Henry Pym

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Publication history

Hank Pym debuted in a seven-page solo cover story, "The Man in the Ant Hill", about a character who tests shrinking technology on himself, in the science fiction/fantasy anthology Tales to Astonish #27 (cover date January 1962). The story was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, writer Larry Lieber, penciller Jack Kirby, and inker Dick Ayers. In a 2008 interview, Lee said: "I did one comic book called 'The Man in the Ant Hill' about a guy who shrunk down and there were ants or bees chasing him. That sold so well that I thought making him into a superhero might be fun."

As a result, Pym was revived eight issues later as the costumed superhero Ant-Man who starred in a 13-page, three-chapter story "Return of the Ant-Man/An Army of Ants/The Ant-Man's Revenge" in Tales to Astonish #35 (September 1962). His adventures became an ongoing feature in the title. Issue #44 (June 1963) featured the debut of his socialite girlfriend and lab assistant Janet van Dyne, who adopted the costumed identity of the Wasp. She co-starred in Pym's subsequent appearances, and was a framing-sequence host for backup stories in the series. In September 1963, Lee and Kirby created the superhero title The Avengers, and Ant-Man and Wasp were established in issue #1 as founding members of the eponymous team.

Decades later, Lee theorized as to why "Ant-Man never became one of our top sellers or had his own book":

I loved Ant-Man, but the stories were never really successful. In order for Ant-Man to be successful, he had to be drawn this small next to big things and you would be getting pictures that were visually interesting. The artists who drew him, no matter how much I kept reminding them, they kept forgetting that fact. They would draw him standing on a tabletop and they would draw a heroic-looking guy. I would say, 'Draw a matchbook cover next to him, so we see the difference in size.' But they kept forgetting. So when you would look at the panels, you thought you were looking at a normal guy wearing an underwear costume like all of them. It didn't have the interest.

Pym began a continuous shift of superhero identities in Tales to Astonish, first becoming the 12 ft-tall (3.7 m) Giant-Man in issue #49 (November 1963). Pym and van Dyne continued to costar in the title until issue #69 (July 1965), while simultaneously appearing in The Avengers until issue #15 (April 1965), after which they temporarily left the team.

Next Pym rejoined the Avengers and adopted the new identity Goliath in Avengers #28 (May 1966). Gradually falling to mental strain, he adopted the fourth superhero identity Yellowjacket in issue #59 (December 1968). He reappeared as Ant-Man in Avengers #93 (November 1971); and for issues #4–10 starred in the lead story of the first volume of Marvel Feature (July 1972 – July 1973). During this run, he appeared in a redesigned costume with a nail as a weapon. After appearing occasionally as Yellowjacket in the 1980s and battling mental and emotional issues, he temporarily abandoned costumed personas altogether, joining the West Coast Avengers as a scientist and inventor in West Coast Avengers vol. 2, #21 (June 1987). Writer Steve Englehart explained, "I've been using him as he asked to be used. In the Egghead story, where he bombed out as Yellowjacket, he said that he would never be a superhero again, so I took him at his word."

Pym returned to the Avengers as Giant-Man in The Avengers vol. 3, #1 (February 1998). When the team disbanded after a series of tragedies, Pym, as Yellowjacket, took a leave of absence beginning with vol. 3, #85 (September 2004).

Following van Dyne's death, a grieving Pym took on the Wasp identity as a tribute to her in the one-shot publication Secret Invasion: Requiem (January 2009). Giant-Man appeared as a supporting character in Avengers Academy from issue #1 (August 2010) through its final issue #39 (January 2013). Pym returned as the Wasp in the mini-series Ant-Man & The Wasp (January 2011) and as a regular character in the 2010-2013 Secret Avengers series from issue #22 (April 2012) through its final issue #37 (March 2013).

After Secret Avengers, Pym joined the Avengers A.I. after beating his creation Ultron. He then appeared in many comics including Daredevil (Vol. 3 and 4) and the graphic novel Rage of Ultron.

1960s

Biochemist Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym discovers an unusual set of subatomic particles he labels "Pym particles". Entrapping them within two separate serums, he creates a size-altering formula and a reversal formula, testing them on himself. Reduced to the size of an insect, he becomes trapped in an anthill before he eventually escapes and uses the reversal formula to return to normal size. Deciding the serums are too dangerous, he destroys them. He later reconsiders his decision and recreates his serums. Pym's experience in the anthill inspires him to study ants, and he builds a cybernetic helmet that lets him communicate with and control them. He designs a costume made of unstable molecules to prevent bites or scratches from the ants and reinvents himself as the superhero Ant-Man.

