History
Early Career
Dr. Henry Pym, an American biochemist with extensive knowledge in other scientific fields, married Maria Trovaya, a brave and beautiful young woman who had been a political dissident in her native Hungary, from which she had fled. Naively believing that his American citizenship would protect her, Henry and Maria Pym traveled to Hungary shortly after their marriage. The Pyms were confronted by agents of the secret police there. Henry Pym 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 and inhumanity.[1]
Back in the United States, Pym discovered a rare group of subatomic particles, which have become known as the "Pym Particles." Pym was able, through the application of magnetic fields, to entrap the particles within two separate serums. One serum would reduce the size of persons and objects, and the other would restore them to their normal size. Pym tested the reducing serum on himself and discovered it was more powerful than he had expected: it reduced him to the size of an insect. Pym became entrapped in an anthill and was pursued by the ants within. He escaped and restored himself to his normal size with his other serum. Deciding that the serums were too dangerous to exist, Pym destroyed both of them. [2]
However, weeks later he reconsidered his decision and began to recreate the serums, whose existence he then kept secret. Inspired by his experience in the anthill, Pym undertook a study of ants, and theorized that ants communicate through psionic / electrical waves transmitted through their antennae. After months of work, Pym succeeded in creating his first "cybernetic helmet," which would enable him to communicate with ants through transmitting and receiving psionic / electrical waves. Thinking that someday he might want to use the shrinking potion on himself again, Pym also designed a protective costume for himself, Unstable Molecules and steel mesh. That same day, however, Pym received an assignment from the government to concoct a gas that would provide people with temporary, limited immunity to radioactivity under certain specific circumstances, based on his previous work. The government also assigned four other scientists to assist him in the project. The K.G.B., the Soviet Intelligence agency, learned of Pym's project and sent agents who held Pym and his assistants prisoner in their own laboratory. Only Pym knew the entire formula for the gas they had by now developed, and he refused to tell the Soviet agents. The agents set about searching the laboratory for the formula, intending to kill Pym and his assistants afterwards. Unseen, Pym donned the cybernetic helmet and protective costume and, using his reducing formula, shrank himself to the size of an ant. He escaped to an anthill outside, put a large number of ants under his control through the helmet, and used them to attack the agents and free his men, who then overpowered their assailants. Pym then restored himself to normal size. Afterwards, in the guise of the Ant-Man, Pym battled various menaces, including the criminal scientist Elihas "Egghead" Starr, who was to become Pym's greatest enemy.
Hank Pym in his first appearance as Ant-Man
After an alien being from the planet Kosmos killed Pym's colleague, the scientist Vernon van Dyne, Pym revealed his secret identity of Ant-Man to van Dyne's daughter Janet, who wished to avenge his death. Pym taught Janet how to use the gas within which he now contained the "Pym Particles," and which he used to shrink himself in size, and through biochemistry, gave her the ability grow insect-like wings when she used the gas to shrink herself to insect size. As the Wasp, Janet van Dyne assisted the Ant-Man in finding and defeating the murderous Kosmosian. Pym and van Dyne gradually fell in love; van Dyne reminded Pym of his deceased first wife, Maria. Pym and van Dyne became crime-fighting partners in their costumed identities, and were two of the founding members of The Avengers. Soon thereafter, Pym, van Dyne, Iron Man and Thor discovered the frozen form of Captain America, bringing the World War II hero into the modern world.
Becoming a Giant
Pym next developed a series of capsules containing the Pym Particles which he and van Dyne used to grow or shrink to various heights; he also developed capsules that enabled him to grow to greater than normal heights. Thereafter, Pym preferred to use his power to grow to giant size for crimefighting, and called himself Giant-Man. At first he found that he could not support his own weight if he grew to a height above twelve feet. Later, he was able to reach far greater heights, even 100 feet, and still move about comfortably, but he became weaker in proportion to the amount he grew beyond twelve feet.
