Characters / Ant-Man: Heroes

WARNING: There are unmarked spoilers on these sheets for all but the most recent comics.

Remember, this sheet is for characters and examples from the main Marvel Universe (referred to in-universe as 'Earth-616') only. Please do not list characters or examples from shows, movies or alternate universe versions here. If you have thought of a trope that fits an alternate version of these characters, please take that example to its respective sheet.

Ant-Man

Hank Pym

Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym

Heart Is an Awesome Power: The Comic Book.

The original Ant-Man, Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym was created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby. Making his Silver Age debut in Tales to Astonish #27 (January, 1962), Hank Pym was an ordinary, but brilliant biochemist. Happily married to Maria Trovaya, a political refugee, Hank was devastated when she was murdered on a trip to Hungary. Her death led to Hank's first mental breakdown, one of his defining attributes in later years. After recovering, Hank threw himself into his work, leading to the creation of a rare group of subatomic particles. Pym then uses the particles to create two serums: one that shrinks objects and one that makes them larger. Testing the first serum on himself, Pym shrinks to insect size for the first time but is unable to reverse the procedure. Now trapped in a nearby anthill, Pym nearly drowns in honey before being rescued by a friendly ant. The new friends fend off an attack by other ants looking for an easy meal before Pym makes it back to his lab. Using the second serum to return to normal size, Pym recognizes the danger of his discovery and decides to destroy the serums before they can do more harm.

Realizing that he was destroying a breakthrough, Hank recreated his serums a few weeks later. Inspired by his experience in the anthill, Pym uses the shrinking serum to become the superhero Ant-Man in Tales to Astonish #35 (September, 1962). He would pick up a partner a few issues later in the form of Janet van Dyne, a young socialite who closely resembled his dead wife. With her father dead thanks to the arrival of the Creature from Kosmos, Janet volunteers to undergo genetic alteration at the hands of Pym to become "The Wasp". Together, the heroes defeat the Kosmosian and become partners. Later, the duo would join Iron Man and Thor in battle against the Hulk until the heroes realize that they've been manipulated by Loki, the God of Mischief. Banding together, the heroes defeat Loki and officially become The Avengers.

Pym soon tinkered with his serums further, complementing his shrinking abilities with ones that would make him grow larger; as a result he tweaked his codename to Giant-Man. He also experimented with other superhero identities through the Sixties, calling himself Goliath (which exclusively used the growth powers) and Yellowjacket.

