Characters / MCU: Hank Pym

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Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym / Ant-Man I

"It's not about saving our world; it's about saving theirs. Scott, I need you to be the Ant-Man."

^{Click here to see him as Ant-Man}

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): US Army (formerly), S.H.I.E.L.D. (formerly), Pym Technologies

Portrayed By: Michael Douglas, Dax Griffin (younger body double, 1980s), John Michael Morris (younger body double, 1970)

Voiced By: Patrick Floersheim (European French, Ant-Man), Hervé Jolly (European French, Ant-Man & the Wasp onwards) José Luis Orozco (Latin-American Spanish dub), Salvador Vidal (European Spanish dub), Koki Mitomo (Japanese dub), Marcelo Pissardini (Brazilian Portuguese dub)

Appearances: Ant-Man | Ant-Man and the Wasp | Avengers: Endgame | Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

"You mention my wife again, and I'll show you ferocity."

The original Ant-Man, who has chosen Scott Lang as his successor. A brilliant scientist who discovered a way to condense the distance between particles but was flushed out of his company due to his unwillingness to allow his research to be misused. He has since gone undercover to try and disrupt the company from recreating his research to stop the catastrophic consequences that would result. Years before he had worn the Ant-Man suit himself as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D..

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#-L

• '70s Hair: When Captain America phones Hank in the 1970s to get him away from his lab, he's shown with incredibly long hair fitting the decade.
• Abled in the Adaptation: His comic self would eventually be established to be bipolar as a way to explain his long history of mental instability along with the suggestion that using the Pym Particles had some negative impact on his mental state. Since this version has received Adaptational Heroism and lacks his comic self's history of having nervous breakdowns, it can be assumed he isn't bipolar here.
• Action Dad: Continued being a superhero after he and Janet had Hope. And although Hank is long past his prime in the present day, he's still willing to traverse into the unknown and dangerous Quantum Realm to get his wife back.
• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: Due to a combination of Adaptational Heroism, Decomposite Character and being Abled in the Adaptation, this version of Hank is far happier than his comic counterpart who struggled with a mental illness and a history of causing far more harm despite his attempts at being a hero.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • In the comics, Hank is a scientific peer and close friend of Tony Stark. Here, Hank was more familiar with Tony's father Howard, due to them working in S.H.I.E.L.D. together from The '70s to the late 80s, and comes to hold a grudge against the Stark family for how Howard attempted to steal his discoveries on S.H.I.E.L.D's behalf.
  • Hank's comic self was also one of the founding members of the Avengers alongside his wife Janet, and he was a devoted member of the group even when he made grave screwups like creating Ultron. Here, Hank despises the Avengers due to them being affiliated with Tony Stark, and wants nothing to do with their involvement for all of Phases 2-3. It's implied that his stance on them softened after Thanos's defeat however, as Clint is shown using arrows laced with Pym-Tech in Hawkeye.
  • His relationship with Janet is more complicated in the comics, due to often comparing her to his murdered dead wife and she taking advantage of him having a mental breakdown to get him to marry her which led to him hitting her. By the present the two have a rather distant but on occasion more respectful relationship. However here the two worked together as heroes until her apparent death and there's no evidence to suggest they had the same problems that they had in the comics.
• Adaptational Heroism: While the comic book Hank Pym is solidly a hero, in his past he has had several nervous breakdowns, and the most notorious of those included him hitting Janet in the face and secretly creating a killer robot to attack the Avengers (the idea was that he would then "defeat" the robot to prove his heroism). There's no indication that the MCU version has done anything of the sort.
• Adaptational Late Appearance: Played with. He was a founding Avenger in the comics, while in the MCU he doesn't appear until well after their formation. But then it's revealed he's an Old Superhero who was active years before the Avengers were formed.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Zigzagged. Again, without the infamous incident where he hit his wife, the various psychotic episodes, and creating Ultron, this version of Hank Pym is more moral and mentally stable. On the other hand, when not having a psychotic episode, comic Hank is actually a rather pleasant person who is greatly haunted by his actions as Yellowjacket, while from what we've seen of his past, movie Hank has always been a gruff Jerkass while possessing complete mental clarity. His love of Janet and Hope made him a better person, and his hidden heart of gold is that much more deeply buried without them.
• Adapted Out: In the comics, Hank was the one who created Ultron. This is very important to the Marvel Comics lore but doesn't happen in the cinematic universe, with that role instead going to Tony Stark. The same goes for him being a founding Avenger along with Janet.
• Age Lift: He is a contemporary of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner in the comics. In the film, he is depicted as a retired superhero from the 1960s-1980s, making him as old as he would have been had the comic character aged in real-time.
• Alliterative Family: With his daughter Hope.
• Alternate Self:
  • His past self makes a cameo when Tony and Steve time-travel back to 1970 to steal the Tesseract and some of his Pym Particles.
  • Hank also has two alternate universe counterparts, one on Earth-51825 and another on Earth-89521.
• Always Someone Better: According to The Wakanda Files, a book compiled in-universe by Shuri's orders, it's revealed even she, the head of the most advanced country's science department who is confirmed smarter than Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, has difficulty wrapping her head around Hank's technology to explore the Quantum Realm.