However, his size-changing imposed great strains on Pym's body that he believed could be fatal, and, upon deciding that their careers as Giant-Man and the Wasp were proving too great a danger for van Dyne, who seemed to think of adventuring as a way of showing love for each other. Pym decided to retire as a costumed crimefighter. Acceding to his wishes, van Dyne retired as a crimefighter, too. Sometime later, however, Pym and van Dyne learned that the Sub-Mariner was heading for New York City. Fearing trouble, they decided to alert the Avengers. Janet, as the Wasp, was captured by first the undersea barbarian leader Attuma and then by the Collector. In order to help the Avengers rescue van Dyne, Pym decided to use his growing power again, he donned a new costume and adopted the new name of Goliath.
By this time both Pym and van Dyne could change size simply by willing themselves to do so, due to their exposure to Pym particles over the years. However, Pym could only achieve one height other than his own, that of 25 feet, and could only do so for exactly 15 minutes. In the course of the Avengers' battle against the Collector, Goliath overstayed this time limit, and, on trying to regain his normal size, could not shrink beneath ten feet.
Eventually Pym regained his ability to shrink to insect size, but lost his ability to grow to ten feet in height. The Collector later subjected Pym to treatments that enabled him to grow to 25 feet in height for up to 15 minutes.
Ultron, Yellowjacket and Beginnings of the Fall of Pym
Classic Yellowjacket
Around this time Pym experimental with robotics and created a robot with the potential for high intelligence. The robot turned against its creator, hypnotizing Pym and escaping from his laboratory. It later became one of the Avengers' greatest adversaries under the name of Ultron. Its evil deeds would long plague Pym with guilt, especially, as it was revealed much later, since he used his own brain patterns as the engram basis of Ultron's robotic mind.
For several years, Pym had been in love with Janet van Dyne, but because of his repressed personality, and her abundant wealth, resisted marrying her. One day while working in his laboratory, Pym, whilst thinking of the fact that he wanted to, but couldn't marry van Dyne, accidentally dropped and smashed some vials containing various unknown gases. The released gases wreaked a radical temporary personality change in Pym, what could be seen as a severe case of schizophrenia. He took the new identity of Yellowjacket, claimed that he had murdered Henry Pym, kidnapped van Dyne, and proposed marriage to her, as Pym had long wanted to do. Realizing that Yellowjacket was really Pym, Van Dyne decided to play along, fearing that she would worsen his psychological condition if she did otherwise. The Avengers, not suspecting at first, were shocked to hear that she said yes to the proposal. Van Dyne and Pym, as Yellowjacket were married at Avengers Mansion amidst an assembled who's-who of superheroes active at the time, as well as some villains whom were hiding and secretly pretending to be the caterers. Immediately after the marriage, the Avengers were attacked by the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime. The shock of seeing van Dyne in danger of death (Via the Princess' python,) shocked Pym back into his normal personality. The Avengers defeated the Ringmaster and company. Despite the fact that Pym was married under an assumed name, the marriage between Pym and van Dyne was still legal, and Pym and Van Dyne happily agreed to let it stand. Pym eventually renounced his power to became a giant due to its continuing physical strains, and used the name and costume of Yellowjacket in crimefighting. Pym spent periods of time with the Avengers, and even once with the Defenders, as Yellowjacket, but he spent most of his time completely devoted to his scientific research. He gave his blessing to Scott Lang when Lang used his old equipment to become the second Ant-Man.
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Pym as Yellowjacket
Crumbling Marriage
Scientific research had always been Pym's preferred career, and he no longer found the excitement in crimefighting that he had earlier in his career. Pym began to have periods of tension and depression. He began to feel that he had never made a scientific discovery equal to his discovery of the Pym particles in the several years following that event. Moreover, he was plagued by guilt over creating Ultron. As a result, he was overcome with a sense that he was a failure as a scientist, judged by his own impossibly high standards. This sense of failure was exacerbated when he considered his wife's success as a fashion designer and realized that, as a millionaire, she was the principal source of money in their marriage. Pym began to take out his frustrations through verbally abusing his wife.