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Tropes

• 10-Minute Retirement: Pym has retired several times over the years, sometimes taking Janet with him, but it never stuck.
• Absent-Minded Professor: Has occasionally shown these tendencies, especially early in he and Janet's relationship.
• Action Dad: As revealed in All-New, All-Different Marvel, he has a daughter with his deceased first wife, Nadia Pym.
• Agent Scully: Sometimes, he insists that magic isn't real and that there are no gods.
• Anti-Hero Substitute: As Yellowjacket, he becomes this to himself, a ruthless, arrogant crimefighter who thinks Ant-Man is a loser.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Hank Pym is a confessed atheist. He dismisses "gods" like Thor and Hercules as extra-dimensional heroes. But he either knows of or has met Eternity, the living spirit of the universe and is still an atheist.
• Arch-Enemy : Originally it was rival scientist Egghead, but then became Ultron. Whirlwind is a close third.
• Badass Bookworm: He's much more "Bookworm" than most other scientists in the Marvel Universe.
• Battle Couple: With Janet, and later with Tigra.
• The Beastmaster: Thanks to his helmet, he can control insects.
• Big "SHUT UP!": When he hit Janet in Avengers #213.
• Bitch Slap: During a moment when he was Not Himself, Hank infamously slapped his wife Janet Van Dyne like this.
• Breakout Character: Hank's first appearance in Tales to Astonish #27 was a seven page story where as a scientist, he just tests his shrinking experiments on himself and runs afoul of some ants. "The Man in the Ant Hill" was intended as a one-off story, but positive response led to bringing him back almost a year later as a superhero.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: On his better days, Hank can still be a little... quirky, but a genius scientist nonetheless.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Has become kind of a Running Gag both in and out of the comics, though it's technically not really deserved considering it stemmed from maybe two bad judgment calls on Pym's part at the most.
  • At one point, Hank got abducted and replaced by Skrulls. Due to their method of infiltration, the Skrulls replacing him (yes, plural, there's a reason) inherit Hank's mental issues, and their superiors refuse to listen to them and their warnings that the Skrulls aren't going to win simply because they look like Hank Pym.
• Catapult to Glory: Only capable of shrinking early in his career, Hank used a catapult to launch himself around town.
• Control Freak: Has some of these tendencies, wanting to control the actions of those around him, the world and most of his scientific advancements are in an effort to take more control over things he previously couldn't. It gets worse during his breakdowns.
• Create Your Own Villain: Hank Pym built the Killer Robot Ultron, which became one of the Avengers' most dangerous enemies.
• Deader than Dead: Presumably as of Infinity Countdown #5 Hank's soul was removed from Pymtron's body by the Soul Stone. And then his soul ended up getting devoured by a beast within the Soul Stone. This gets pushed even further in Tony Stark: Iron Man #19 wherein Tony shuts down any possibility that Hank is still somewhere in there in the Fusion Dance he's had with Ultron. Tony confirms that Ultron had been faking Hank's presence the entire time. Eventually subverted come Avengers Inc., where it’s revealed Hank has been restored to life through a fragment of his consciousness who managed to free himself using the power of the All-father.
• Delayed Diagnosis: Hank Pym showed signs of some mental illness for years before it was finally revealed that he was bipolar.
• Didn't Think This Through: While Ultron turning out to be murderously misanthropic wasn't Hank's intention, he did think it was apparently a good idea to build the tin-can with the ability to fire off energy blasts.
• Disappeared Dad: To Nadia, though in fairness he never even knew his wife had been pregnant in the first place.
• Domestic Abuse: Hank, who developed the persona Yellowjacket during a mental breakdown, marries Janet but their initially-happy marriage quickly deteriorates and culminates in Hank slapping Janet hard enough to bruise her face. For this, he is booted off of The Avengers, he and Janet are divorced, and their superhero partnership is broken.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Occasionally, when in his Giant Man form, Hank might forget he's much stronger, at one point cracking the Avengers' meeting table just making a dramatic exclamation. Seeing this, Hawkeye asks that he not slap the archer on the back any time soon.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: At least one explanation for Hank's downswings is feeling short-changed on the respect he deserves, regardless of whether he actually is or not.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: As seen in the opening description, the very first Hank Pym story was a science fiction-horror story with no superheroics and wouldn't feel out of place in an episode of The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. It wasn't until his second appearance where the concept was retooled into a superhero adventure story, with superhero comics undergoing a revival and the Fantastic Four being a big enough hit from a year before that Marvel was ready to start branching out with other heroes and costumed adventurers.
• Enemy Without: "Rage of Ultron" establishes that Ultron turned out like it did because Hank used an engram of his brain as a base and Ultron inherited all of his suppressed misanthropy.
• Engineered Heroics: As Yellowjacket in Avengers #212, Pym unleashed a giant robot called Salvation I that only he could stop in an attempt to appear heroic in front of his fellow Avengers. When the actual incident happened, he failed, nearly got killed, and had to be saved by Janet.
• Fatal Flaw: Hank's feelings of inadequacy, and later discovered he was bipolar, which caused seemingly every problem in his life outside of Ultron. Among other things, this led to him:
  • Becoming Giant-Man after comparing himself to people like Iron Man, The Mighty Thor, and The Incredible Hulk. This gave him an increase in strength but made him clumsier and a much bigger target, as well as causing serious health risks if he grew beyond his limit.
  • Not proposing to Janet when both of them were clearly interested in each other, since he figured she'd be more interested in celebrities and millionaires as opposed to a scientist. This led to him developing a split personality and becoming Yellowjacket for the first time.
  • Causing the breakdown of his marriage, as Jan's success and money coupled with his failures in science (most notably, Ultron) led to him becoming more bitter and angry towards her.
  • Becoming desperate to prove himself as a meaningful member of the Avengers, which led to him attacking a super-villain after the conflict was resolved and being kicked out of the Avengers, as well as creating Salvation-1 to attack the Avengers so he could stop it.
  • Very nearly outright committing suicide early during his run in the Avengers' West Coast title while alone in their headquarters, when his body would no longer take the strain of changing size and he felt that without actual superpowers he'd just be The Load. Occasional guest heroine Firebird showed up just in time to talk him out of it.
