Hank Pym
Hank Pym is a male comic superhero that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Henry Christopher Pym was the only son of factory foreman Brad Pym and book keeper Doris Pym. Hank was raised at his family home in East Nowhere in Nebraska. At the age of three, doctors had diagnosed as being smarter than both his parents combined. Despite being a challenging child, it was noted that his parents had loved him though they were unsure how to interact with him. The one person that understood Hank was his father's mother Angela Pym who was a mid-list science fiction writer. His grandmother was close to Hank and he considered her his friend. Pym's parents tried to raise him intellectually with a view towards engineering and medicine whilst concepts such as needs and practicality was stressed. In contrast, his grandmother attempted to foster his creativity, and imagination. As a result, he grew up with a combination of both approaches towards life. By age five, his parents wanted Hank to build practical technology so that they could be rich but his grandmother continued to encourage his self-expression. However, at age seven his grandmother passed away despite Hank trying to build a machine to save her. After that point, he pushed aside his creative side and instead worked on practical technology that he considered dull. He went into higher education on a scholarship with numerous inventions being made whilst professors ensured that he remained focused on making further such creations. (Age of Ultron v1 #10AI)
In his adult years, he became involved with a Hungarian woman by the name of Maria Trovaya. She and her father had been political prisoners till they escaped to the United States. Whilst there, she had met Pym with the two getting married with her being Maria Pym and having their honeymoon in Hungary despite Hank's reservations. Her father was in America working for his new homeland with Maria desiring to see the places of her childhood. During their honeymoon, however, armed men kidnapped Maria and knocked Hank out where they left him on the street. During recovery at hospital, he was informed that the body of his wife was found with her being dead which left Pym grieving. (Tales to Astonish v1 #44)
He later was met by a scientist by the name of Dr. Vernon van Dyne who was accompanied by his daughter Janet van Dyne. (Tales to Astonish v1 #44)
Avengers
Alongside Bill Foster, Pym worked with creation of a variant of the particle to help enlarge food to solve world hunger issues. This resulted in Project: B.I.G. (Biotechnically Induced Growth) that were a derivative of the Pym Particles. (Avengers v1 #379)
Mighty Avengers
Around this time, a Chaos Cascade was impacting the world that was secretly being created by the summoning of Chthon. In order to stop it, it was decided that the divided Avengers needed to assemble with Amadeus Cho and Hercules seeking to find someone to lead such a group. Upon meeting Edwin Jarvis, he took the pair to meet Hank Pym who was honoring his late wife by operating under the name Wasp and was conducting research in his Pym Pocket dimension. Cho helped convince Pym to lead a new team of Avengers to stop the danger that was coming from Transia. (Mighty Avengers v1 #21)
Overview
Personality and attributes
After the apparent death of Janet, he created a new suit and operated under the code name of Wasp. (Mighty Avengers v1 #21)
He was counted among the seven smartest human beings on the planet. According to Pym, magic was simply science that he had not managed to explain yet. (Mighty Avengers v1 #21)
When he initially joined the original Avengers, Hank did not feel he measured up against the other superheroes. But after Loki's defeat, he came to regard himself as the smartest member on the team. This position was changed greatly when he accidently discovered that Iron Man was actually Tony Stark and he came to question himself on being the smartest member on the team. (Mighty Avengers v1 #21)
After his initial accident with his formula, he never knowingly stepped on an ant due to the fact that he owed his life to one small ant. (Tales to Astonish v1 #27)
He was noted to had loved his first wife Maria Trovoya with him becoming restless after her death with these being bitter memories. Janet van Dyne he noted for resembling Maria but being much younger and for a time he regarded her as a child. (Tales to Astonish v1 #44)
Powers and abilities
He had learnt judo and was knowledgeable in its practice. (Tales to Astonish v1 #27) As a scientist, he knowledgeable on molecular cell transition and cell specialization. (Tales to Astonish v1 #44)
The cybernetic helmet sent electronic-wave commands that could send messages to hymenoptera. (Tales to Astonish v1 #44)
The perfected serum allowed him to change the size of any object. (Tales to Astonish v1 #27)
Another piece of equipment developed by Hank was the Toolbot that could be shrunk and enlarged to fit in his hand. It contained the top nine hundred tools he used all of which were shrunken down to fit into the handle. A smart-chip present on it was used to provide the necessary tool that Pym needed at any given time. (Mighty Avengers v1 #21) During his time as the Wasp, he built a pistol known as the Stinger that focused his bio-energy into a stun beam. (Mighty Avengers v1 #22)
He later began to experiment on shrinking portions of space and time creating what he termed as Pym Pockets that were large regions of space that existed within a small area. These Pym Pockets were also able to link to different points of space-time allowing a user to go through a door to any part in the world. (Mighty Avengers v1 #21) From there, he operated a laboratory that could be anchored anywhere such as Chicago whose doorways could link to various sites such as the Avengers Mansion. The tether to the world was capable of being severed to prevent entry by outsiders but losing this link meant that slowly the Pocket would disappear in less than 48 hours. This meant that an untethered Pym Pocket could still make use of the doors but slowly these would disappear until the laboratory itself was also lost with everyone inside stranded outside of space and time. (Mighty Avengers v1 #24)
Hank later developed a science surrounding shrinking with an aspect of it being the Third Law of Molecular Compression. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #789)
Notes
- Hank Pym was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby where he made his first appearance in Tales to Astonish v1 #27 (January 1962).