• Back from the Dead: He and the rest of his family were victims of Thanos's snap before they were revived by Bruce Banner.
• Badass Bookworm: He's a scientist (who's better than Howard Stark in some respects), not a soldier. He still kicked major ass during the Cold War.
• Bad Boss:
  • Downplayed, but he is not pleasant to work with, using threats and manipulation to coerce Scott into working for him in Ant-Man.
  • He's later revealed to have driven most of his colleagues away with his hostility and aggression, as explained by Bill Foster.
  • In Avengers: Endgame, a young Hank from 1970 is quite dismissive of "Steve from Shipping" when he explains that he can't bring up the package he's expecting.
• Battle Couple: With his wife, Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp.
• The Beastmaster: As the original Ant-Man, Hank has the ability to command and communicate with every ant species there is. Taken up to eleven in Quantumania, which has him control an entire civilization of ants who have lived generations within the Quantum Realm to help take down Kang.
• Berserk Button: It's apparent that making references to both Howard and Tony Stark are these for him. And anything related to S.H.I.E.L.D., really.
• Big "WHAT?!": His reaction when Scott reveals that he didn't actually destroy his old Ant-Man's suit like he was supposed to in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
  Hope: Oh, my God. You didn't destroy the suit.
  Hank: WHAT!?
• The Chessmaster: A masterful heroic example — by bribing his housekeeper into spreading the word that he has a mysterious safe in the basement of his house, he attracts Luis's attention, who then relates the story to a hard-on-his-luck Scott, who finally decides to burgle the place and steals the suit after finding nothing else of value. This is exactly what Hank wanted, to find a burglar with the skill and ingenuity to break into the safe, so he could recruit them to break into Pym Tech.
• Come with Me If You Want to Live: Goaded Scott into joining him by giving him the Ant-Man suit the second time to escape prison.
• Commander Contrarian: In Ant-Man and the Wasp, he yells at Scott for destroying the Ant-Man suit, and then he yells at him for not destroying the Ant-Man suit.
• Composite Character: His action of lending the mantle "Ant-Man" to Scott is from his Earth-616 counterpart, but his age, the fact that he has a daughter named Hope who betrayed him and his dead wife is Janet instead of Maria is astonishingly similar to his Marvel Comics 2 counterpart.
• Cool Old Guy: He is the one who encourages Scott to get a second chance to reform himself.
• Crazy-Prepared:
  • Shrinking technology allows him to take this up a notch. Borders on Mundane Utility; think something big might come in handy someday? Shrink it and take it with you!
  • Some people carry pepper spray on their keychains. His has an actual shrunken Russian T-34 tank that can be reverted to full size.
  • Some people have spare cars. He has several dozen he shrinks and hauls around in a vintage Hot Wheels Super Rally case just like the tank.
  • Some people have go-bags. His is a ten-story office building he shrinks and hauls around as luggage.
  • He has containers disguised as medical supplements actually containing a device able to magnify ants to a massive size while opening it.
• Deadpan Snarker: Hank can be full of snark when talking with Scott, especially in Ant-Man and the Wasp when Scott accidentally shrinks into the size of a child.
• Decomposite Character: Many of the characteristics of Hank Pym from the comics (such as being the Ant-Man that founded and was associated with the Avengers, the creator of Ultron, Yellowjacket, etc.) are given to other characters in the MCU.
  • Scott Lang especially gots some of Hank's traits from the comics: He's this continuities main Ant-Man, he's associated most to the Avengers, finally becomes Giant-Man, an identity Scott never had in the comics, and forms a Battle Couple with a Wasp. Interestingly, the last thing is something the two have in common in this continuity.
• Defrosting Ice King: In the first two films, Hank Pym was very standoffish Grumpy Old Man who was rather critical of others' shortcomings, whether they be close family or friends. After reconciling with his daughter and getting his wife back however, Hank begins to become a much nicer person in general, as he not only helps Cassie with Quantum research and making her a suit, but also allows Hope to share his technology with the general public after years of distrust. It's even implied that Hank is more accepting of the Avengers now, as Clint Barton is shown to have Pym-tech in his own show, and he reads Scott's book detailing his experiences with them to save the world from Thanos.
• Demoted to Extra: While he is still a central character in the Ant-Man films, he retired from being a superhero long ago and was never involved with the Avengers. In the comics, he was a founding member and has been a central part of the team on and off ever since. Here, his only appearances in an Avengers film are two very small cameo appearances in Endgame, and many events that involved him in the comics such as Ultron or Civil War happen without him here. In a meta sense, the MCU's influence has led to the character of Hank Pym in general to be treated with less and less importance across all Marvel media in favor of establishing Scott as the Ant-Man.
• Dented Iron: All his years of adventuring have caught up to him in his advanced age and wearing the suit himself is no longer an option. He regularly has to take pills to combat the side effects.
• Determinator: Upon learning that Janet could still be alive, he spends the years between the events of the original Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp doing whatever it takes to find her and bring her back. He's successful.
• Deuteragonist: To Scott's Protagonist. His rocky relationship with Hope contrasts to Scott's relationship with his daughter and the villain's focus is mostly on Pym until the climax.
• Doesn't Trust Those Guys: It seems his anger at Howard Stark has translated into a dislike and distrust for the entire Stark family, given his certainty that Tony is exactly the same as his father. Scott remarks in Civil War that Hank told him the Starks were never to be trusted.