• Flight: Hank uses artificial wings to fly as part of his Yellowjacket and Wasp personas.
• For Science!: The ultimate motivation for most of what he does.
• Freudian Excuse: His feelings of inadequacy and desire to prove himself come from his Fantasy-Forbidding Father, who was a scientist that stifled his fanciful imagination as a child to work on "something practical" in direct conflict with his grandmother who was a fantasy author and encouraged him to follow his dreams. This only got worse when her influence was removed by her death, leading him to be lead by his father to take a dull job in science that would continue to stifle his whims.
• Fusion Dance: Hank and Ultron fuse into one being during Rage of Ultron. At first, Ultron's mind is dominant over Pym's, but Starfox forces the more human side to wake up. However, all later appearances have Ultron in the driver's seat.
• Genius Bruiser: Is a scientist who studies biology, robotics, and minerals. As Giant-Man he gains super strength.
• Happily Married: He and his first wife, Dr. Maria Trovaya, were happy together until her death. His relationship with Janet had happy moments but was not as fulfilling.
• He's Back!: Given Hank's tendency to try and retire, there've been more than a few occasions where he's come back to the superhero fold, starting as early as the 70s.
• Hollywood Atheist: Hank denounces Thor and Hercules as divine at most times but in his darker moods dismisses faith in anything through a perspective of rationalism.
• Horse of a Different Color: Pym took to riding Korr, his flying ant companion, after Janet's flying power made the catapult superfluous.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: When he was Giant-Man and Janet, Wasp.
• I Am What I Am: At the climax of Avengers #229 (written by Roger Stern) where he confronts Egghead:
  Hank: I did a pretty good job of screwing up my life recently. You just about finished the job for me! You used me, Egghead...and you tried to make me a criminal! But you couldn't, you see. I've come to terms with myself in the past month. I know who I am, and who I'm not! I'm not Ant-Man anymore, I'm not Giant-Man...or Goliath...or Yellow-Jacket! I am Henry Pym! And it was Henry Pym who beat the Masters of Evil!
• I Have Many Names: His superhero identities include Ant-Man, Giant-Man, Goliath, Yellowjacket and Wasp. He even went as Dr Henry Pym for a while. After Rage of Ultron, he becomes Ultron.
• Instant A.I.: Just Add Water!: Hank is uncannily good at programming AI; Even with a brain engram starter, Ultron is both self-evolving and propagating, making A.I.s of its own. Heck, the deactivation subroutine time travel events led him to install into it kept developing once their task was completed into six fully sentient A.I.s of their own whose conflict motivated its own miniseries to resolve.
• It's All My Fault: He blames himself for every sin committed by Ultron. He also tends to be extremely hard on himself, even for things out of his control, as a symptom of his general self-hatred.
• Jerkass: Sometimes, even when not explicitly on the downswing of his bipolar disorder, Hank can be a jerk. In the case of 60s Hank, some of that is also just part of the mores of the time making him come across as stuffier to modern readers, but still. He brushed off Janet phoning him to say her dad had been murdered as a prank call. As Yellowjacket (during his dissociative period), he's an obnoxiously smug jerkass.
• Literal Split Personality: At one point, Hank was split between two versions of himself, which needed to merge together to avoid dying.
• The Masochism Tango: His relationship with Janet was this long before they got divorced. Janet was far younger than Hank and was a Replacement Goldfish who resembled his first wife, Dr. Maria Trovaya. Personality wise, Janet was an extroverted socialite interested in fashion and invested in being a public superhero. She was often playful and flirty with her fellow male team-mates and insensitive to Hank. Hank was introverted and insecure, preferred staying in the laboratory and rarely communicated openly to her. This in part led to his breakdown as a "bad-boy" Yellowjacket. Janet consented to marry him in this state knowing that he was normally too shy to do it despite both of them wanting to. While Janet believed she was helping Hank, he would backbite and hurt her emotionally during their marriage until the incident when he slapped her led her to call it quits.
• May–December Romance: His relationship and subsequent marriage to Janet. At nineteen, Jan was an adult but closer to Rick Jones' age rather than Hank and the other original Avengers’ ages.
• Monster Protection Racket: At his lowest point, he built one of his lesser-known robots (Salvation-1) to stage a fight and make himself look good. He ultimately failed. The Wasp defeated it and Hank was kicked out of the Avengers.
• My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction to Ultron's decision that humans need to be purged.
• Older Than They Look: His return from death’s door in Avengers Inc. left Pym rapidly aged, a result of having been trapped in Ultron for centuries.
• Omni Disciplinary Scientist: While starting out as "merely" a brilliant biochemist, Hank's story arc eventually led to him becoming an innovator in numerous fields, including particle and quantum physics ("Pym Particles"), electronics/robotics/programming (Ultron) and of course, entomology. Eternity (later revealed by Loki to actually be Loki in disguise) told Hank he was Earth's "Scientist Supreme" because his prowess with wide-spread scientific disciplines allow him abilities akin to magic, a claim that tends to lose some credibility given the fact that Reed "I Can Make Cosmic Cubes For The Lulz" Richards exists. Eternity lampshades this in-universe, pointing out that Reed Richards uses science to facilitate his main goal (exploration), as does Tony Stark (futurism/engineering). It's Pym who explores and expands science simply because that's what he, as a scientist, is driven to do.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten:
  • To this day, Hank is still accused of being a "wifebeater" and people that don't read comics frequently claim that he's a repeat offender. In actuality, he hit Janet only once while he was in the midst of a mental breakdown. The way people both in-universe and out talk about the incident, you'd think he'd been beating her since the day they met, or that all his relationships are like that, when his first marriage was perfectly happy. Jim Shooter intended for the blow to be an accident, with Janet being in the way when Hank angrily gestured, but the artist interpreted his script directions incorrectly.
  • Invoked in Secret Empire when it's used by Tony as a reason why the Avengers don't feel so much like a family unit anymore. Hank got mad when Tony said that and goes on a tirade on how he's accomplished so much and yet judged by one moment when Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and slews of others have made far worse and more destructive mistakes yet are Easily Forgiven.
