Henry Jonathan PymHank Pym

Hank Pym has been known by many names since the start of his crimefighting career. Ant-Man. Giant-Man. Goliath. Yellowjacket. Wasp. Even simply "Dr. Pym." Throughout all these incarnations, the creator of the wondrous Pym Particles has been a brilliant inventor and fearless explorer.

Though he is tormented because one of his greatest inventions became the evil, world-conquering Ultron, plus other notable personal struggles and mistakes, Hank has worked through his pain. Now, he trains the next generation of Super Heroes, and Hank is still willing to leap into battle onboard an ant when the situation calls for it!

Particle Man, Particle Man

Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym grew up a genius biochemist and inventor who created many amazing things, but his greatest invention was of course the Pym Particles. Hank tested them on himself first, and discovered he could shrink to microscopic size, or grow as tall as a giant.

The first time Hank shrunk himself, he was terrorized by ants that were giant-sized, from his perspective, and Hank was nearly devoured. Although he swore he'd never use the Pym Particles again, Hank swiftly created his next invention: a special cybernetic helmet that allowed Hank to communicate with ants and other insects while at a microscopic size.

A short career as a solo hero followed in which Hank fought villains like Egghead, Comrade X, and the Time Master. Then, Hank built a suit and helmet for his girlfriend, Janet van Dyne, the daughter of his late colleague Vernon. As Ant-Man and the Wasp, they became adventure-seeking, thrill-loving crime-fighters and soon were among the founding members of the mighty Avengers.

A Super Hero for Ants?!

Hank has changed names and costumes numerous times, but throughout all his incarnations, his wondrous Pym Particles remain a key component. They allow him to shrink and grow at will, and do the same to other objects, like vehicles and weapons, for strategic use.

As Ant-Man, Hank also has a special helmet that allows him to communicate with insect life, a handy ability considering he'd be devoured by these small predators otherwise.

When Hank decides to go on the offensive as Giant-Man, he discovers his strength is proportionally much greater as a giant than at standard size. Then, as Yellowjacket, Hank adds a pair of wrist-mounted stinger blasters to his arsenal for even more offensive firepower.

Still later, as the codename-less Dr. Pym, Hank carries around a case full of miniaturized weapons, tools, and vehicles that he can instantly grow to normal or giant size.

Regardless of what he calls himself, Pym has a tool and an idea for any situation. His real super power is his brain, and Hank Pym is always thinking.

Ant-Malicious

Hank's greatest foe is one who considers itself a wayward son: Ultron, the villainous robot with eyes on world domination. Each time Hank and the Avengers defeat Ultron, it rebuilds itself stronger, faster, better. Ultron has even gone so far as to merge itself with Hank, and that's where they remain, each struggling for dominance in one body.

Hank's other archenemy is named Egghead, who's fond of manipulating Hank to ruin Hank's own reputation. He later accidentally dies opposing the Avengers, but he is resurrected thanks to a Rejuvatech Serum and menaces the Avengers behind the scenes ever since.

Ant-Mates

Though he may be small at times, Hank's love for his friends, lovers, and allies is unmatched. Chief among those, of course, is Janet van Dyne, otherwise known as the Wasp. Hank and Janet have had a tumultuous relationship over the years - they've been married and divorced and got back together numerous times. Whether together or apart, Hank and Janet care for each other deeply and each would die for the other.

Hank is also allied closely with the Avengers in all their various incarnations. He's close with the other scientist Avengers like Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. He dates Tigra. And he supplies numerous pieces of technology for Avengers use, such as unstable molecules.

Where is Thy Sting

Hank Pym's first love was named Maria Trovaya. A political refugee from Hungary that sought asylum in the United States, Maria met and married Hank in America and traveled back to her native Hungary, believing they were safe. Hungarian secret police attacked the Pyms, knocking Hank unconscious and killing Maria.

What Hank didn't know is that Maria had actually been kidnapped, and that she gave birth to their daughter Nadia in captivity before she passed. Nadia was instead raised in the Red Room, the same training ground that gave rise to the Black Widow program.

After mourning and returning to the States, meeting Janet, and creating the Pym Particles, Hank helped found the initial team of Avengers. Hank utilized the Pym Particles to update his Super Hero identity from Ant-Man to Giant-Man, and had several adventures with his new teammates. Soon after though, Hank began to take his relationship with Janet seriously, and the two took a leave of absence from the Avengers. By the time he returned to the team some time later, he had started calling himself Goliath, finding himself stuck in his giant-sized form for a period of time.

Continually inventing, Hank developed a sentient robot, called Ultron, who escaped from captivity and became malevolent. Indeed, Ultron would become a great threat both to its "father" Hank, the Avengers, and the world at large, while Hank's guilt over his creations actions would only grow over time.