• Doting Grandparent: By Quantumania, has become one to Cassie (who, thanks to Scott's relationship with Hope, is essentially his step-granddaughter). He seems happy that she calls him "Grandpa Hank" regularly, helps her with her research into the Quantum Realm while encouraging her interest and taking pride in her accomplishments, and even builds her a size-shifting suit of her own that's very similar to Scott's (which was once Hank's). He also regularly has Cassie and her dad over for dinner, and celebrates her "birthday" with the rest of the family in the denouement.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the first post-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp, Thanos's use of the Infinity Gauntlet killed him while Scott is in the Quantum Realm.
• Due to the Dead: After Iron Man sacrificed himself to defeat Thanos, Hank seems to have let go of his grudge towards the Stark family and attended Tony's funeral with the rest of his family.
• Establishing Character Moment: The prologue of Ant-Man has him calling out S.H.I.E.L.D. (mainly Howard Stark) about trying to weaponize his Pym Particles, declaring himself as a scientist over a soldier/superhero, and punching out Mitchell Carson for making a crack about Janet.
  • Ironically, it's displayed to perfection in the third movie he's featured in. In Avengers: Endgame, he is introduced in his prime in 1970, working for S.H.I.E.L.D. in his own lab. The camera pans across the lab to show it has an ant farm and various gadgets (including the original comics-style Ant-Man helmet as an Easter Egg) presumably of his own design, showing his fascination with ants and his genius in engineering and physics. Then, Captain America's prank call to him perfectly showcases his arrogance and snarky, condescending attitude as at first he thinks the caller is just a lazy employee but also displays his heroism, compassion, and desire to protect the innocent—when Steve indicates there is a radioactive device that's been opened and lives are at risk, he shoots out like a comet to save them. All this character information in the span of about 40 seconds.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Despite seeing him as the son he never had, he was quick to fire Darren Cross as his protege because he recognized how unstable and ruthless he was becoming. Hank even tells Darren he saw too much of himself in Darren, so Hank clearly knows his limits.
  • Even though Ghost is the main antagonist who threatens his life on several occasions, he can see how much she's suffering and assures Bill Foster that he'll help find a cure for her as soon as Janet is safe.
  • Despite his unconditional love for his wife Janet, Hank is passively shocked when she freaks out and turns off Cassie's Quantum signal sender.
  • He fully understands the threat that Kang poses and readily agrees to help take him down.
• First-Name Basis: To his chagrin, Hope refuses to call him "Dad" and addresses him as "Hank" for most of Ant-Man, even as they mend their relationship until he's shot in the shoulder and the habit ends for her.
• Fisticuff-Provoking Comment: Hank was already quite pissed off when he went to the Triskelion in 1989 to confront Howard Stark and the others for trying to replicate his Pym Particles, but it was when Mitchell Carson made a comment about his failure to save his wife that Hank became violent and broke his nose.
• Foil: To Scott. Hank is a respected scientist, an experienced superhero, and a widower with a poor relationship with his daughter. Scott by contrast is a rookie hero and constantly suffers from his criminal record, but is divorced and has an excellent bond with Cassie.
• Good Is Not Nice: He's a bitter and grumpy old man who drove away most of his friends due to his obnoxiousness, but he is firmly on the side of good.
• Grumpy Old Man: Grouchily snaps "YES. I'm still ALIVE," at a security guard. It's quite clear he doesn't particularly like Scott as a person at the beginning of the first Ant-Man movie, and a tide of snide comments lets him know it. He warms up later — mostly for Hope's sake, remaining prickly on the surface. His meetings with his old S.H.I.E.L.D. colleagues show that he was a grumpy middle-aged man, too.
• Happily Married: In contrast to their more complicated relationship in the comics, in the MCU Hank and Janet love each other deeply.
• Hero of Another Story: A superhero during The '60s up until The '80s.
• Honorary Uncle: Actually more like Honorary Grandfather, as Cassie refers to him as Grandpa a few times in Quantumania.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Does not appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe until the seventh year.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Tried to save Washington, D.C. with a Heroic Sacrifice, but his regulator was on the fritz, leaving the Wasp/Janet to finish the job.
• In Name Only: Aside from retaining his name, science background (as well as his mastery of Pym Particles), position as the first Ant-Man, and former wife, Hank has almost nothing in common with the Hank Pym of the comics. The MCU version of Hank Pym is a Decomposite Character who has most of the crucial characteristics of the comic book character (such as being the Ant-Man that founded and was associated with the Avengers, the creator of Ultron, Yellowjacket, etc.) given to other characters.
• Insufferable Genius:
  • He is a brilliant scientist and master planner, but he is temperamental, acerbic, and absolutely certain that he's in the right both scientifically and morally, often refusing to hear out arguments or explain his reasons to anyone else. By the first Ant-Man, he has alienated everyone he's ever met, including his daughter Hope and longtime protege Darren Cross, and has to recruit a complete stranger to help him. In Ant-Man and the Wasp, his former colleague Bill Foster says the one person Hank ever listened to was Janet, and she "paid the price." At least part of the reason Bill later dismisses Hank's (valid but presumptive) concerns about the risky, experimental plan to drain Janet of quantum energy to save Ava's life is just to prove Hank wrong for once.