• Other Me Annoys Me: During Avengers: Forever, Hank of the early 00s has to team up with him when he first became Yellowjacket. Modern Hank is put out by seeing a representation of his lowest point, while Yellowjacket is suffering a severe disassociative episode and refuses to admit he is Hank.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: In-universe, it was established via retcon that Hank first came up with the Giant-Man identity because he felt his shrinking abilities were useless when compared to the raw power the other Avengers brought to the table. This becomes a Mythology Gag of sorts in Marvel Adventures: The Avengers when Janet, here as Giant-Girl, thought the shrinking powers were incredibly lame and when she accidentally discovered she could grow with them, she decides to stick with that.
• Paper Tiger: His Yellowjacket personality was supposed to be a gruff, manly man to contrast the "wimpy" Hank Pym, but when the Circus of Crime crash his and Jan's wedding he immediately freezes up.
• Passing the Torch: Pym usually gets a chip on his shoulder when someone adopts one of his identities, but he ultimately decided to become Giant-Man fulltime to give Scott Lang the Ant-Man mantle.
• Professor Guinea Pig: in his origin story, he tested his Pym Particles on himself.
• Questionable Consent: Hank Pym married Janet during an emotional breakdown where he claimed the identity of Yellowjacket, a supervillain who claimed to kill "Hank". Janet knew all along that Yellowjacket was Hank, and that Hank in his normal state was too insecure to pop the question, but she married him while he was in this altered state. While Hank was happy to be married to her when he snapped back, later writers, such as Kurt Busiek, have him and Janet discuss how messed up it was for her to marry him in that situation.
• Replacement Goldfish: Hank's initial attraction to second wife Janet was because she bore a strong resemblance to his first wife Maria. Years later, Hank reflects that his attempt to have Janet take the role of Maria in his life was probably the cause for their relationship not working out.
• Robotic Spouse: Hank's relationship with Jocasta, the robot bearing some of the memories of his ex-wife. And who was created by Ultron, essentially making her his granddaughter.
• Sanity Slippage: The stress from the amount of work he had on himself, his crushing self-doubt mixed with the disrespect of his teammates, and Janet's emotional abuse of him ultimately lead him down a disastrous spiral which has defined his superhero career since. It was ultimately revealed that these moments were caused by an undiagnosed case of bipolar disorder.
• Science Hero: For a short time, he has ditched the costume, code name, and powers altogether and fought crime in a lab coat and civvies (or, more famously during his stint with the West Coast Avengers, a red jumpsuit) with nothing but his tool-belt full of super-tech. Recent plot developments have brought back the scientific acumen in full force. He's even got a fully functional pocket dimension lab on him at all times.
• Second Super-Identity: Hank Pym has a habit of juggling multiple superhero personae. Some attribute this to his insanity.
• Shapeshifter Mode Lock: The instability of the Pym Particles trapped Hank at various sizes over the years.
• The Smart Guy: Plays this role in the original Avengers line-up, and a lot of traditional team builds.
• Spear Counterpart: As Wasp after she was killed in the Secret Invasion.
• Straw Nihilist: In his worst depressive episodes Hank doesn't believe in the value and meaning of anything and becomes callously pragmatic.
• Tangled Family Tree: Legacy-wise he technically has 4 "grandchildren": Cassie Lang (by being Scott Lang's daughter and inspired by his heroism), Victor Mancha (built from Ultron Tech and human DNA) and both versions of the Vision (as the original was built by his "son" Ultron, and the second was a back-up copy of the original's programming). Mind you before their deaths in Avengers: The Children's Crusade Cassie and the second Vision dated, making them something of Kissing Cousins.
  • Also, if Ultron is his "son", Jocasta, his "robotic wife", can be considered both a robot clone of Janet and both Pym's niece, as Ultron created her, with some of Janet's memories, to satisfy his budding Oedipal Complex.
    • Jossed in-universe: Jocasta doesn't consider Henry Pym to be her grandfather, but, having created one of the first and the most powerful AI running rampant in the Marvel Universe, and being Ultron her creator, she staunchly and vocally believes that Henry Pym has to be regarded as the "God of Robots", and thus, when they dated, she claimed that her experience was more akin "Kissing God".
• Wedding Smashers: The Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime attack during Hank's wedding to Janet, prompting a return of Pym's Giant Man persona.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Hank has held two positions on sentient robots. In Avengers A.I., he fully believes in civil rights for artificial intelligences while later on in "Rage of Ultron", he's so bitter over Ultron that he callously executes a group of A.I. terrorists who were simply fighting for their rights.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Pym has gotten this more than a few times, but probably the biggest came when Pym led the Mighty Avengers. It turned out a member of their team, the Scarlet Witch, had in fact been Loki in disguise as part of one of his trademark evil schemes. Pym's response was to ask the God of Evil to join the Avengers for real. Every person in the room, including Loki himself, reacted this way, and his Avengers team actually broke up for a time on the grounds that Pym was either too crazy or too stupid to lead them.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity:
  • Before it was finally established that he was bipolar, his moments of insanity were explained away as being due to Pym Particles altering his brain chemistry, a detail carried over into the MCU adaptation. No one else ever having such a problem is probably why he was made bipolar via retcon.
  • In an oft-forgotten part of the reviled The Crossing, the story that tried to say Iron Man was a Manchurian Agent for Kang, it attempted to retcon the cause of Hank's mental issues, saying that Tony's was Kang's second choice and Hank was Kang's first, the various issues Hank suffered were really the result of this attempt at brainwashing Hank. However, much like retconning that it was really Immortus manipulating Tony and only since the events of Operation: Galactic Storm, Avengers Forever also revealed that Immortus lied and really did nothing of the sort to Hank, simply adding that lie to reinforce the deception as it was something Hank would have wanted to be true.
• World's Smartest Man: Hank Pym is sometimes labelled the smartest man depending on the media. However, he's usually overshadowed by other scientific minds and remains reclusive. Generally accepted these days is that he's one of the smartest men in the world, probably top ten, just not the smartest.
• Working with the Ex: Hank and Janet continued to work together as Avengers even when she started dating other men. It was awkward for both.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: In Infinity Countdown, Pymtron touches the Soul Stone, dragging part of Hank into the Soul World. He refuses to accept he's stuck there, and finagles a way back to the real world, apparently succeeding... Nope, he hasn't. A demon in the Soul World is messing with his head. Then it eats him.

