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Tales to Astonish Vol 1 35

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Stop him, my pets! Obey your leader! The Ant-Man commands you!

—Doctor Henry Pym (Ant-Man)

Appearing in "Return of the Ant-Man"

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  • Tom (First appearance) (Pym's lab assistant)

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Synopsis for "Return of the Ant-Man"

Doctor Henry Pym is a scientist who had invented two incredible serums, one to reduce objects, and the other to enlarge them back to their natural size. The reducing potion proved more powerful than he anticipated. It reduced him to the size of an insect and led him to the most frightening encounter of his life within a teeming ant hill. Frantically, Pym escaped from the ants and reached his enlarging serum. After he was restored to normal size, Pym destroyed his serums, which he felt were too dangerous to exist on Earth. However, weeks later he decided that such a great discovery should not melt into nothingness and concocted his serums again, this time locking them safely away in his safe.

After his experience in the ant hill, Henry Pym developed a growing interest in ants. Secretly, he made a thorough study of the ant world and determined that ants communicate electronically through their antennae. After long months of grueling work, he finally developed a helmet that would enable him to communicate with the ants by tuning into their specific wave length. Pym also designed a protective costume to shield him from accidental ant-sting or bite.

On the same day that he completed work on his helmet, the government gives Henry Pym a top secret scientific assignment to develop a gas to make people immune to radiation and provides him with four research assistants. Weeks later, the communists have learned of Pym’s work and have dispatched agents to steal the almost-completed formula.

Communist agents burst into Henry Pym’s laboratory and hold him and his research assistants at gun point, demanding the anti-radiation formula. When Pym refuses to divulge the formula, the agents decide to search the lab and find the information themselves. Trapped in his lab, Pym decides that the only way to prevent the communists from getting the anti-radiation gas is to use his reducing serum. Donning his newly completed helmet and costume, Pym uses his reducing serum to shrink to insect size.

Now ant-sized, Ant-Man uses a rubber band as a slingshot to hurl himself to a nearby window ledge, where he slips through the window crack and uses a piece of thread to lower himself to the ground.

Part 2: An Army of Ants!

His destination is the ant hill, where he learns that his cybernetic helmet actually works, allowing him to communicate with and command the ants. He is attacked by a large worker ant. As he fights the ant, he learns that somehow, he retains the strength of a full-grown man at his diminished size. After defeating the worker ant, Ant-Man adjusts his cybernetic helmet and sends a command through the ant hill, forming a small army of ants.

As Ant-Man exits the ant hill, his colorful costume attracts the attention of a beetle. Using his full-size strength, he quickly digs a deep hole, uses himself as bait to lure the beetle into it and then fills in the hole, trapping the beetle.

Ant-Man then mounts the largest of the worker ants and leads his army up the wall and onto the window ledge near his lab.

Part 3: The Ant-Man's Revenge!

After observing the communist agents, Ant-Man slips into the lab and with the help of the ants, unties his assistants. He then commands the ants to attack the agents, distracting them long enough for Pym’s assistants to overpower them.

With the communist agents defeated, Ant-Man heads for his laboratory, where he uses his enlarging serum to return to normal size and rejoin the others in the lab. Pym is left wondering if he will ever be forced to become the Ant-Man again?

Appearing in "Strange Encounter"

Reprint of the 3rd story from
Spy Thrillers #4

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Synopsis for "Strange Encounter"

Reprint of the 3rd story from
Spy Thrillers #4
An American tourist in Paris is unwittingly targeted by a spy as an intelligence courier and is nearly killed.

Appearing in "The Doorway to Nowhere!"

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Synopsis for "The Doorway to Nowhere!"

After escaping from jail, Hugo Cragg heads for a deserted mansion to hide out until the heat is off. Then he discovers a strange closet in the house: after he puts something into it, the object disappears! He figures that if the objects disappear into another dimension, why not go there himself to hide from the police! He does, finding himself in the other dimension, but has no way back to Earth.

Appearing in "The Thing from Outer Space!"

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Synopsis for "The Thing from Outer Space!"

Sometime in the future, a planet is surrounded by a strange mist that warns travelers of a quarantine. In the year 2006, Colonel John Rogers arrives back on Earth to an adoring crowd, carrying a sample of vegetation from Nyanthos. The plant telepathically tells the crown that it is really Colonel Rogers, and the plant's life-essence has taken possession of his body. He now has the plant's powers, but they only work in Nyanthos' atmosphere. To test the claim, the atmosphere of Nyanthos is duplicated, and John Rogers is able to retake control of his body. The plant explains that it had John Rogers' memories, and didn't realize it wasn't really him. It warns that there are many other plants on Nyanthos who will use such an ability instinctively. The planet is quarantined, and the plant returned home.

Trivia

  • This issue marks the beginning of Hank Pym's run on the series. Pym will appear as the featured character in 35 of the 101 issues in that series.

See Also

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