  • The true price of Hank's arrogance and entitled brilliance is revealed in Avengers Endgame. Where in Ant-Man and the Wasp, Hank builds a Quantum Tunnel to enter the Quantum Realm to bring his wife back and can do so in a specific, pre-determined point, in Endgame, Tony Stark spent one or two nights mulling over Scott Lang's "time travel pitch" which involved explaining, offscreen, Hank's work in quantum tunneling, and Tony build a spacetime GPS that allows him and the other Avengers to drop in and drop out of the Quantum Realm in any designated period of their choosing and return to the present when they want. In other words, had Hank not been so arrogant and gone to Tony Stark a while back, it's possible that Janet could have returned to him far before she did. In this case, however, it's as much (if not more) paranoia as arrogance; Tony Stark's father once tried to crack the secret of Pym Particles behind Hank's back, leaving Pym with a lingering distrust of the Stark family given their connections to the government, as well as Scott having to share Hank's upgraded technology for Tony to work with.
• Intelligence Equals Isolation: One of the most brilliant scientists in the world, but his temperament pushes everyone away, to the point where his protege and daughter push him out of his own company, and having burnt his bridges with the intelligence community, the only person he "trusts" to prevent his life's work from being used as a weapon is an expendable Boxed Crook.
• Irrational Hatred:
  • Of Tony Stark. Hank hates Howard Stark for a reason — he resigned from S.H.I.E.L.D. after finding out that Howard was working with them to replicate and weaponize the Pym Particle. However, he resents Tony on the grounds that he is Like Father, Like Son despite never meeting him. Tony never plagiarized someone else's work (except for Quentin Beck's B.A.R.F. technology though that was technically company property and thus his to do with as he wished and he never actually claimed that he made it, just that he had paid for it) and withholds his technology from the government. Yet Hank sharing the negative public opinion about the Avengers after Age of Ultron is not irrational — the events of that movie were Tony's fault:
  Scott Lang: I think our first move should be calling the Avengers.
  Hank Pym: I've spent half my life trying to keep this technology out of the hands of a Stark. I'm sure as hell not gonna hand-deliver it to one now. This is not some cute technology like the Iron Man suit. This could change the texture of reality. Besides they're probably too busy dropping cities out of the sky.
  • Seems to have finally moved on from his hatred come Endgame, where he's seen alongside Janet, Hope, and Scott at Tony Stark's funeral. The fate of the entire universe was at stake so cooperation was vital.
• It's Like I Always Say: According to Scott Lang, Hank Pym always says that "You can never trust a Stark!".
• I Will Show You X!: Hank doesn't take it well when Mitchell Carson makes a distasteful comment about the death of his wife.
  Mitchell Carson: If only you'd protected Janet with such ferocity, Dr. Pym.
  Hank Pym: [slams Carson's head into his desk]: You mention my wife again and I'll show you ferocity!
• Jerkass Has a Point: As much of an abrasive Insufferable Genius as he can be, Hank tends to bring up legitimate criticisms.
  • His grudge against the Stark family is actually pretty valid. Howard and S.H.I.E.L.D. went behind his back to figure out the Pym Particle formula with the stated intention of weaponizing it after he refused to do so. Even one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s leaders, Mitchell Carson turns out to be a HYDRA agent, thus showing how Hank and rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. dodged a massive bullet regarding HYDRA's plans to use the Pym particles for world domination.
    • This also extends to Tony as while Hank is dismissive and assumes Tony is just like Howard based on his own biases, Tony's actions prior to Ant-Man (creating Ultron and thus being partly responsible for the damage to Sokovia) and after (all the messes that Tony caused in Captain America: Civil War) give Hank very good reason not to want anything to do with him.
  • A deleted scene in Ant-Man and the Wasp shows that he was right about Elias Starr being a traitor.
  • He is the expert on the Quantum Realm and its energies, so if he says something's a bad idea, you should listen. Especially given how unpredictable quantum energy can be.
    • Hank makes the very valid point that Bill's plan to drain Janet of quantum energy to stabilize Ava has a good chance of killing Janet. Bill brushes it off as Hank not knowing for certain what will happen but it's pretty clear that a big part of his motives is proving Hank wrong for once and he's still gambling with an innocent life. To his credit though, Bill comes around Hank's viewpoint and urges Ava not to go through with extracting quantum energy from Janet.
  • Any time Hank loses it for someone mocking him over losing Janet. Violent as he may act in response, he's still a grieving widower and the people antagonizing him are insulting him by basically saying he got his beloved wife killed.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Hank Pym has extremely strong morals and principles, even shutting down his research to prevent people from abusing his Sizeshifter technology. He's also a huge Jerkass; he's abrasive, pushy, arrogant, self-righteous, openly contemptuous of others, manipulative, controlling, and a general pain to work with. He openly regards Scott as expendable and considers him more a necessary nuisance than an actual partner. In the original film, his more negative traits are shown to be a result of his grief over Janet's disappearance into the Quantum Realm and his subsequent legal battles to protect his technology. In Ant-Man and the Wasp, however, Pym's ex-partner Bill Foster claims he was always a jerk; Janet, miraculously, was the only partner he had who could put up with him and bring him down to earth.
• Last Episode, New Character: Debuted in the final Phase Two film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• Let Me at Him!: When Bill Foster makes a comment about Janet's death in Ant-Man and the Wasp, Hank furiously tries to attack him and has to be restrained by Hope and Scott.