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Scott Lang

Ant-Man II

Alter Ego: Scott Edward Harris Lang

First Appearance: As Scott Lang: The Avengers #181 (March 1979); As Ant-Man: Marvel Premiere #47 (April 1979)

Scott Lang was the second man to take up the mantle of Ant-Man. He has been a member of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four.

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• Amicable Exes: Averted, like how. Scott's ex-wife really doesn't think very highly of him, even successfully taking him to court of custody of Cassie.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: According to Word of God Scott Lang excels at electrical engineering as well as some other fields but never quite applies himself.
• Butt-Monkey: After coming back from the dead, or more specifically after his time in FF, Scott becomes a barely functional doofus who endangers everyone around him through his own thoughtlessness and stupidity.
• Costume Copycat: Scott stole the Ant-Man suit from Hank Pym's house, using it to break into CTE to confront Darren Cross as "Ant-Man".
• Dating Catwoman: He had a fling (and slept) with Janice Lincoln, the Lady Beetle. Lampshaded:
  (thoughts, as Janice is about to kiss him) "One rule that can never be broken no matter what—and no matter how many times Tony Stark may tell you otherwise—if you want to be an Avenger, you do not sleep with the super-villans." (Gilligan Cut to him and Janice in bed the next morning)
• Death Is Cheap: He was killed at the beginning of Avengers: Disassembled, and brought back during Avengers: Children's Crusade, by his daughter and some time-travel shenanigans.
• Headbutting Heroes: With Jack of Hearts, during his time on the Avengers. The two never got along, bickering at the drop of a hat over everything. And then Jack died in the process of saving Scott's daughter.
• Insistent Terminology: During Geoff John's Avengers run, Scott keeps repeating that he's not really an Avenger, he's just helping them. No-one listens. Eventually, a judge asks him just how often the Avengers have a problem they need help with.
• Justified Criminal: Scott turned to burglary as a last resort after his daughter is diagnosed with a congenital heart condition. His Earth's Mightiest Heroes incarnation provides the page image for Health Care Motivation.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Gives one to Dr. Doom in Matt Fraction's FF run after Dr. Doom killed his daughter.
• No-Respect Guy: Since about 2015, Scott's generally been treated as a loser or wannabe by other heroes, despite the several decades of solid heroing under his belt beforehand. During Ant-Man (2022), Cassie calls him out on this, suggesting his attempts make him come across as cloying, with a dose of You Are Better Than You Think You Are.
• Papa Wolf: Go after Cassie and Scott will make you regret it.
• Part-Time Hero: Scott only donned the Ant-Man costume for brief periods early in his career, preferring to raise his daughter and, later, run his own electronics store.
• Profanity Police: In the 2020 miniseries, Ant-Man (Scott Lang) and Stinger (his daughter Cassie) are stopping a drug operation by AIM. Stinger attacks them with Symbol Swearing, and Scott objects "Whoa! Language!"
• Remember the New Guy?: In Avengers Vol 3 #62, Scott Lang's ex-wife Peggy Rae appears when she obtains a court ruling limiting Scott's time with Cassie to supervised visits for one month. She has a strained relationship with Scott both because of his past as a criminal and his career as a superhero, feeling it's too dangerous for their daughter. This despite the fact that in Scott's first appearances his wife, and Cassie's mother, never appeared or was mentioned, with it being implied that Scott was raising Cassie alone. And with him having custody of Cassie with no problems.
• Retcon: In Scott Lang's first appearance, his daughter Cassie suffered from a congenital heart defect. To save her life, Scott stole Hank Pym's Ant-Man equipment and Pym Particles, which he used to rescue Doctor Sondheim, the only doctor able to cure Cassie's condition, from Cross Technological Enterprises. Scott's wife, and Cassie's mother, never appeared or was mentioned, with it being implied that Scott was raising Cassie alone. In fact, when Scott was in prison, his sister Ruth Lang and her boyfriend Carl were the ones that took care of Cassie, and have since disappeared. Then in Avengers Vol 3 #62, Scott's ex-wife Peggy Rae appears when she obtains a court ruling limiting Scott's time with Cassie to supervised visits for one month. Despite the fact that before that issue, Cassie was under his custody with no problems.
• Reformed Criminal: Scott is a former thief.
• Romantic Runner-Up: Lang dated Jessica Jones for months but she ended up with Luke Cage.
• Unknown Rival: During one of his series, he says that after multiple fights, he considers Taskmaster to be his arch-enemy. Taskmaster barely remembers fighting him, and only attacked Scott because he was in town anyways.
  • Justified: Taskmaster only remembers people through the physical abilities he can copy. Scott not being a martial artist and his powers not being immitatable means Taskmaster has no reason (or ability) to memorize Scott.