Matters came to a head when the Avengers battled the so-called Elfqueen. Suspecting that the Elfqueen was not acting from evil motives, Captain America attempted to calm her down. Yellowjacket, however, who was edgy because of his personal matters, blasted Elfqueen from behind without stopping to consider what Captain America was trying to do. As a result Elfqueen resumed fighting, almost crushing a truck onto Pym, until the Wasp saved him. Afterwards, Captain America felt forced to bring charges against Yellowjacket of acting recklessly, since innocent people could have been killed in the battle that Yellowjacket's action had started again. An Avengers court-martial meeting was set to examine the charges. Now beginning to undergo a nervous breakdown, Pym built a robot to attack Avengers Mansion during the court martial. Pym designed the robot to have a secret weak point which he would use to defeat it. Pym fantasized that his defeat of the robot would make him a hero in the Avengers' eyes and lead to the dismissal of the charges. When his wife protested his plan, he brutally struck her. But Pym's plan went awry, and it was the Wasp who ended up defeating the robot. Pym was expelled from the Avengers. Moreover, Janet initiated proceedings that ended in their divorce.
Framed
Pym moved out of his wife's mansion. Astonishingly, Pym was now virtually penniless, since his books were out of print and he had somehow exhausted the money he had earned from his patents. He had rejected van Dyne's offer to help him get back on his feet with monthly checks. Pym lived his life aimlessly until he was approached by his old enemy Egghead. Egghead claimed that he felt guilty over causing his niece, Patricia Starr, to lose her arm, and asked Pym to give her a bionic arm he had designed and attach it to her, in exchange for a large sum of money. Needing the money, Pym fulfilled his assignment, but found that the bionic arm placed "Trish" Starr under Egghead's control. Egghead informed Pym that the bionic arm was booby-trapped and that he could detonate it, killing Trish unless he obeyed his orders. As a result, Pym was forced to help steal adamantium from the government and to fight the Avengers, who defeated him. However, Egghead had lied: the arm was not booby-trapped. Moreover, Trish Starr had been "programmed" by her uncle's technology to claim that it was Pym's plot, not Egghead's. Hence Pym had no evidence that he had stolen the adamantium under duress, and so he was imprisoned on charges of treason. To add insult to injury, van Dyne began dating Tony Stark, although she broke off the relationship after learning that he was Iron Man.
During Pym's trial, he was captured by the third group calling itself the Masters of Evil, who claimed to be "rescuing" him. Actually, they worked for Egghead, who, having successfully framed Pym, now asked him to join their criminal organization. Pym pretended to agree, and Egghead set him to work on developing a machine intended to lengthen the human life span. Soon afterwards, Pym announced it was finished. Suspecting a trick, Egghead and his allies had Pym hooked up the machine, just as Pym had secretly intended Pym had actually constructed various means of defeating his enemies into the machine, and now turned it against Egghead and the Masters of Evil and single-handedly defeated them. Meanwhile, the Avengers had found Egghead's hideout. The Avenger Hawkeye sneaked into the hideout and saw Egghead aiming a gun at the unsuspecting Pym. Hawkeye fired an arrow into the gun barrel. The gun proved to be an energy blaster and backfired, killing Egghead.
Redemption and Return to the Avengers
Some of the Masters of Evil testified in Pym's trial as to how Egghead had framed him, and Pym was found not guilty. Upon his release Pym decided, after an emotional goodbye to all the Avengers (Especially Janet,) to give up being a costumed adventurer and returned permanently to a life of scientific research. However, as time passed. Pym decided he wished to aid the Avengers without returning himself to life as an adventurer. Hence, he offered to become manager of Avengers Compound, the headquarters of the new West Coast Avengers, in which role he would perform many of the same functions that Edwin Jarvis fulfilled at New York City's Avengers Mansion. Pym's offer was accepted, and he served not only as Avengers Compound manager but as a trusted adviser to the West Coast Avengers as well as skilled science specialist.
This period saw the continued mental deterioration of Pym, as he became nearly suicidal. When the West Coast team was hurtled back in time by Kang the Conqueror, Pym helped the team return to the present. Redeemed, Pym returned to active duty. Team-mate Tigra, with her cat-like need for attention, attempted to maintain relationships with both Pym and Wonder Man at the same time. Later, van Dyne was assigned to West Coast duty, which placed both in an awkward situation. Eventually, however, they were able to salvage their friendship, with tiny sparks of feelings for each other returning as well.
