[Meeting…] Ant-Man (Hank Pym)

It has been a few weeks since we discussed in this section a character related to the world of American superheroes, in fact the last one to have this honor was Ultron, the evil robot enemy of the Avengers, and the decision to include it in this section was none other than the proximity of the film that had been released at that time.

The same reason leads us to talk today about the creator of Ultron, Hank Pym, a character who has had a wandering and constant evolution during all his years of life. Hank Pym was the original Ant-Man and a founding member of the Avengers (an honor that other more popular characters, such as Captain America, do not have), however, his heroic career does not end there, as we are faced with one of the characters who has adopted the most secret identities throughout his career.

Pym, the scientist of the impossible

Many intelligent characters have passed through the Avengers (which is not unusual, since there are many scientists who end up becoming heroes by will or accident), but If we had to choose a brilliant mind within the group, I think the best choice would be Hank Pym, a decision that will surely not be shared by the most recent followers of Marvel, who will prefer Tony Stark due to the importance that Iron Man has in feature films.

In these films neither Hank Pym nor his wife Janet (Wasp, The Wasp) were included in the original Avengers, therefore It is not strange that a large part of the public ignores this brilliant scientist, from whom it seems that they want to steal almost all of his merits., because in the cinematographic universe the origin of Ultron is changed, so that there is no relationship with Pym and in the recent Ant-Man movie, it seems that Pym is not going to be the protagonist, although he does make an appearance.

I don't know why such an unfavorable treatment of such a constant character in Marvel comics, but it is very possible that it is due to something that I already mentioned in the ultron article, his personality. Hank Pym has received very varied treatment from the writers for decades, which could be summarized as the fact that the ingenious and always creative Hank Pym has ended up becoming a cruel, despotic, violent, jealous and lying guy, depending on the comic you read.

These adjectives, so unrelated to heroes, make Pym closer to a normal human, which could make him tremendously interesting if he had gotten along well, but if we take into account that his attitude changes depending on the comic or stage you read, it gives the impression that they don't know what to do with him.

However, in moments like that, There is always some scriptwriter who decides to fix (to a certain extent) the mistakes of others and give a relatively credible explanation to justify depending on what things., in Pym's case, the excuse was that he suffers from bipolarity. The justification did not remain in that dead phrase, but was accompanied by data, such as that Pym self-analyzes his behavior patterns to try to predict when he will have “a bad day” again, thus being able to minimize the damage.

Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath…

Hank Pym is considered a scientist who makes the impossible possible, as he is tremendously creative and persevering in his research. Furthermore, in his original adventures he experienced very strange situations that showed that there is also a flash of madness in him, something necessary to be a great inventor.

The greatest achievement of this character is Pym particles, capable of modifying the size of a human being. As a good scientist, Pym decided to test the invention on himself and ended up getting trapped in an anthill, a situation that almost cost him his life.

Having recovered his original size, Hank decides to forget about the Pym particles, but due to his curiosity he not only resumes the invention but also decides to study the behavior of ants and the way to communicate with them, giving birth to his first hero identity: Ant-Man.

After living many adventures in the style The Incredible Shrinking Man, where this little hero faced hilarious situations and defeated curious enemies, Pym continuó experimentando y consiguió crear su segunda identidad de héroe, conocida como Giant-Man (Hombre Gigante) que tal como su nombre indica, es el lado opuesto de su identidad anterior en lo que a tamaño se refiere.

Su tercera identidad fue la de Goliath, donde Hank Pym vivió una lamentable etapa en la cual no era capaz de volver a su tamaño original, lo cual le afectó psicológicamente y marcó el inicio de la desdicha para este científico, pues su siguiente identidad secreta, Yellowjacket (traducido estúpidamente como Chaqueta Amarilla en español) Hank Pym se comportó de una manera totalmente opuesta a su carácter original, llegando a pegar a su pareja, rasgo que mantendría en futuros cómics como la línea Ultimate de los Vengadores (The Ultimates).

Los actos de Pym como Yellowjacket se justificaron con una esquizofrenia, pero a partir de ese momento, el personaje quedó en una especie de sombra moral, como si se pudiese hacer de todo con él, algo que lamentablemente sigue viéndose en la actualidad.

Una última identidad (por el momento) sería usada por Pym en los cómics, y no es otra que la versión masculina de Wasp. Curiosamente, este baile de identidades provocó que muchas de ellas fuesen usadas por otros personajes tras ser abandonadas por Pym, de manera que según el cómic que leáis podréis ver a Goliath, Yellowjacket o Ant-Man, sin que sea Pym quien se esconda bajo el traje.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Hablar de Ant-Man es hablar de Hank Pym, pues el personaje tiene todo un universo alrededor suyo, del cual el Hombre Hormiga solo es una parte. La humanidad de Pym ha dado algunos momentos divertidos, épicos y sensatos, pues no son pocas las veces que este personaje se ha enfrentado a enemigos que le superaban en tamaño y fuerza o peor aun, ha tenido que hacer frente a sus propias dudas morales y a las consecuencias de sus errantes actos.

Lamentablemente, sus cambios de personalidad y sus intentos de redención suelen verse empañados por algún guionista que vuelve a mostrarnos la peor cara de Pym, posiblemente debido a que no se le ocurra nada mejor, o a que no le dejan hacer esa clase de tramas con personajes más importantes.

Durante un tiempo pensé que el “maltrato” hacia Pym por parte de su editorial podría estar relacionado con el hecho de que es un personaje abiertamente ateo, sin embargo creo que en la práctica eso no tuvo nada que ver. Seguramente, motivo por el cual Pym ha sido representado de maneras tan mezquinas e inestables provenga del hecho de que lleva décadas como personaje “bipolar” lo cual se ha convertido en un rasgo característico del personaje y en un comodín para los guionistas.

Son muchas las historias relacionadas con Hank Pym en el universo Marvel. Si queréis ver al Ant-Man original y a su variación (Giant-Man) lo mejor es buscar en las páginas de Tales To Astonish y en los cómics clásicos de los Avengers (muchos han sido reeditados en formato tomo). Si queréis ver al Pym más errante, es muy fácil encontrar cómics como La Cólera de Ultrón (Rage of Ultron) either The Ultimates.

En general, Pym es un personaje muy constante en los Vengadores, de manera que es muy fácil encontrarlo en las páginas de casi cualquier colección y etapa del grupo de Marvel.