Eric O'Grady

Ant-Man III

Alter Ego: Eric O'Grady

Notable Aliases: Slaying Mantis, Derek Sullivan, G.I. Ant-Man

First Appearance: Irredeemable Ant-Man #1 (December 2006)

After stealing prototype Ant-Man armor from SHIELD, Eric O'Grady became the Irredeemable Ant-Man; the world's most unlikable superhero. After spending some time as a member of the Initiative and later the Thunderbolts, Steve Rogers personally chose him for his steam of Avengers giving him a chance to redeem himself.

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• Achilles' Heel: Eric's Achilles tendons become vulnerable when he's in giant form.
• The Adjectival Superhero: The Irredeemable Ant-Man.
• The Atoner: The reason why he joined the Secret Avengers. That, and Steve Rogers decided to give him a second chance.
• Clear My Name: Subverted. O'Grady did indeed steal the Ant-Man suit and evade SHIELD while on the run. But in order to get back into their good graces after he was found, he passes most of the blame for the serious stuff onto Mitch Carson (who was revealed to actually be a serial killer and about to brutally kill O'Grady anyway when SHIELD caught up to where Carson was holding him) and sold out Black Fox at the end of his series as well.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Although by Secret Avengers he is doing this less often.
• Comedic Sociopathy: Eric is a very selfish man, and he uses his superpowers to get what he wants at the expense of others.
• Death Equals Redemption: Eric is ultimately killed while saving a young child from the Descendants. In his final moments, he notes that it was worth it, since after a lifetime of being an asshole, his last moments on Earth were spent finally doing the right thing.
• Dirty Coward: O'Grady has a tendency to shrink and hide in the face of danger. He also shoved his best friend out of the way when they were trying to flee some rampaging supervillains, which led to his friend's brains being blown out.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Less then a few issues into Remender's start on Secret Avengers, after being given a back story that didn't even fit his previous history well, he is killed off and replaced.
• Eccentric Mentor: Black Fox was this for O'Grady early on, aiding in crimes as well as playing video games in their down time. The relationship went south however after Black Fox stole his Wii.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first time he appears, he smashes Hank Pym (well, a Skrull replacing Hank Pym) in the face with a rifle, when he's supposed to be guarding him, because he was jumpy.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Despite his long list of disreputable traits and general awfulness, Eric was horrified by Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts, and was looking for any opportunity to get out.
  • During Ant-Man (2022), O'Grady is shown attempting to find more Pym Particles for his suit by Grave Robbing Scott Lang's grave in the hope that he was buried with his equipment. He tries to tell himself that this applies as he isn't comfortable digging up the grave, but it doesn't stop him trying it.
  • When first informed that an old girlfriend was pregnant, Eric made it clear that he didn't want to be involved because he recognised that he would be a bad father.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: During the events of Secret Invasion, he hides when the going gets tough, allowing him to gain some key intel on the Skrulls by accident. As a reward, he's assigned to the Thunderbolts by Norman Osborn, and spends his entire time there surrounded by amoral psychoes.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Taskmaster from his days in the Avengers Initiative.
• Handsome Lech: He's pretty perverse and not above using his status as a superhero to pick up women. Best way to describe him would be Barney Stinson with superpowers.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Eric went through a trial-and-error stage after he stole the Ant-Man suit, burning Mitch Carson's face with his rocket boots and nearly killing an attempted rapist because he underestimated his own strength at insect size. He didn't even know the suit had size-changing abilities until he was sent to Camp Hammond.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: In Ant-Man (2022), he tried to dig up Scott Lang's grave to find more Pym Particles in the hope that Lang was buried with his equipment, unaware that Lang had been blown up and so the grave was purely symbolic.
• Jerkass: Just two examples:
  • Having sex with Veronica, the girlfriend of his best friend Chris, who was dead, and then later admitting he doesn't feel anything for her.
  • At Camp Hammond, Eric provoked Stature when he slandered the name of her father and his predecessor, Scott Lang, blaming him for Eric's own voyeurism.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It took a lot of digging to finally get there, but Eric showed he had the heart of a true hero in his time with the Secret Avengers, redeeming himself by saving a child and his mother.
• Jet Pack: The G.I. Ant-Man suit flies using a set of rocket boots. They can also be used as a weapon in the right circumstances.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: While never out-and-out villainous, O'Grady was on both the Shadow Initiative and Osborn's second Thunderbolts team. Never mind playing Disappeared Dad to his kid. With his death finally karma has caught him.
• Kill and Replace: Eric ends up being killed by the Descendants and replaced by a Life Model Decoy.
• Marshmallow Hell: O'Grady snuck into the cockpit of Air Force One hidden in Black Widow II's cleavage.
• Odd Friendship: Struck up one with Taskmaster during their time at Camp Hammond, starting when they both decide to sit out KIA's rampage and watch Chuck on Eric's iPod.
• The Peeping Tom: A complete pervert, Eric used the Ant-Man's shrinking powers to spy on Ms. Marvel (when Carol was in the role) while she was in the shower.
• Powered Armor: O'Grady's stolen Ant-Man suit. Later, Hank Pym would add the power to grow to the suit, renaming it the G.I. Ant-Man suit.
• Shout-Out: To ‘’Batman’’ When Eric was hiding inside Ms. Marvel's purse he mentioned all the cool stuff she must have at her lair like a dinosaur or a giant penny.
• Spider Limbs: The G.I. Ant-Man suit has two retractable limbs used for balance and wall crawling.
• Sticky Fingers: Eric has no compunctions about simply taking whatever he wants.
• Stealth Pun: His original suit's official name is "G.I.ANT-MAN" which could be read as General Infantry Ant-man or Giant Man, could also be considered Fun with Acronyms on Skrull Hank Pym's part.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: During World War Hulk, Eric - an otherwise ordinary human in powered armor - gets between Hulk and Iron Man's fight. He's badly injured.
• Tagalong Kid: His role in the Secret Avengers seems to be this, though he tries hard to prove himself.
  War Machine: Let's go, kid.
  Ant-Man: I got a codename, you know?
  War Machine: Not to me. Not until you live up to it.
• With Great Power Comes Great Perks: A man of very few morals and willingness to lie, cheat, steal and manipulate in order to get ahead in life, O'Grady immediately steals the Ant Man armor for his own selfish plans, which include using his status as a "super-hero" to stalk women and facilitate his thievery.