Pym was on hand with the other Avengers who seemingly sacrificed their lives to absorb the energies of the being known as Onslaught. In reality, he was shunted to another dimension. When he and the other heroes were restored to Earth, Pym found that he was capable of his full range of size-changing abilities, although he could not shrink and grow other objects unless he specifically treated them in his laboratory. Hank and Janet also returned to their previous romantic relationship, although he was initially distant due to his fear of another breakdown. While their relationship at this time was stable, while on a trip to Las Vegas Jan turned down a proposal of Hank's; she said she would not marry him again.
Pym helped re-form the Avengers with the other restored heroes, stopping the menace of the sorceress Morgan Le Fey. He then agreed to stay on as a reserve member (in his Giant-Man identity), returning to his laboratory work full-time. During this time, his research was monitored by Ultron, who later kidnapped Pym and others of its so-called "family." Pym finally revealed that he had used his own brain patterns as a template for Ultron's intelligence, explaining his debilitating guilt at Ultron's decimation of the Baltic nation of Slorenia. Ultron intended to use the mental engrams of all the members of its "family" when building a new robot army with Pym's latest research. Ultron was confronted by the Avengers, but even their combined might was insufficient against the indestructible Ultron. The Grim Reaper, a fellow prisoner of the fiendish robot, was freed by The Vision, who had escaped, and subsequently freed Pym, Janet, Wonder Man, and Scarlet Witch. As the Avengers struggled, the injured Justice arrived with Antarctic Vibranium, the Anti-Metal. Pym used this amidst a furious hail of blows that finally destroyed Ultron.
Not long after this, Hank returned to active duty, and after a time returned to his Yellowjacket identity. His relationship with Jan was, as usual, turbulent, but came to be stable when he and Jan were both captured by the newest Scorpio. When Hawkeye returned from his own inactivity, however, Janet began a fling with him that left Hank reeling.
When the Scarlet Witch had her breakdown that disassembled the Avengers, Hank rushed Janet to the hospital when she was put into a coma by an enraged She-Hulk, where he stayed at her side. After she had recovered, the two decided to give things another shot. Pym received a fellowship at Oxford, and they moved to England together. Taking a break from crimefighting, the two finally fully reconciled, although they currently have decided not to renew their romantic relationship.
Civil War and the Initiative
When the Superhuman Registration Act was issued, both Yellowjacket and The Wasp supported it and joined Iron Man's Pro-Registration Superhero Unit. Hank helped lead the movement, and to design the Wonderland prison, built to contain unregistered superhumans with the power of the Negative Zone.
After the Civil War, Hank was brought in to help spearhead the 50-State Initiative by being part of the staff at Camp Hammond. Since then he has begun to re-ignite the relationship that had started between himself and Tigra when both were West Coast Avengers.
Secret Invasion and Mighty Avengers
As the renewed Skrull menace became apparent, Hank studied the body of the Skrull that had posed as Elektra, hoping to find how they became undetectable. Reed Richards, who was also studying the body, discovered how they became undetectable, and asked Hank if he knew. Hank said yes and pulled a gun on Reed, blasting him and turning him into goo. Hank then revealed that he was, in fact, a Skrull.
It was revealed that after Hank and Jan's last attempt at reconcilliation, she left him, so Hank began a relationship with a college student at Oxford. His not having been invited to help form the New Avengers did nothing to help his self-esteem. The woman asked him several questions about his life, and after she learned everything from him, she revealed herself as a Skrull and used the power of the Hulk to defeat him. After the Secret Invasion was repelled, the real Pym found himself returned to Earth. He did not like what he found: the aftermath of the Civil War and the death of the Wasp came as great shocks to the troubled hero. Seeking to affirm his place in the world, Pym, as Yellowjacket, returned to adventuring with the Mighty Avengers.Attributes
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Powers
- Size Reduction: As Ant-Man and Yellowjacket, Henry Pym possessed the power to reduce himself to the size of an ant, approximately one-half inch in height, by means of the subatomic particles known as the Pym Particles. The nature, source, and mechanics of the Pym Particles remain unrevealed. Originally, when Pym inhaled a gas or drank a potion containing the Pym Particles, the Particles would interact with the electrical impulses of his brain, creating an organism-wide "reducing field." Thus activated, the field reduced his entire body at a uniform rate to the smaller size he desired. Although he usually chose to reduce himself to one half inch in height, he could reduce his size to any size between that and his normal size. Usually, Pym did not compress his mass into his smaller size. Instead his mass was somehow extended into an extra-physical dimension that is opened by the activating of the Pym Particles, from which the mass could later be reclaimed. Strangely, because Pym's mass was extended extra-dimensionally when he was at ant-size, he retained his full human-size strength at that size.