Alternate Versions
- In Thor: The Mighty Thor v1 (2010), an alternate version of Hank Pym resided on this world. It was shown that he had a mentor in Professor Lew Stephens who was later killed by Mr. Hyde.
- In What If: Age of Ultron v1 (2014), a version of Hank Pym was shown who was married to Wasp but Janet was later killed. This led to a depressed Pym creating a more brutal version of Ultron earlier to replace the Avengers in order to prevent another such trajedy. Hanks creation then took over the world and converted Pym into a Cyborg named Ultron-1321 that served Lord Ultron.
In other media
Television
- In The Avengers: United They Stand, Hank Pym as Ant-Man appeared in the animated series where he was voiced by actor Rod Wilson.
- In Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, Henry Pym made an appearance in the episode "World's Tiniest Heroes" where he was voiced by actor John Payne. He was shown to be operating as Ant-Man and a noted expert in molecular reduction as well as a friend to Reed Richards. Ant-Man discovered a microscopic universe that he called Sub-Atomica though Mister Fantastic preferred the Microverse. Hank Pym arrived in the Baxter Building to assist the Fantastic Four who had been affected by atoms from the Microverse causing them to shrink constantly. Reed was shown to hold a friendly rivalry with Pym on learning the secrets of the Microverse.
- In Iron Man: Armored Adventures, the character did not appear but a Pym Industries was mentioned in the episode "X-Factor".
- In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Hank Pym made an regular appearance where he was voiced by actor Wally Wingert.
- In Avengers Assemble, Dr. Pym was referenced in the animated television series fourth season Secret Wars in the episode "Prison Break" with the Wasp referring to her father by name and that he always underestimated her.
Films
- In Ant-Man, the character became part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was portrayed by actor Michael Douglas. Dr. Hank Pym was a scientist who discovered the Pym Particle that allowed a user to shrink and manipulate their size. With it, he constructed the Ant-Man Suit and operated as an American superhero agent where he was active in the 1980s. During this time, he married Janet van Dyne and the pair had a daughter named Hope. Janet later participated on missions with Hank where she wore her own suit and the pair were involved on a mission where Communist forces launched a missile towards the United States. On the rocket, Pym's regulator was damage which prevented him from shrinking further to damage the missile's circuitry. As a result, Janet used her regulator to enter the quantum realm and succeeded in stopping the missile but it led to her being lost in that subatomic universe where she was presumed dead. In grief, Dr. Pym attempted to study the quantum realm to find a means of bringing her back but distanced himself from his own daughter who was sent to boarding school in this time. Hank's time as a hero came to an end when he learnt that S.H.I.E.L.D. had been attempting to replicate the particle's formula and abandoned his time as the Ant-Man. He kept the suit and the particle a secret whereupon he formed Pym Technologies where he took on a young protégé by the name of Darren Cross.
Video games
- In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Dr. Henry 'Hank' Pym appeared as a hero character in the Facebook video game. His backstory noted him as being quite possibly the smartest man in the world but his battle with mental illness which kept him in the shadow of Tony Stark and Reed Richards. Hank's discovery of the Pym Particle was listed as among his many scientific achievements with him using his genius to operate as a hero to fight injustice.
- In Marvel Heroes, Hank Pym wearing the original Ant-Man costume appeared in the game where he was voiced by actor Wally Wingert. He was shown to serve as an vendor at Avengers Tower who upgrades gear and as an alternate skin for Ant-Man.
Appearances
- Tales to Astonish:
- Mighty Avengers v1:
- Avengers AI:
External Links
This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.