Suffering from a temporary split personality due to another experiment gone wrong, Hank became Yellowjacket, a persona that convinced himself that he killed Hank and took his place. His Yellowjacket self was equally attracted to Janet and proposed, something Hank never had the guts to do. Though Janet realized who Yellowjacket truly was, she accepted anyway, hoping that he'd stick by the proposal after his recovery. Her gamble paid off and the two were married.

Back to being Ant-Man during the war between the Kree and the Skrulls, Hank took a fantastic voyage inside the comatose Vision and made a startling discovery: Vision was a rebuilt original Human Torch with a new personality based on the Avengers' old ally Wonder Man. Not only that, but it was Ultron who did the rebuilding to infiltrate the Avengers. The plan failed, and Vision became a powerful and reliable member of the team.

Back in his Yellowjacket identity, Hank returned to the Avengers, only to be captured by Ultron, who messed with Hank's head and forced him back into his Ant-Man role, but with no memory of the past several years. Hank attacked his own team until Janet managed to calm him down and reverse the programming.

Thief Scott Lang, in the midst of trying to find a way to save his sick daughter, stole an Ant-Man costume and helmet from Hank's vault. After confronting Scott and learning of his goodhearted intentions, Hank let him keep the costume, on the condition that Scott stay on the right side of the law.

Feeling out of place as a Super Hero and uninspired as a scientist, Hank's mental state began to deteriorate. Hank began to display hostile behavior toward his wife and attacked Avengers opponent Elfqueen while she was in the process of standing down, leading the team to court-martial him. Desperate, Hank built a robot to attack the city with a weak spot he would utilize to stop it, believing he could trick the populace and the Avengers into accepting him again. When Janet learned of his plan and pleaded with Hank to stop, he struck her. His plan ultimately exposed, Hank was drummed out of the Avengers in disgrace and Janet filed for divorce.

Hank continued to be manipulated by villains. Pym?s old enemy, Egghead, coerced him to steal adamantium, making it seem as though an innocent would die if he did not. When the Avengers arrived, Egghead vanished without a trace. With their relationship already deteriorated, the Avengers didn't believe Hank's story and he was thrown in prison. Egghead couldn't leave Hank alone, however, and attempted to kill him while the scientist was imprisoned. The attempt failed, leading the Avengers to learn the truth, and Hank's subsequent release. He took the opportunity to return to being a scientist full time, leaving his Super Hero life behind, seemingly for good.

Hank eventually joined the West Coast Avengers in a support staff capacity. Although he went on missions, he now simply went by Dr. Pym, forgoing a costumed identity or the use of Pym Particles on himself. Instead, he carried a case filled with miniaturized vehicles, tools, and weapons for the team to use when needed. With Janet also on the West Coast team, the two tentatively began to resume their relationship.

Eventually overcoming his hesitation to once more become a costumed Super Hero, Hank found himself back with the East Coast Avengers as Giant-Man, only to seemingly sacrifice his life along with many of the world's non-mutant heroes to stop the immensely powerful being Onslaught. Hank was thrown into a pocket universe until Franklin Richards brought all the heroes back.

After the Avengers disbanded, Hank and Janet left for England to try and make their relationship work again. The Skrulls, in the process of invading Earth, took the opportunity to replace Hank with an impostor. It was this impostor that fought in the Super Hero Civil War, and was even named Man of the Year by Time Magazine for his role in helping those heroes who chose not to support registration.

The Skrull impostor Pym became one of the leaders of the Initiative, which trained registered Super Heroes to fight for the government. At long last, though, the imposter was exposed, and the real Hank returned, but only just before Janet was killed by Skrulls. In tribute to his lost love, Hank took on the mantel of the Wasp and became the leader of a new incarnation of the Avengers.

One of Hank's earliest acts as Avengers leader was to create a new Avengers Academy of young trainees; Hank would then join other teams of Avengers when Ultron traveled from the future and conquered the world. Desperate to save humanity, Wolverine and Invisible Woman traveled back to the moment just before Ultron's creation, and Wolverine murdered Hank.

This proved to be a terrible mistake as the present day was now even worse off than before. Invisible Woman and Wolverine returned to the site of their mistake and undid it, convincing the younger Hank to implant a sleeper virus in his Ultron creation instead, allowing the heroes to shut down Ultron in the present.

When Ultron returned and attacked again, the sentient robot accidentally merged with Hank Pym and escaped. They've battled for supremacy inside a single being ever since, with the combined being even going after the Infinity Stones. It succeeded in capturing the Soul Stone, trapping Hank's soul within. Despite the best efforts of a returned-to-life Janet and newly-discovered daughter Nadia, Ultron and Hank are not yet separated.