Full spoilers follow for Marvel’s What If…? Episode 3.
Ever since it was revealed that Scott Lang would be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Ant-Man, but Hank Pym would still be in the picture, longtime comics fans have wondered how or even if, the movies would ever touch upon Hank’s troubled and unstable past.
The third episode of Marvel’s What If...? series on Disney+ showed a darker side to the character as Hank is revealed to be the one who destroys the MCU’s Avengers before Nick Fury could ever bring them together. Even though he isn’t involved with the formation of the team in the regular MCU timeline, seeing Hank Pym as the cause of death for The Avengers was still a real kick in the long box.
Let's delve into some classic Marvel lore to learn more about Hank Pym's dark past.
Not only was the original Ant-Man a founding member of the team, but he’s also the one who came up with the plan that beat Loki in Avengers #1, and he suggested they stay together.
But to say he has a checkered history with the team would be to hilariously understate things. Hank has been a problem for the Avengers on more than one occasion. In fact, this What If...? scenario isn’t even the second time Hank Pym went after the Avengers!
Up to now, the two Ant-Man movies have just painted Hank as a rebellious and cantankerous scientist. They have conveniently side-stepped the insecurities and schizophrenia that have made Dr. Henry Pym one of Marvel’s most troubled heroes. And the big-screen version certainly hasn’t come close to being the abusive husband he was depicted as during the character’s nadir in the early 1980s. Which isn’t terribly surprising, given that industry legend Michael Douglas plays Pym.
If the MCU was happening during Douglas’ heyday as Hollywood’s most fearless A-lister, Dr. Henry Pym as played by Michael Douglas would be incredibly enticing. Few actors have ever had such a run of daring (and successful) films playing the kind of flawed characters Douglas did in movies like Wall Street, Black Rain, Basic Instinct, Falling Down, and A Perfect Murder. Seeing him playing a mentally unstable superhero would be right in his acting wheelhouse. But this is a different era, and there’s likely zero chance the Powers That Be at Marvel Studios have any interest in going that dark with one of their heroes.
But if they did, boy, would they have a treasure trove of material to work with. To start, there are his multiple superhero personas. Henry Pym has been in order of appearance: Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket, Dr. Henry Pym, the West Coast Avengers’ Scientific Adventurer, Yellowjacket (again), the Wasp (as a tribute to his wife Jan, when she was dead for a time), and Earth’s Scientist Supreme.
And while much of his troubles were depicted by retconning Silver Age adventures, his self-esteem issues date back to his earliest appearances as Goliath. His lack of faith in his own scientific abilities was also established back during the legendary Roy Thomas-John Buscema era on the Avengers title in the late 1960s. A lab accident actually led to the creation of Yellowjacket as essentially a manifestation of Pym’s schizophrenia. In a story that doesn’t even make much sense in the context of the wild and wacky Silver Age of Comics, Yellowjacket claimed to have killed Hank Pym, and later kidnapped the Wasp before proposing to her! Ah, but Janet Van Dyne knew it was Hank all along and went along with his plan because she was worried about worsening his already fragile state of mind. Even though they were married under insane circumstances, they stayed together.
On the bright side, Hank did have one big breakthrough in the lab regarding robotics. He created an artificial intelligence robot that was incredibly advanced. The not-so-bright side? That robot turned out to be Ultron, one of the Avengers’ greatest foes. Oops!
It would be years before Hank’s mental issues would be prominently mentioned again. In Avengers #161, he attacked the team as Ant-Man while under the control of Ultron. The robot wanted to use the brain patterns of the Wasp to bring the robot Jocasta to life. What’s interesting about this story is how, despite his perpetual self-doubt about his abilities as a superhero, Pym almost single-handedly took out the Avenger before the Wasp stopped him.
Jan explained that Pym had a mental breakdown over his frustration with his scientific research (not the first, or last time). But as usual with comics of that era, his mental problems were swept under the proverbial rug.
50 issues later, Marvel’s then editor-in-chief Jim Shooter was writing the Avengers and he decided to bring all of Hank Pym’s demons to the forefront. Having rejoined the team because his lab work was going nowhere, he was court-martialed by the team after he blasted a one-off character named the Elfqueen from behind during a battle in Avengers #212. During the proceedings, Pym sets off his desperate plan for redemption, which involved a hastily-built robot out of some adamantium he conveniently had attacking the Avengers. That would set the stage for Pym to save the day, because he installed a weak point that of course, he didn’t know about. The robot trashes the Avengers, but the plan goes awry and only the Wasp’s last-second arrival prevents a disaster. And that day marked the end of Hank Pym with the Avengers at the time.