M-Y

• Mentor Archetype: Mentors Scott when he takes on the role of Ant-Man. And does not die, although comes very close. Then Thanos happened... And then the Time Heist happened.
• Military Superhero: Not out in the open like Captain America, but rather as a top-secret S.H.I.E.L.D. operative in the Cold War against the Soviets along with Janet.
• The Minion Master: He may not use the Ant-Man suit anymore, but he still makes good use of his ant-controlling device. Come Ant-Man and the Wasp he's shown using enlarged ants as both guard dogs and free manual labor.
• Mirror Character: Ironically, Hank has quite a lot in common with with Tony Stark, despite his hatred of the man and his family. Both of them are brilliant but Insufferable Geniuses who are responsible for world-changing creations in the form of a powered suit. Despite their abrasive personalities, both Hank and Tony are experts in their scientific fields, and genuinely want to make the world a better place with their technology.
• Mistaken for Misogynist: Although it is never explicitly stated, it is heavily implied that Hope believes her father refuses to let her take on the Ant-Man mantle because she's a woman and she is endlessly frustrated that he recruited Scott who needs to be trained when she already knows everything about the mission and how the suit works. However, after seeing the two argue about it yet again, Scott, a father himself, explains that Hank won't let Hope wear the suit because he's desperately afraid of her dying. This is confirmed when Hank finally reveals the truth to Hope about how her mother Janet died, working as The Wasp on a mission with Hank. At the end of the movie, Hank presents Hope with a Wasp suit to show that he trusts her to be able to take care of herself.
• Mocking the Mourner: Hank confronts some of the S.H.I.E.L.D. higher-ups over trying to replicate his shrinking formula. One of them, Mitchell Carson, mocks him over losing his wife Janet back then when they were still active in the field. Hank responds by slamming his head into the table. Even Howard Stark tells Mitchell he had that coming.
  • Similarly in the next movie, Bill snarkily comments that Janet went to her death because she was tired of putting up with Hank's jerkass attitude. Scott and Hope have to restrain Hank from beating his ex-partner to a pulp.
• Moment Killer: He opens the door and interrupts Scott and Hope's first kiss, to his own shock.
• Mundane Utility:
  • Hank occasionally uses of his ant-controlling tech for things like putting sugar in tea.
  • In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Hank uses Pym Particles to enlarge a small pizza he bought for a family dinner so he could save money by not having to buy the larger size.
• My Greatest Failure: Janet's apparent death hit him especially hard because of the feeling that he should have been the one making the sacrifice when the chips were down — his suit was malfunctioning, so his wife sacrificed herself in front of him to save the day. The incident left him emotionally traumatised, distancing himself from his daughter (who at seven years old really needed him then) as he obsessed over getting Janet back for around a decade before giving up.
• Nerves of Steel: Doesn't flinch even when the deck is stacked against him and punches Cross in the nose.
• Nice Guy: In Quantumania, there's barely anything left of the arrogant, insufferable douchebag from the past three films and he's a much friendlier and more supportive person now thanks to reuniting with his wife, reconciling with his daughter, and his work having been recognized as having helped save the universe. He's likely mellowed out a lot more as most of his personal issues (missing wife, estranged daughter, paranoia about his tech being misused) have been resolved since Endgame and he's retired in peace with his family.
• Nice to the Waiter: Zigzagged. The 1970 sequence in Avengers Endgame shows that he was fairly blunt and dismissive towards S.H.I.E.L.D.'s delivery workers, only showing concern when he thinks they might have become ill from opening one of his packages.
• No Body Left Behind: Is disintegrated along with half the universe after Thanos completes the Infinity Gauntlet, the timing of which coincides with the mid-credits scene of Ant-Man and the Wasp.
• Not Me This Time: Upon hearing about a guy wearing the Ant-Man suit who went to Germany to help Captain America fight the Avengers and turned into a giant in an airport, Bill Foster assumed it must have been Hank Pym. However, when the two reunite in Ant-Man and the Wasp and Bill chides him for this, Hank reveals that it wasn't him but Scott Lang.
  Hank: That wasn't me in Germany. It was this idiot.
• Not So Above It All: He's grumpy enough that he mostly rolls his eyes at Scott's antics, but when Scott's suit malfunctions in Ant-Man and the Wasp and leaves him looking the size of a four-year-old, even he can't resist a few jokes:
  Hank: Hiya champ, how was school today?
  Scott: [irritated] Oh, ha ha ha! All right, get your jokes out now. Can you fix the suit?
  Hope: [grinning] So cranky...
  Hank: Do you want a juice box and some string cheese?
  *beat*
  Scott: [completely serious] Do you really have that?
• Odd Name Out: It's implied that he's the only one on his family who uses the Pym surname, since Hope is last seen using her mother's maiden name and Janet herself being addressed by her maiden name both by other characters in-universe and the film's promotional materials.
• Old Superhero: In his glory days, Hank Pym was an all-American hero who went on many adventures as a secret field agent to stop global threats such as the Soviet Union. But in the modern day, the scientific after-effects of all those weird experiments he did to get his power leave him without powers while the grim reality of government and corporate corruption that became clear by the 1970s have left him disillusioned with the system.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Downplayed from his comic counterpart. While he no longer has robotics and artificial intelligence on the list, he still has extensive knowledge of physics, engineering, and biology, all vital for the Ant-Man tech to work.
• Only a Flesh Wound: He's shot in the shoulder around the climax of Ant-Man, and while he does need medical attention, it doesn't bother him that much. He's in a sling by the end of the movie, however.
• Out of Focus: Alongside Hope, Hank is one of the main drivers of the action in the first two Ant-Man films, but he's mostly just along for the ride in Quantumania.
• Papa Wolf:
  • He was not willing to lose his daughter Hope the same way he lost his wife Janet, which is why he initially opposed her succeeding him as Ant-Man.
  • He and Janet exit the Quantum Realm just in time to save Hope and Scott from Ghost.
  • He becomes very protective of his adoptive granddaughter Cassie by Quantumania.
• Passing the Torch:
  • To Scott, whom he chooses to take over the role of Ant-Man. It's mostly because he doesn't want Hope in danger.
  • He finally makes Hope the new Wasp at the end of the first film.
  • By the time of Quantumania, he's officially retired as head of Pym Technologies and has allowed Hope to succeed him as CEO and main benefactor.
• Pest Controller: Invented the mechanism that he and Scott use to command any species of ants.
• Pet the Dog: Despite Hank's very vocal dislike for the Stark family, he swallows his pride enough to attend Tony's funeral at the end of Endgame alongside the rest of his family.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He retains his strength at normal size when he shrinks, reflecting the strength of ants compared to their small size.
• Posthumous Character: Although Hank and his family have been dead for five years during the events of Avengers: Endgame, his research and inventions from the previous Ant-Man movies and the MCU at large are heavily involved in that film's plot to restore everyone Back from the Dead, including Hank himself.