To return to normal size, Pym inhaled another gas or drank another potion, either of which contained another type of Pym Particles. These particles interacted with his brain to create an organism-wide "enlarging field," which is energized by mental command. Thus Pym could grow back to his normal height and reclaim all of the mass that was extended extra-dimensionally.
Pym sometimes used the Pym Particles to shrink to sub-microscopic stature. When 99.99 + % of his mass was extra-dimensionally shunted, he was sent into a "subatomic universe" or "microverse," one of countless alternate universes accessible to Earth only by the mass-shunting process.
- Size Addition: Pym also discovered Pym Particles which interacted with his brain to enable him to grow to gigantic height as Giant-Man and Goliath. The growth process required the rapid acquisition of bodily mass, presumably from an extradimensional source. This extradimensional mass fortified all of his cellular tissue, including his bones and muscles, enabling him to support his increased weight, and giving him superhuman strength. Early in his career this caused health problems due to the strain, and he was subject to various limitations on his size and the duration of his transformations (described under History.)
Continuous exposure to Pym Particles over an extended period of time enabled Pym to generate his reducing and expanding fields spontaneously, without exposure to a new quantity of Pym Particles. Hence, Pym could increase or decrease his size simply by will power.
- Insect Communication and Control: Pym's Yellowjacket cowl and, formerly, Ant-Man helmet, allow him to communicate with and control insect life by attuning to proper psionic/electrical wavelengths.
- Yellowjacket's Sting: Pym's Yellowjacket costume comes complete with glove-mounted devices that allow him to fire electrical jolts of varying currents.
- Flight: Pym's Yellowjacket costume has artificial wings that allow him, while at a size of four inches or less, to fly at speeds of up to 40 mph. As Ant-Man, Pym frequently rode atop a flying insect "steed."
Abilities
Scientific Genius-Level Intellect: Dr. Henry Pym is one of the world's foremost biochemists and also possesses considerable expertise in subatomic physics, robotics, cybernetics, programming, and entomology. In fact, most would consider Pym as the second leading scientist in the world, after Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four.
Skilled Combatant: Hank is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant using special styles of unarmed combat depending on his size. If he is small, he takes advantage of the opponent's larger form by assaulting points of his/her body that they would not expect and move to another before they detected him. If he was giant, he would take advantage of his own massive form and use attacks that would either throw them off balence or render them unconscience before they could concoct a better strategy against him. He was also trained by Captain America in multiple martial arts and unarmed combat forms making him a very formidable fighter.Weaknesses
Paraphernalia
Equipment
As Yellowjacket Pym carries miniaturized versions of his Ant-Man helmet's devices in his cowl, enabling him to perform the same feats it could. His costume also has artificial wings which enable him to fly while reduced in size. See also Technological Accomplishments.
Pym can shrink an entire laboratory or an array of firearms to the size a microchip when not in use. The various compartments on his uniform straps contain a wide variety of miniaturized equipment. Pym must specially treat objects in his laboratory before being able to change their size.
- Formerly Avengers Identicard. As Ant-Man, Pym wore a "cybernetic helmet" which permitted him to achieve rudimentary telepathic communication with ants and other higher insects and to control their minds. Also, Pym formerly required gas capsules or potions to shrink, grow, or return to normal size.
Weapons
Transportation
Notes
See Also
- 1100 appearance(s) of Henry Pym (Earth-616)
- 29 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Henry Pym (Earth-616)
- 225 minor appearance(s) of Henry Pym (Earth-616)
- 256 mention(s) of Henry Pym (Earth-616)
- 19 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Henry Pym (Earth-616)
- 1 invocation(s) of Henry Pym (Earth-616)
- 1020 image(s) of Henry Pym (Earth-616)
- 78 quotation(s) by or about Henry Pym (Earth-616)
- 8 victim(s) killed by Henry Pym (Earth-616)
- 15 item(s) used/owned by Henry Pym (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ Tales to Astonish #27
- ↑ Tales to Astonish #44
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 13