A big problem with the story is that Yellowjacket’s heel turn literally happens in one issue. It’s also questionable how grievous a violation of the “Avengers fight code” he actually committed. But what’s interesting is that Shooter seemed to be following up on a story element he briefly showed back in Avengers #177.
In that issue, the culmination of the Korvac Saga, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes engaged in a battle with the Enemy. There was a moment where Yellowjacket says, “the hell with honor” and goes to grab Karina, who is seen as perhaps the only weak link to Korvac. Unlike T’Challa, who hesitated to grab Karina because he felt it was not honorable, Hank had no such qualms.
The fight with Korvac was the comic equivalent of the Avengers' bout with Thanos in Infinity War - a futile battle against a near-omnipotent force. In that issue, one of Shooter’s best Avengers stories, many heroes had brief moments that showcased their heroism in the face of insurmountable odds. Except for Yellowjacket, who is portrayed as being the guy ready to do the dishonorable act if it meant victory.
It can't be a coincidence that the same guy behind that moment also was the writer who scripted the downfall of Hank Pym. For some reason, Shooter really does not like Hank. Don’t take my word for it. He wrote it on his blog. Here’s what he said in 2011 about Hank Pym’s legacy as a hero.
“His history was largely a litany of failure, always changing guises and switching back and forth from research to hero-ing because he wasn't succeeding at either. He was never the Avenger who saved the day at the end and usually the first knocked out or captured.”
Harsh, but there is some truth there. Still, Shooter seemed to go overboard in trying to underscore Hank’s heroic shortcomings in issue #212. He not only painted him as incompetent, but as a coward who shoots a female adversary in the back.
Worse than that -- much worse -- he turned him into an abusive husband. Let's talk about "the moment," now. It’s one of the most controversial moments in the history of the Avengers, for good reason. And it should never have happened.
At least that’s what Shooter has said. it was supposed to be a scene where a stressed-out Pym, plotting a scene to keep from getting kicked off the team, got frustrated and accidentally hit Jan. Artist Bob Hall, per Shooter, took the direction too far. Again, here is Shooter writing about that infamous scene on his blog in 2011:
“There is a scene in which Hank is supposed to have accidentally struck Jan while throwing his hands up in despair and frustration—making a sort of “get away from me” gesture while not looking at her. Bob Hall, who had been taught by John Buscema to always go for the most extreme action, turned that into a right cross! There was no time to have it redrawn, which, to this day has caused the tragic story of Hank Pym to be known as the “wife-beater” story.”
Shooter says the book wasn’t redrawn because it was in danger of missing its print deadline so they just went with it. And with that decision to not have it redrawn, a character who was one of the building blocks of the Marvel Age, became branded forever as a domestic abuser.
To his credit, Hall has taken the bullet publicly and said Shooter is likely correct in his recollection. But it certainly speaks to the different mindset and attitude toward domestic abuse of that time that Marvel was more worried about missing deadlines than about fallout from fans.
Hall may have gotten that scene wrong, but he nailed one moment during the court-martial scene in issue #212. When a distraught Jan takes off her glasses and their friends and teammates see her bruised eye Thor’s reaction is as human a reaction from the God of Thunder as we’ve ever seen.
It should be noted that despite Shooter’s attempts to say that Hank’s “wife abuser” reputation comes from an artistic misinterpretation, Hank was already incredibly abusive towards Jan. He berated her in private and around her friends. The punch Hall drew showcased the physical side of the abuse, but the verbal attacks were just as ugly.
Within a year, the story would be wrapped up with Hank finding some measure of redemption. His career as Yellowjacket would end (for a while, anyway), but he seemed to find some peace at discovering who Hank Pym really was. Most important, he took responsibility for his actions in a scene in Avengers #230 written by the great Roger Stern.
It’s not shocking at all that despite years of rehabilitation attempts, Hank Pym will never be seen by some fans as anything but a wife-beating scumbag for hitting Jan. That reputation has even carried over into other universes. Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s The Ultimates showed the Hank Pym of Earth-1610 to be an even more vile person, who abused his wife Jan and even experimented on her blood.
The stain from that storyline will remain with Hank Pym in the comics for all time. Will the MCU ever touch this storyline? Somehow, we think that’s one What If…? scenario that does not exist.
For even more on the show, check out every returning (and replaced) actor that we know of in Marvel's What If...?, read up on the nine craziest stories from the What If...? comics, catch how to watch What If...?, or dig in on the history of Marvel's What If...?