• Prank Call: His past self is the victim of this in Avengers: Endgame, where Steve Rogers claims that a delivery man accidentally opened a box being shipped to him, causing Hank to fly out of his lab in a panic.
• Professor Guinea Pig: Downplayed. After creating the Ant-Man suit, Hank was adamant that only he is allowed to wear and use the suit during his tenure at S.H.I.E.L.D. When they decided to try to replicate both it and the Pym Particles anyway, Hank promptly resigns from S.H.I.E.L.D., taking and locking away the suit with him.
• Properly Paranoid: Hank's not entirely wrong to fear about his formula falling into the wrong hands all the time. When Thanos manages to obtain a sample through Nebula in Avengers: Endgame, he's able to reverse-engineer the formula and produce enough of it to send his entire army through the Quantum Realm back into the Sacred Timeline.
• Reed Richards Is Useless:
  • A suit and formula with shrinking capabilities would be incredibly useful for society if mass-produced, particularly where maintenance and construction are concerned. However, Hank's scientific genius and research was primarily used for superheroics and government work, with his general fear of others abusing his creations making him keep his Pym Particles close to his chest.
  • Averted by the time of Quantumania, where Hope begins sharing the Pym Particles with the general public via Pym Technologies, with Hank approving of it.
• Red Is Heroic: The primary coloration of Hank's Ant-Man suit is red.
• Relative Button: Making any insinuation about his failure to protect Janet sets him off. Mitchell Carson did this in the prologue, and was probably lucky to walk away with just a broken nose. When Foster comments in the sequel that Janet was the only person who could put up with Hank and paid the price for it, Hope has to physically restrain her father.
• Retired Badass: He was the original Ant-Man from the 1960s to the 1980s, which is briefly seen in a flashback on the mission where Janet committed her Heroic Sacrifice. By the time of the movie he had basically buried his past and it's treated as a thing of legend. Putting the suit back on isn't an option even if he wanted to get back in the game due to the long-term damage shrinking with the Pym Particles has done to his body even with the suit's protection.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. after learning that they had tried to replicate and weaponize his Pym Particles without his knowledge or consent was the right move, but it was primarily done out of anger and spite because of his work being stolen from him. That said, the organization had already been corrupted by HYDRA by that point, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. member who was most vocal about replicating the Pym Particles, Mitchell Carson, is later revealed to be a member of HYDRA too. And since they were unsuccessful in replicating the formula before Hank left, HYDRA ultimately lost a valuable weapon that could've made their covert assassinations much easier.
• Science Hero: Whereas Scott is a lowly engineer/thief who can barely keep a job when we first meet him, Hank is a well-respected scientist and inventor who managed to create ways to quickly shrink and grow things, as well as a suit that allows one to do this in quick succession. Because he's also the only one who got to wear it between the 60s and 80s, Hank also acted as a spy for the American government.
• Setting Update: One of the few exceptions outside of Captain America's cast. Pym was active during the comic book character's original setting, instead of being updated to a modern one.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Despite not knowing or ever meeting Tony Stark, Hank assumes he's just as terrible as his father Howard, especially due to his involvement with Ultron's creation and the subsequent damage done to Sokovia in the process. As such, Hank wants nothing to do with the Avengers, nor for Tony to get any of his Pym Particles.
• Sizeshifter: Hank is the first Ant-Man and the one who created the Pym Particles that allow his body and anything else to change size.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Despite appearing in only a few films, his invention of the Pym Particles is instrumental to the invention of time travel and undoing Thanos's work.
• Stronger Than They Look: Despite his old age, Hank still has the strength to knock some sense into any Corrupt Corporate Executive he comes across. Cross appears genuinely impressed when he gets the taste of his former mentor's seemingly "pathetic" punch in the face.
  Cross: Wow. Wow! I mean, I saw that punch coming a mile away, but I'd just figured it'd be all pathetic and weak.
  Hank: Well, you figured wrong.
• Surrounded by Idiots: His expression whenever Scott or one of the Wombats say/do something stupid/crazy.
• Sympathetic Adulterer: After learning about Janet's relationship with Krylar in Quantumania, he admits that he did try dating others during their time apart. However he genuinely believed she was dead and Janet isn't upset by it.
• Take This Job and Shove It: Resigned from S.H.I.E.L.D. in disgust after learning they had tried to replicate his Pym Particles without his knowledge or consent. His language was polite, but the sentiment was this.
• Tank Goodness: His keychain is a Soviet tank, shrunken down, of course.
• Together in Death: Vanishes, along with his wife and daughter, in The Stinger of the second movie, following Thanos's Badass Fingersnap in Wakanda.
• Took a Level in Kindness:
  • While hardly a saint, he's comparatively nicer as an old man. He's also nicer to Scott by the time of Ant-Man and the Wasp, apart from his bitterness over Scott inadvertently forcing him and Hope on the run.
  • By the time of Quantumania, Hank has become genuinely warm-hearted and supportive of not only Scott, but also Cassie. He even goes so far as to make the latter a suit, and also works to study the Quantum Realm with her and Hope.
• Unknown Rival: Stark's dismissal of Lang in Civil War implies he has no thought and no awareness of his father's feud with Hank or Hank's hatred of himself:
  Scott Lang: Hank Pym always said, you never can trust a Stark.
  Tony Stark: Who are you?
• Unreliable Expositor: When Bill brings up his past partnership with Hank, and in particular the way Elihas Starr attempted to continue his experiment after Hank fired him, Hank defends his own actions and questions Bill's accounts. Bill may be biased, but so is Hank.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Ant-Man opens on him chewing out Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D. for trying to develop the same shrinking technology he employs, despite Pym wanting to prevent its abuse.
• World's Smartest Man: At the very least, he is the undisputed best scientist in the world in his fields of expertise. In The Wakanda Files, Shuri notes that she can't figure out how his Pym Particles work, not even with the help of a team of Wakanda's best scientists. Howard Stark similarly failed to make a replica of his work, and Tony didn't even try. The only people who were successfully able to replicate the formula are Darren Cross and Thanos (with some help from Ebony Maw).
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: He convincingly fakes a heart problem in order to have Foster open a container of Altoids that turns out to contain enlarged ants instead.
• You're Insane!: When Bill Foster tells him about his intention to extract Janet's quantum energy to help Ava's condition, Hank asks if he's insane as it could kill Janet.
  Hank: Are you insane? That would rip Janet apart!
• You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: He says this word for word to Elihas Starr when he confronts him about building a Quantum Tunnel in a deleted scene.
  Hank: The tunnel is dangerous! You have no idea what you're dealing with!