After several adventures, Pym is contacted by Vernon van Dyne, who asks for his help contacting alien life. Pym refuses, but is attracted to Vernon's socialite daughter Janet van Dyne. When Vernon is killed by an alien criminal who teleports to Earth, Janet asks for Pym's help avenging his death. Pym reveals his secret identity to Janet and uses Pym particles to graft wasp wings beneath her shoulders, which appear when Janet shrinks. She assumes the alias of the Wasp, and together they find and defeat Vernon's killer. They become founding members of the superhero team the Avengers.

Pym eventually adopts his first alternate identity as the 12-foot-tall Giant-Man. (Three decades later, a flashback shows him adopting the identity out of feelings of inadequacy when compared to powerful teammates Iron Man and Thor.) Pym and the Wasp begin a romantic relationship, and soon take a leave of absence from the Avengers.

Returning to the Avengers, Pym adopts a new superhero identity, Goliath. A mishap traps him in giant form for several issues and affects his self-esteem. After recovering his size-shifting powers, he creates the robot Ultron that unexpectedly achieves sentience and becomes one of the Avengers's greatest foes. During a botched experiment, Pym inhales chemicals that affect his mind, and he reappears at Avengers Mansion in the cocky new persona of Yellowjacket, claiming to have disposed of Pym. The Wasp secretly realizes he is Pym, however, and accepts his offer of marriage. At their wedding, a battle with the Circus of Crime erupts; in the ensuing conflict, the chemicals lose their effect on him and his identity is restored.

1980s

Returning 14 issues later, Hank Pym participates in several missions until, after demonstrating hostile behavior toward Janet van Dyne, he attacks a foe from behind once the opponent had ceased fighting. Captain America suspends Yellowjacket from Avengers duty pending the verdict of a court-martial.

Pym suffers a mental breakdown and concocts a plan to salvage his credibility. He plans to build a robot and program it to launch an attack on the Avengers; Pym will then counter the false flag attack at a critical moment using his knowledge of the robot's weaknesses, thereby presenting himself as the other Avengers' savior. The Wasp discovers the plan and begs Pym to stop, whereupon he strikes her.

Pym is subsequently expelled from the Avengers, and Janet divorces him.

Left penniless, Pym is manipulated by an old foe, the presumed-dead Egghead, who tricks Pym into stealing the national reserve of the metal adamantium. Pym is confronted by the Avengers and blamed for the theft, as Egghead erases all evidence of his own involvement. Pym, in turn, blames Egghead, a criminal still believed dead by the other Avengers. This is taken by Pym's former teammates as further proof of his madness, and he is incarcerated. During Pym's imprisonment, Janet has a brief relationship with Tony Stark. Egghead later attempts to kill Pym but is himself accidentally killed by Hawkeye. With the perpetrator of the original theft now exposed, Pym is cleared of all charges. After bidding farewell to Janet and his teammates, Pym leaves to devote himself full-time to research.

Pym reappears as a member of the West Coast Avengers, first in an advisory role, then as a full member. He answers to "Doctor Pym" in the field, using none of the names or costumes associated with his previous superhero identities. He begins a short relationship with teammate Tigra. After being taunted by old foe Whirlwind, Pym contemplates suicide, but is stopped by Firebird. Pym and Janet eventually resume a romantic relationship.

2000s

During the Destiny War between Kang the Conqueror and Immortus, two versions of Hank Pym are drawn in: Giant-Man of the present and Yellowjacket immediately prior to his marriage to Janet van Dyne. Yellowjacket briefly betrays the team to Immortus and the powerful Time-Keepers try to create a timeline where he will not turn back into Pym, but he rejects this decision in time to help his allies. Observing the final battle, Libra—who brought the team together by using the Destiny Force to tap into his subconscious awareness of the cosmic balance—reflects that both Pyms were necessary so that Yellowjacket's betrayal could bring the team into the right position to attack the Time-Keepers, while Pym's presence as Giant-Man both provided a stable support and irritated Yellowjacket to provoke his own actions.

Back in the present, an encounter with Kulan Gath results in Pym being split into his two personas of Pym and Yellowjacket, after a spell cast by Gath temporarily transforms Pym into a swashbuckler-style Yellowjacket, followed by the Yellowjacket persona manifesting a physical presence from the extradimensional bio-mass Pym uses to grow. Yellowjacket's stability deteriorates in a confrontation with Diablo. The two personalities are restored when the Wasp helps the two halves realize they need each other. Pym is eventually able to resolve his problems and adopts his Yellowjacket persona again.

After the events of the "Avengers Disassembled" storyline, Pym takes a leave of absence, and in the one-shot Avengers: Finale, he and Janet leave for England to rekindle their relationship.

As Yellowjacket, Pym is a central character in the Civil War storyline, joining those heroes that support the Superhuman Registration Act. At the conclusion of the Civil War, Pym is named "Man of the Year" by Time magazine for his role in freeing several captive anti-registration heroes. Pym becomes one of the administrators at Camp Hammond, a U.S. military base in Stamford, Connecticut, for the training of registered superheroes in the government program The Initiative. Pym and Janet's relationship fails, and Pym again begins a romantic relationship with teammate Tigra.