Giant-Man

Raz Malhotra

Giant-Man III

Alter Ego: Raz Malhotra

First Appearance: Ant-Man Annual #1 (September 2015) ^note As Raz Malhotra; Ultimates Vol 2 #3 (March 2016) ^note As Giant-Man

A technician expert in A.I. who received the Giant-Man suit.

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• Affirmative-Action Legacy: He's Indian-american and gay, taking the identity of previously heterosexual users.
• The Big Guy: His role with the new Agents of Atlas.
• The Call Put Me on Hold: During an appearance in The Ultimates (2015), he asks the team if he can help, but is politely told that until he's punched a Cthulhu, there's not much call for him.
• Official Couple: He begins a romance with Isaac Ikeda, the Protector of Pan.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Inverted. Raz's suit is mostly red with black linings but he's a hero.
• Ship Tease: With Isaac Ikeda, the Protector of Pan city. They later become an Official Couple.
• Straight Gay: Raz is gay but not stereotypically so.

Goliath

Bill Foster

Giant-Man II

As Giant-Man

As Goliath

As Black Goliath

Alter Ego: William "Bill" Foster

Notable Aliases: Goliath, Black Goliath, Giant-Man, Rockwell Dodsworth

First Appearance: The Avengers #32 (Sept. 1966) ^note As Bill Foster; Luke Cage, Power Man #24 (April 1975) ^note As Black Goliath; Marvel Two-in-One #55 (September 1979) ^note As Giant-Man; The Thing #1 (January 2006) ^note As Goliath

Brilliant and tough, Goliath fought evil using a variation of the Pym Particles. He was killed during the Civil War by Ragnarok, a clone of Thor. He was succeeded by his nephew, Tom Foster.

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• Affirmative-Action Legacy: To Hank Pym, being African-American to Hank's Caucasian.
• Back for the Dead: After several years away, he reappeared in issue 3 of Civil War. Guess what happens in issue 4.
• Color Character: Sometimes known as Black Goliath. Because... y'know... he's black.
• I Have Many Names: His superhero identities include Black Goliath, Giant-Man and Goliath.
• Killed Off for Real: Gets a hole blown through his chest by Ragnarok, partway through Civil War (2006). As of 2020, he hasn't gotten better from it.
• Sizeshifter: Following from Hank Pym, Bill took the identity of Giant-Man, allowing him to grow to the size of a large building.

Clint Barton

Goliath III

Alter Ego: Clinton "Clint" Barton

First Appearance: Tales of Suspense #57 (September 1964) ^note As Hawkeye; Avengers #63 (April 1969) ^note As Goliath

As the archer Hawkeye, Clint Barton was one of the earliest Avengers - a member of "Cap's Kooky Quartet" alongside Captain America, Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Hank Pym later rejoined the team as well, but later decided to retire his 'Goliath' identity due to fears that its growth serum was aggravating his mental health problems. Simultaneously, Hawkeye was doubting his place as a normal, powerless human in the Avengers - especially after a bowstring snapped at a vital moment, almost killing some of the team. Taking the latest growth serum and wearing a new costume that Janet Van Dyne had designed for Hank, he abandoned his bow and became a new Goliath. The change was temporary and Clint eventually reassumed his old identity as Hawkeye.