Variants

Yellowjacket

Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym / Ant-Man / Yellowjacket

"I wanted you to hurt. To witness everything you've ever worked for… fought for… hoped for… die."

Species: Human

Voiced By: Michael Douglas

Appearances: What If…?

The Hank Pym of Earth-51825, who sought to destroy Fury in order to avenge the death of Hope, who in this reality became a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.

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• Adaptational Villainy: Hank becomes the Yellowjacket in this universe, out of grief for his dead daughter.
• Arc Villain: The main antagonist of "What If... The World Lost Its Mightiest Heroes?".
• Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: In the Sacred Timeline, Hank is just a Retired Badass who wanted little to do with the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. after resigning from the organization in 1989. Here he kills Black Widow, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor with minimal effort before being defeated by both Nick Fury and Loki.
• Always a Bigger Fish: Despite being a Hero Killer who slew all but one of The Avengers, he's completely and utterly outclassed by Loki. Not only does he not stand a fraction of a chance against Loki whatsoever in a straight fight, but the God of Mischief one-ups him at the end of the episode by conquering Earth.
• Beard of Sorrow: Much like his Sacred Timeline counterpart, he has a goatee, but it's far more unkempt, as is the rest of his appearance.
• Color Character: Yellowjacket.
• Combat Pragmatist: He never takes the Avengers in a straight fight. He kills Stark by hiding inside his antidote, Thor by forcing Clint to shoot him in the chest, then later kills Clint by giving him a heart hemorrhage, and finally offs Hulk by sniping him and enlarging his heart until he exploded, all while being too small to see. The closest thing to a fair fight he has is against Natasha, and he takes full advantage of his microscopic size still retaining his strength and the darkness of the room they're in.
• Creepy Shadowed Undereyes: In addition to his shagged goatee, Hank also has some ominous bags underneath his eyes, making it look as though he hasn't slept for a very long time.
• Crusading Widower: After Hope is killed on a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission, Hank suffers a mental breakdown, and as revenge for Hope's death, murders nearly every would-be Avenger to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D.'s plans.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: His fight against Fury is a completely one-sided smackdown with Hank on the receiving end the entire way through. With the reveal that it was Loki under the guise of Fury, it's clear Hank never had a chance.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Hank Pym's daughter being killed in Odessa led to his killing spree against S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers.
• Evil Old Folks: While the Sacred Timeline Hank Pym has retired from action, this version of Hank is a murderer driven by grief and anger who singlehandedly kills most of the Avengers candidates.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Michael Douglas makes this Hank sound similar to President Loki, making his voice even raspier than normal.
• Fallen Hero: From a superhero in the Cold War to a serial killer driven by grief.
• Freudian Excuse: Hank's motivation is to avenge his daughter who died on duty as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: As Loki and Fury point out, his daughter's death doesn't justify his actions, for two reasons: 1; none of the people he killed had anything to do with the loss of his loved ones, and 2; his loved ones willingly chose the paths that led to their deaths.
  Hank: Don’t play the fool with me, Fury. You filled her head with nonsense about protecting humanity and saving the world. You just left out how she died the same way her mother did, doing S.H.I.E.L.D.’s dirty work!
  Loki (disguised as Fury): And that gave you permission to murder them? Anthony Stark? Clint Barton? Bruce Banner? Natasha Romanoff?
• Hero Killer: As mentioned above, all but one of the original six Avengers fall at Hank's hands in the reality he's from, with Captain America only being spared due to still being in the ice.
• Irony: His vengeful wrath against Fury eventually leads to his undoing as his killing of Thor, partially motivated by his desire to hurt Fury, caused him to incur the wrath of Loki, for very similar reasons.
• Knight of Cerebus: The first two episodes of What If...? were pretty lighthearted, but his murder of the Avengers in Episode 3 is when the show gets significantly darker.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He tried to destroy S.H.I.E.L.D. and stop the Avengers because his loved one (Hope) died in their one of their missions. He is defeated by the one who also lost his loved one to him (Loki to Thor).
• Looks Like Cesare: As seen above, this Hank looks quite haggard and unhealthy after losing his daughter, which emphasizes his newfound villainous nature.
• Love Makes You Evil: Hope died in the line of duty as an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (presumably at the hands of HYDRA, as it's implied she was the one who went to Odessa and encountered the Winter Soldier in 2009 instead of Natasha), causing Hank to suffer a mental breakdown and become evil.
• Misplaced Retribution: Hank kills the Avengers candidates as an act of revenge against S.H.I.E.L.D. for the death of his daughter, even though none of them had anything to do with Hope or Janet's deaths. Thor was even an opportunistic kill, in the event that Fury was intending to recruit him.
• Moral Myopia: In response to his daughter being killed by a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission, he murders several people who S.H.I.E.L.D. could recruit.
• Mythology Gag: Hank becomes Yellowjacket after Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, just like in the comics.
• My God, What Have I Done?: He seems to have this reaction when Loki (disguised as Fury) tricks him into destroying his daughter's grave.
• Never My Fault: Blames S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fury for the deaths of the would-be Avengers (for the sole 'crime' of being associated with them), conveniently forgetting he killed them out of spite even when they hadn't joined S.H.I.E.L.D. and didn't have any hand in his daughter's death.
• Not So Stoic: He becomes increasingly frustrated and then frightened when Loki, disguised as Nick Fury, easily curb stomp him using his bare hands but to him, Nick is being powerful enough to defeat him even when he shrinks.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Hank outlives his daughter in this timeline. Her death is what causes him to go on a murder spree.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: This Hank is far more dangerous than his Sacred Timeline counterpart, but he's effortlessly taken down by the God of Mischief himself, Loki, whose power far eclipses anything Hank can bring to the table.
• Revenge Is Not Justice: While it's true that he lost his daughter, Loki disguised as Fury subtly calls Hank out for killing all the Avengers candidates, as none of them had anything to do with Hope's death — especially not Thor, who was only on Earth due to exile and just wanted his hammer back.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After his daughter's death, he begins slaughtering the Avengers in a blind rage in order to make Nick Fury suffer.
• They Died Because of You: He blames Nick Fury and all of S.H.I.E.L.D. for the deaths of Janet and Hope.
• Tragic Villain: While his past doesn't justify his actions, Hank Pym can still arguably qualify as one given is obvious anguish over the loss of his wife and daughter.
• Truer to the Text: Unlike in Ant-Man where Hank received some Adaptational Heroism and the role of Yellowjacket was used by Cross, this Hank has become mad with grief and has killed innocent people as Yellowjacket, making him more similar to the comic book version.
• Uncertain Doom: He's last seen being taken away by Asgardian warriors. Given Loki's vengeful anger, it's highly unlikely they let him live, but we don't see him die.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His Roaring Rampage of Revenge wipes out any hope Earth has of resisting Loki's conquest, and the planet falls within a day.
• Walking Spoiler: The fact that this version of Hank Pym is not only active but is also the villainous Yellowjacket is a major plot twist for Episode 3.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Deconstructed somewhat. What happened to Hank Pym is undeniably sad (he lost his wife and daughter), is obviously still paining him and is what motivated him to do what he did. However, as Loki and Fury point out, this doesn't justify his actions, for two reasons: 1; none of the people he killed had anything to do with the loss of his loved ones, and 2; his loved ones willingly chose the paths that led to their deaths.