Following the publication of Civil War, Marvel's Secret Invasion storyline uses flashbacks to present the then-current version of the character as an impostor who replaced the real Pym at some point in the books' fictional history prior to the events of Civil War. This impostor is an extraterrestrial of the shape-shifting Skrull race participating in a covert invasion of Earth; Pym's experiences throughout the Civil War series and related series are retold in brief from the perspective of the impostor and its allies. The impostor is exposed and defeated by the hero Crusader. After the final battle between Earth's heroes and the Skrulls, Pym is found with other "replaced" heroes in a Skrull vessel. When Janet is seemingly killed in battle, Pym takes on a new superhero persona, the Wasp, in tribute to her. He rejoins the Avengers and eventually leads the team.

The cosmic entity Eternity reveals to Pym that he is Earth's "Scientist Supreme", the scientific counterpart to Earth's Sorcerer Supreme. The Norse trickster-god Loki later claims to have been posing as Eternity to manipulate Pym.

Enemies

Absorbing Man - A powerful enemy who can absorb the properties of everything he touches.

A.I.M. - A scientific community that tried to recruit and kill Hank Pym in different occasions.

Alkhema - An artificial intelligence born to be the second wife of Ultron. She has the brain patterns of the Avenger Mockingbird.

Atlas - Erik Josten is a supervillain who can shrink or grow his own size. He also used the Goliath persona during his permanence in the Masters of Evil.

Black Knight - A scientist who made knight-based technology after being denied the Ebony Blade.

Dimitrios - A supervillain artificial intelligence created by Pym himself to destroy Ultron only to take a life of its own afterwards.

Doctor Nemesis - A supervillain with the ability to shrink and grow in size just like Ant-Man.

Egghead - A mad scientist with an egg-shaped head.

Hijacker - An armored car company owner who became a car thief.

Kraglin - An A-Chiltarian who assisted his kind in controlling a Cyclops robot to capture human specimens.

Kulla - The dictator of the dimension of Dehnock.

Liso Trago - A jazz musician from India who uses a special trumpet to control people. Ant-Man and Wasp turned his music against him causing Trago to forget his criminal intention and resume his career as a jazz musician.

Living Eraser - An alien from Dimension Z whose Dimensionizer can transport anything to Dimension Z.

Magician - A stage magician who used his stage acts in his crimes.

MODAM - An alternate female version of MODOK who was originally supposed to be a revived Maria Trovaya. She is later revealed to be the mother of Hank's daughter Nadia prior to becoming MODAM.

People's Defense Force - A team of Eastern European super-powered beings who had fought Hank Pym individually before coming together.

Beasts of Berlin - A group of western lowland gorillas mutated to human intelligence by Communist scientists and speech. They operate as a team.

El Toro - El Toro is Cuba's first super agent and an early opponent of Henry Pym.

Madame X - Madame X is a patriot and spy for the communist Hungarian government.

Scarlet Beetles - The Scarlet Beetles are normal beetles who have been mutated to a size of 10-feet and given human intelligence and speech.

Voice - A supervillain whose voice enables him to control anyone.

Pilai - A Kosmonian criminal who was accidentally brought to Earth by Vernon van Dyne.

Porcupine - A porcupine-themed villain.

Protector - A jewelry store owner who adopted the Protector alias to extort his rivals.

Time Master - Elias Weems is an elderly scientist who made an aging ray after having been fired from the Modern Scientific Research Company. After being defeated by Ant-Man when he realized that his visiting grandson Tommy was in the crowd that he aged, Weems was exonerated after Ant-Man and the Modern Scientific Research Company's owner persuaded the judge to waive the charges. Afterwards, Weems got his job back and showed Tommy around his place of work.

Ultron - A robot created by Hank Pym who obtained sentience.

Whirlwind - A mutant who can spin at supersonic speeds.

Henry Pym

Henry Pym

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Publication history

Fictional character biography

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Powers and abilities

Successors

Enemies

Reception

Accolades

Other versions

Earth-5012

Heroes Reborn (2021)

Marvel 1602

Marvel Adventures

Marvel Apes

Marvel Zombies

MC2

Old Man Logan

The Last Avengers Story

Ultimate Marvel

Ultimate Universe

In other media

Television

Film

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Video games

Miscellaneous

Related journals

About Henry Pym

About Henry Pym

Article

Related journals

Live room · 1 here

Article

Publication history

Fictional character biography

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Powers and abilities

Successors

Enemies

Reception

Accolades

Other versions

Earth-5012

Heroes Reborn (2021)

Marvel 1602

Marvel Adventures

Marvel Apes

Marvel Zombies

MC2

Old Man Logan

The Last Avengers Story

Ultimate Marvel

Ultimate Universe

In other media

Television

Film

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Video games

Miscellaneous

Related journals