| Ant-Man | |
|---|---|
 Mitchell Carson andEric O'Grady on the cover ofIrredeemable Ant-Man vol. 1 #5 (April 2007). Art byPhil Hester | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Tales to Astonish #27 (January 1962) (as Dr. Henry Pym);Tales to Astonish #35 (September 1962) (as Ant-Man) |
| Created by | Stan Lee (co-creator) Larry Lieber (writer) Jack Kirby (co-creator, writer) |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Hank Pym Scott Lang Eric O'Grady Chris McCarthy Zayn Asghar |
| Team affiliations | Avengers |
| Abilities |
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Ant-Man is the name of severalsuperheroes appearing in books published byMarvel Comics.
Created byStan Lee,Larry Lieber andJack Kirby, his first appearance was inTales to Astonish #27 (January 1962) asDr. Henry Pym; however, he first appeared in costume as Ant-Man inTales to Astonish #35 (September 1962). The persona was originated by the brilliant scientist Hank Pym's superhero alias after inventing a substance that can change size (Pym Particles), but reformed thievesScott Lang andEric O'Grady also took on the Ant-Man mantle after the original changed his superhero identity to various other aliases, such asGiant-Man,Goliath, andYellowjacket. Pym's Ant-Man is also a founding member of the super hero team known as theAvengers. The character has appeared in several films based on the Marvel character, such asAnt-Man (2015),Captain America: Civil War (2016),Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018),Avengers: Endgame (2019), andAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).
Over the years, a number of different characters have assumed the title of Ant-Man; most of them have been connected with theAvengers.
Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym was a Biophysicist and Security Operations Center expert who decided to be the original Ant-Man, a superhero after the death of his first wifeMaria Trovaya who had been a political dissident in Hungary. Falling in love with him and believing that his American citizenship would protect her, Maria traveled with Hank to Hungary shortly after their marriage to start their new life together. Unfortunately they were confronted by corrupt agents of the secret police. Hank was knocked unconscious and Maria was murdered. Pym was greatly distraught by his wife's death, and decided to do whatever he could in the future to battle injustice. After discovering a chemical substance, which he called Pym Particles, that would allow the user to alter his size, he armed himself with a helmet that could control ants. After that, Pym would shrink down to the size of an insect as the mystery-solving Ant-Man, solving crimes and stopping criminals.[1] He soon shared his discovery with his second wifeJanet van Dyne as his crime-fighting partner Wasp when he helped Janet avenge the death of her scientist father Vernon van Dyne who was killed by an alien unleashed by one of Vernon's own experiments.[2] The duo would be founding members of theAvengers, fighting recurring enemies such as the mad scientistEgghead, the mutantWhirlwind, and Pym's own robotic creationUltron.[3] While Pym is the original Ant-Man, he has adopted other aliases over the years includingGiant-Man,Goliath,Yellowjacket,[2] and Wasp after Janet's presumed death inSecret Invasion.[4] Leaving his original persona vacant, his successors have taken up the Ant-Man role while Pym explored these other identities.
Scott Lang was a thief who decided to be the second Ant-Man after stealing the Ant-Man suit to save his daughterCassandra "Cassie" Lang from a heart condition.[5] Reforming from his life of crime, Lang soon took on a full-time career as Ant-Man with the encouragement of Hank Pym.[6] He became an affiliate of theFantastic Four[7] and later became a full-time member of the Avengers. For a period of time he datedJessica Jones.[5] He was killed by theScarlet Witch along with theVision andHawkeye inAvengers Disassembled,[8] and his daughter took up his heroic mantle as Stature in the bookYoung Avengers. He returned to life in 2011 in the mini seriesThe Children's Crusade.
Chris McCarthy was the third character to take up the Ant-Man title albeit briefly, serving only as a plot point to get the Ant-Man suit to Eric O'Grady.[9][10][11] The character, created byRobert Kirkman andPhil Hester, first appeared inCivil War: Choosing Sides #1 (October 2006). A low level agent ofS.H.I.E.L.D. working on theHelicarrier, McCarthy was tasked with guarding Dr. Pym's lab. After panicking and accidentally knocked Pym unconscious, he found the most recent Ant-Man suit which he promptly used to shrink, getting lost. McCarthy was caught up when a group ofHydra superhumans attacked and was killed in the chaos.[9][10][11]
Eric O'Grady was the fourth character to take up the Ant-Man title. O'Grady is a low-level agent ofS.H.I.E.L.D. who stumbles upon the Ant-Man suit.[9] A man of few morals and willing to lie, cheat, steal and manipulate in order to get ahead in life, O'Grady stole the armor for his own selfish plans, which included using his status as a "super-hero" to seduce women,[10] as well as humiliate and torment others.[11] He had his own short-lived title before being part of other teams such as joiningAvengers: The Initiative as his first team and then joining theThunderbolts before the character perished heroically while defending a child against the villain known as Father.
Criti Noll was aSkrull who impersonated Hank Pym / Ant-Man during occasions before theSecret Invasion storyline.[12][13]
Dr. Zayn Asghar operates as the Earth-14831 equivalent of Ant-Man in the year 2549. The character, created byAl Ewing and Tom Reilly, first appeared inAnt-Man Vol. 3 #1 (July 2022). Born to eco-scientists working to repair the damage to Earth caused by All-Father Ultron inUltron Forever, he developing an obsession with redeeming Hank Pym, Ultron's creator, and created the Nano Ant Swarm which he used to fight paleo-capitalists and disaster opportunists as Ant-Man. Dr. Asghar began cloning thousands of extinct ant species to restore his world's climate, but these ants lacked the evolved instincts of the insects. UsingDoctor Doom's Time Platform, he returns to the time periods of the three previous Ant-Men to study their methods of insect control to synthesize artificial instincts for his ants, briefly interacting with each of his contemporaries. Dr. Asghar's tampering with time resulted in All-Father Ultron finding a way to return to the Earth he once conquered. Zayn pulls Pym, Eric O'Grady, and Scott Lang to his time. Using Time Master's aging ray that was brought to the future by Lang, Zayn removes the artificial aging that turned Ultron into the All-Father, causing him to vanish to parts unknown.[14]
Paul Rudd andMichael Douglas portrayScott Lang andHank Pym respectively in media set in theMarvel Cinematic Universe.[22][17][18] Both have appeared in the live-action filmsAnt-Man (2015),Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018),Avengers: Endgame (2019), andAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). Additionally, Lang appears in the live-action filmCaptain America: Civil War (2016) while alternate timeline variants of Lang and Pym appear in theDisney+ animated seriesWhat If...?.
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