Continue reading...
Ever since it was revealed that Scott Lang would be the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Ant-Man, but Hank Pym would still be in the picture, longtime comics fans have wondered how or even if, the movies would ever touch upon Hank’s troubled and unstable past.
The third episode of Marvel’s What If...? series on Disney+ showed a darker side to the character as Hank is revealed to be the one who destroys the MCU’s Avengers before Nick Fury could ever bring them together. Even though he isn’t involved with the formation of the team in the regular MCU timeline, seeing Hank Pym as the cause of death for The Avengers was still a real kick in the long box.
Let's delve into some classic Marvel lore to learn more about Hank Pym's dark past.
Not only was the original Ant-Man a founding member of the team, but he’s also the one who came up with the plan that beat Loki in Avengers #1, and he suggested they stay together.
But to say he has a checkered history with the team would be to hilariously understate things. Hank has been a problem for the Avengers on more than one occasion. In fact, this What If...? scenario isn’t even the second time Hank Pym went after the Avengers!
Up to now, the two Ant-Man movies have just painted Hank as a rebellious and cantankerous scientist. They have conveniently side-stepped the insecurities and schizophrenia that have made Dr. Henry Pym one of Marvel’s most troubled heroes. And the big-screen version certainly hasn’t come close to being the abusive husband he was depicted as during the character’s nadir in the early 1980s. Which isn’t terribly surprising, given that industry legend Michael Douglas plays Pym.
If the MCU was happening during Douglas’ heyday as Hollywood’s most fearless A-lister, Dr. Henry Pym as played by Michael Douglas would be incredibly enticing. Few actors have ever had such a run of daring (and successful) films playing the kind of flawed characters Douglas did in movies like Wall Street, Black Rain, Basic Instinct, Falling Down, and A Perfect Murder. Seeing him playing a mentally unstable superhero would be right in his acting wheelhouse. But this is a different era, and there’s likely zero chance the Powers That Be at Marvel Studios have any interest in going that dark with one of their heroes.
But if they did, boy, would they have a treasure trove of material to work with. To start, there are his multiple superhero personas. Henry Pym has been in order of appearance: Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket, Dr. Henry Pym, the West Coast Avengers’ Scientific Adventurer, Yellowjacket (again), the Wasp (as a tribute to his wife Jan, when she was dead for a time), and Earth’s Scientist Supreme.
And while much of his troubles were depicted by retconning Silver Age adventures, his self-esteem issues date back to his earliest appearances as Goliath. His lack of faith in his own scientific abilities was also established back during the legendary Roy Thomas-John Buscema era on the Avengers title in the late 1960s. A lab accident actually led to the creation of Yellowjacket as essentially a manifestation of Pym’s schizophrenia. In a story that doesn’t even make much sense in the context of the wild and wacky Silver Age of Comics, Yellowjacket claimed to have killed Hank Pym, and later kidnapped the Wasp before proposing to her! Ah, but Janet Van Dyne knew it was Hank all along and went along with his plan because she was worried about worsening his already fragile state of mind. Even though they were married under insane circumstances, they stayed together.
On the bright side, Hank did have one big breakthrough in the lab regarding robotics. He created an artificial intelligence robot that was incredibly advanced. The not-so-bright side? That robot turned out to be Ultron, one of the Avengers’ greatest foes. Oops!
It would be years before Hank’s mental issues would be prominently mentioned again. In Avengers #161, he attacked the team as Ant-Man while under the control of Ultron. The robot wanted to use the brain patterns of the Wasp to bring the robot Jocasta to life. What’s interesting about this story is how, despite his perpetual self-doubt about his abilities as a superhero, Pym almost single-handedly took out the Avenger before the Wasp stopped him.
Jan explained that Pym had a mental breakdown over his frustration with his scientific research (not the first, or last time). But as usual with comics of that era, his mental problems were swept under the proverbial rug.
50 issues later, Marvel’s then editor-in-chief Jim Shooter was writing the Avengers and he decided to bring all of Hank Pym’s demons to the forefront. Having rejoined the team because his lab work was going nowhere, he was court-martialed by the team after he blasted a one-off character named the Elfqueen from behind during a battle in Avengers #212. During the proceedings, Pym sets off his desperate plan for redemption, which involved a hastily-built robot out of some adamantium he conveniently had attacking the Avengers. That would set the stage for Pym to save the day, because he installed a weak point that of course, he didn’t know about. The robot trashes the Avengers, but the plan goes awry and only the Wasp’s last-second arrival prevents a disaster. And that day marked the end of Hank Pym with the Avengers at the time.