Zombie Apocalypse Hank Pym

Dr. Hank Pym / Ant-Man I

Species: Human (formerly), Zombified human

Voiced By: N/A

Appearances: What If...?

The Hank Pym of Earth-89521, who became zombified after searching for his wife.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: While still a flesh eating zombie, as a result of being a Decomposite Character he never kept T'Challa prisoner and cut off pieces of him. He also never consumed almost all life in his universe nor did he try to do the same to the whole multiverse. The fact he's more of a traditional zombie than his comic counterpart gives his actions in general far less malice.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: He's one of the first person to be infected by another zombie in the episode.
• Decomposite Character: In Marvel Zombies, Zombie Hank kept T'Challa prisoner and slowly cut off pieces of him to satiate his hunger. In the show, that role was given to Vision, who is Supporting the Monster Loved One.
• Eye Scream: After his zombification, his left eye is missing.
• Face–Monster Turn: All instances of Hank's humanity are gone when he's zombified, with his first instinct being to devour Scott's body, before going on to infect his version of Captain America.
• Hero Killer: Infects this universe's Steve Rogers and Scott Lang, although Scott survives thanks to an Emergency Transformation.
• It Can Think: He still knows how to use his Sizeshifter abilities as a zombie.
• Oh, Crap!: Has this expression when he realizes that Janet was already a zombie before getting attacked by her.
• The Undead: He's the first person Janet infects with the Quantum Virus.
• Undeathly Pallor: Has a pale complexion as a zombie.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His attempts at finding his wife, who's lost in the Quantum Realm, lead to a Zombie Apocalypse.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: While he's seen infecting Captain America when the Avengers arrive to take care of the zombie infestation, Hank isn't seen for the rest of the episode after Uatu's introductory narration is finished.

Celestial Star-Lord's Hank Pym

Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym / Ant-Man

"What's the matter, kid? Something bugging you?"

Species: Human

Affiliation(s): S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers

Voiced By: Michael Douglas

Appearances: What If…?

A variant of Hank who in 1988 was recruited to be part of the Avengers when Peter Quill began causing destruction on Earth.

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• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
  • While still having problems with both Bill Foster and Howard Stark, the arrival of Peter and formation of the Avengers makes him look past his issues. It's even implied by the end that he's willing to move past them since they have a party at his house.
  • Hank also appears to have a much healthier relationship with his daughter in this timeline, as while the two are still dealing with the loss of Janet, Hank never sent Hope to boarding school and he wholly loves and trusts her.
  • He ends up adopting Peter Quill into his family, who he's never met in the MCU and in the comics the two are around the same age.
• Bumbling Dad: He's trying to be a good dad to Hope, but it's pretty clear even without the grief over Jan he's... not terribly good at the whole "parenting" thing.
• Composite Character: With Yondu, taking on the role of being Peter's Parental Substitute.
• Friend to All Children: Though he's initially wary of Peter when he first starts doing things on Earth, Hank eventually realizes that he's just a grieving kid being forced to do something he doesn't fully understand. His gentle words and comforting of Quill at his mother's grave help convince him to turn against his father for good, and Hank even adopts Peter as part of his family afterward.
• Godzilla Threshold: Despite having vowed never to work with or for S.H.I.E.L.D. or a Stark ever again, when he sees Quill's crash-landing in New York he immediately puts aside his anger to help out.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: True to what the regular timeline's Bill Foster said, Hank is quite difficult to deal with, so much so Mar-Vell dubs him "Crusty". That said, he still signs up to help stop an unknown threat and is a caring (if not always successful) father.
• Lethal Chef: Hank isn't exactly a great cook in this universe, with his idea of breakfast being potato chips in milk as a makeshift cereal. Wendy Lawson also mentions that Hank apparently burned a pie for dessert near the end of the episode.
• Mythology Gag: He's a founding member of the Avengers in this timeline like in the comic.
• Parental Substitute: Becomes this for Peter Quill as he takes him in at the end of the episode. Considering how Peter's mother died recently and his father is an abusive monster who wants to terraform the universe, he clearly more than needs someone to look after him.
• Spanner in the Works: Who knew bringing his daughter to work would lead to the entire universe being saved?
• Team Member in the Adaptation: Downplayed. He's part of the Avengers in the comics, but his film counterpart had nothing to do with the team. This version is made a founding member.
• Truer to the Text: Unlike his cinematic counterpart, this version of Hank is a founding member of the Avengers just like in the comics.

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"I realized you can't destroy power. All you can do is make sure it's in the right hands."