvel Comic's Hank Pym gained his complicated reputation.
Hank Pym first appeared in "Tales to Astonish #35" in 1962 as a biochemist who discovers subatomic particles and names them Pym Particles. Experimenting with these particles, Pym accidentally shrinks himself to the size of an insect. At this size he found a fascination with this smaller world and the creatures inhabiting it. When he returns to human size Pym designs a helmet to communicate with the ants he encountered during his adventures and dons the superhero persona, Ant-Man. During his early years, Pym meets a woman named Janet Van Dyne and gives her similar superpowers to avenge her father's death. Janet becomes The Wasp and begins a relationship with Pym, the two of them go on to be founding members of The Avengers. Pym changes his superhero identity to Giant-Man after he learns his Pym Particles could increase his size, as well. He also creates this 12-foot tall alter-ego out of insecurity as fellow Avengers like Thor and Hulk were recognized for their strength. For a time Pym had become stuck in his giant form and had taken the new name Goliath. Once this wore off, Pym decided to create a robot he called Ultron. Unfortunately, Ultron becomes sentient and deems human life dangerous to the Earth. Ultron would continue to be one of The Avengers' greatest enemies and one of Pym's greatest mistakes. Following that came a mishap when Pym was injured during one of his experiments, this caused him to develop a second psyche called Yellowjacket. The personality-altered Pym went to The Avengers as Yellowjacket cocky, confident and claiming to have disposed of Hank Pym. Although Pym's mind would revert back to normal, his invention Ultron would further torture his life by wiping his memory once more. This resulted in Pym attacking The Avengers because he did not recognize the team's members. When he rejoins the Avengers he is shown to be hostile towards his wife Janet/Wasp and unnecessarily brutal to criminals, this causes Captain America to suspend Hank Pym from his superhero duties. Hoping to redeem himself in the eyes of his peers, Pym designs a new robot called Salvation-1 and plans to have it attack The Avengers. By exploiting his robot's predesigned weakness Pym would show The Avengers he was still a capable hero. After Janet discovers this plan, she attempts to stop Pym which causes the darkest moment in Ant-Man history as Hank Pym strikes his wife. Salvation-1 attacks The Avengers, but it is actually Janet who defeats it. Janet divorces Hank Pym and Pym is kicked out of The Avengers. The coming decades would have Pym descend into insanity, land himself in prison, redeem himself by tutoring young heroes and rekindling his relationship with Janet Van Dyne. While Pym would occasionally cycle through his superhero identities, it would be his first mantle of Ant-Man that he'd pass on to another man trying to redeem himself, Scott Lang. Today, Hank Pym continues to help The Avengers. Sometimes as Yellowjacket, sometimes as Giant-Man, but always as Hank Pym, Scientist Supreme.
The story of Hank Pym is littered with both minimal changes and monumental failures, always resulting in Pym making up for his downfalls again and again. While he may not be the biggest superhero-figuritvly and literally-Pym holds a legacy among The Marvel Universe. Not for his scatterbrained superhero identities, but for his rise from madness. Thanks for reading!
Check out the Ant-Man trailer here!
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