A big problem with the story is that Yellowjacket’s heel turn literally happens in one issue. It’s also questionable how grievous a violation of the “Avengers fight code” he actually committed. But what’s interesting is that Shooter seemed to be following up on a story element he briefly showed back in Avengers #177.
In that issue, the culmination of the Korvac Saga, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes engaged in a battle with the Enemy. There was a moment where Yellowjacket says, “the hell with honor” and goes to grab Karina, who is seen as perhaps the only weak link to Korvac. Unlike T’Challa, who hesitated to grab Karina because he felt it was not honorable, Hank had no such qualms.
The fight with Korvac was the comic equivalent of the Avengers' bout with Thanos in Infinity War - a futile battle against a near-omnipotent force. In that issue, one of Shooter’s best Avengers stories, many heroes had brief moments that showcased their heroism in the face of insurmountable odds. Except for Yellowjacket, who is portrayed as being the guy ready to do the dishonorable act if it meant victory.
It can't be a coincidence that the same guy behind that moment also was the writer who scripted the downfall of Hank Pym. For some reason, Shooter really does not like Hank. Don’t take my word for it. He wrote it on his blog. Here’s what he said in 2011 about Hank Pym’s legacy as a hero.
“His history was largely a litany of failure, always changing guises and switching back and forth from research to hero-ing because he wasn't succeeding at either. He was never the Avenger who saved the day at the end and usually the first knocked out or captured.”
Harsh, but there is some truth there. Still, Shooter seemed to go overboard in trying to underscore Hank’s heroic shortcomings in issue #212. He not only painted him as incompetent, but as a coward who shoots a female adversary in the back.
Worse than that -- much worse -- he turned him into an abusive husband. Let's talk about "the moment," now. It’s one of the most controversial moments in the history of the Avengers, for good reason. And it should never have happened.
At least that’s what Shooter has said. it was supposed to be a scene where a stressed-out Pym, plotting a scene to keep from getting kicked off the team, got frustrated and accidentally hit Jan. Artist Bob Hall, per Shooter, took the direction too far. Again, here is Shooter writing about that infamous scene on his blog in 2011:
“There is a scene in which Hank is supposed to have accidentally struck Jan while throwing his hands up in despair and frustration—making a sort of “get away from me” gesture while not looking at her. Bob Hall, who had been taught by John Buscema to always go for the most extreme action, turned that into a right cross! There was no time to have it redrawn, which, to this day has caused the tragic story of Hank Pym to be known as the “wife-beater” story.”
Shooter says the book wasn’t redrawn because it was in danger of missing its print deadline so they just went with it. And with that decision to not have it redrawn, a character who was one of the building blocks of the Marvel Age, became branded forever as a domestic abuser.
To his credit, Hall has taken the bullet publicly and said Shooter is likely correct in his recollection. But it certainly speaks to the different mindset and attitude toward domestic abuse of that time that Marvel was more worried about missing deadlines than about fallout from fans.
Hall may have gotten that scene wrong, but he nailed one moment during the court-martial scene in issue #212. When a distraught Jan takes off her glasses and their friends and teammates see her bruised eye Thor’s reaction is as human a reaction from the God of Thunder as we’ve ever seen.
It should be noted that despite Shooter’s attempts to say that Hank’s “wife abuser” reputation comes from an artistic misinterpretation, Hank was already incredibly abusive towards Jan. He berated her in private and around her friends. The punch Hall drew showcased the physical side of the abuse, but the verbal attacks were just as ugly.
Within a year, the story would be wrapped up with Hank finding some measure of redemption. His career as Yellowjacket would end (for a while, anyway), but he seemed to find some peace at discovering who Hank Pym really was. Most important, he took responsibility for his actions in a scene in Avengers #230 written by the great Roger Stern.
It’s not shocking at all that despite years of rehabilitation attempts, Hank Pym will never be seen by some fans as anything but a wife-beating scumbag for hitting Jan. That reputation has even carried over into other universes. Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch’s The Ultimates showed the Hank Pym of Earth-1610 to be an even more vile person, who abused his wife Jan and even experimented on her blood.
The stain from that storyline will remain with Hank Pym in the comics for all time. Will the MCU ever touch this storyline? Somehow, we think that’s one What If…? scenario that does not exist.
For even more on the show, check out every returning (and replaced) actor that we know of in Marvel's What If...?, read up on the nine craziest stories from the What If...? comics, catch how to watch What If...?, or dig in on the history of Marvel's What If...?
Continue reading...