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See Hawkeye for more info.

Erik Josten

Goliath IV

Atlas

^{Click here to see as Goliath}

Alter Ego: Erik Josten

Notable Aliases: Power Man, Smuggler, Goliath, Atlas

First Appearance: The Avengers #21 (October 1965) ^note As Power Man; Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #49 (December 1980) ^note As Smuggler; Iron Man Annual #7 (October 1984) ^note As Goliath; The Incredible Hulk #449 (January 1997) ^note As Atlas

See Thunderbolts Founding Members for more info.

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Tom Foster

Goliath V

Alter Ego: Thomas "Tom" Foster

Notable Aliases: Black Goliath, Black Buck, Big Brother, Big Black

First Appearance: Black Panther Vol 4 #23 (February 2007) ^note Unnamed; Incredible Hulk Vol 2 #107 (August, 2007) ^note Named; World War Hulk Aftersmash: Damage Control #1 (March 2008) ^note As Black Goliath; World War Hulk Aftersmash: Damage Control #2 (April 2008) ^note As Goliath

Tom Foster is the nephew of Bill Foster a.k.a. Black Goliath. After his uncle died, Tom took on the identity of the hero known as Goliath.

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• Affirmative-Action Legacy: His immediate predecessor as Goliath was the caucasian Erik Josten.
• Afro Asskicker: Has an afro and he's a powerful size-shifter.
• Heel–Face Turn: While originally a member of the Revengers, he saw the error of his ways and is now a hero, although not officially part of any team.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Wears glasses and he's an MIT graduate.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He looks very similar to his uncle.
• You Killed My Father: Holds a massive grudge against Tony Stark, holding him responsible for Ragnarok killing his uncle. And he's got a point.

Stature

Cassandra "Cassie" Lang

Cassie Lang

Alter Ego: Cassandra Eleanor "Cassie" Lang

Notable Aliases: Stature, Stinger, Ant-Girl, Giant-Girl

Species: Human mutate

Team Affiliations: Secret Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Young Avengers

First Appearance: Marvel Premiere #47 (April, 1979) ^note As Cassie Lang; Young Avengers #6 (May, 2006) ^note As Stature; The Astonishing Ant-Man #6 (May, 2016) ^note As Stinger

Cassie is the daughter of Scott Lang, better known as the second Ant Man. In fact, she served as his primary initial motivation to be a superhero, when her ailing health came with medical bills he couldn't quite afford.

After her father was killed during the Avengers' disbandment, Cassie was inspired to become a superhero in her own right, and —after having stolen Pym Particles for years— finally manifests the ability to grow and shrink in size at will, without the need of a suit. With this ability, she becomes one of the very first Young Avengers, christening herself as Stature.

She later joined the Mighty Avengers at the start of Dark Reign, before rejoining her friends in the Young Avengers when that team disbanded. Then she died just as her father was brought back to life during Avengers: The Children's Crusade.

Cassie would be dead until 2014, when Doctor Doom (morally inverted from AXIS) resurrects her as reparation for having been responsible for her death in the first place. With a new lease on life, she reunites with her father and later returns to her life of superheroics, this time operating under the name Stinger.

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Cassie Lang provides examples of the following tropes:

• Affirmative-Action Legacy: In a way, to her father, who shared her powers.
• Action Girl: To be specific, she herself is the one who chooses to become a superheroine.
• Artistic Age: She was 14 years old when she first joined the Young Avengers but was often drawn as much older looking.
• Back from the Dead: She's killed in Children's Crusade but is eventually brought back to life by Doom in AXIS.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: After she punches Doom, who at the time was boosted on reality warping power stolen from the Scarlet Witch, he promptly responds by killing her.
• Canon Immigrant: Stinger was an adult Cassie's costumed persona in the Marvel Comics 2 continuity.
• Collateral Angst: Her death at the hands of Doctor Doom is what fuels Iron Lad's Start of Darkness, putting him on the path to becoming Kang.
• Comic-Book Time: She was apparently aged up several years in the brief period between Geoff Johns' Avengers run and the debut of Young Avengers.
• Daddy's Girl: She adores her father and wants to follow his footstep.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu??: After she thinks he killed her father, she grows to the size of God Mode Doom and knocks him over.
• Disappeared Dad: Her father, Scott Lang. As of Children's Crusade, not so disappeared.
• Domino Mask: She wore one as Stature.
• Fake Defector: She pretends to work for the Power Broker in order to trick him into giving her superpowers. She agrees to do one legitimate job for him though after she learns that the target is Darren Cross.
• First Father Wins: Cassie greatly adores her father Scott Lang and wants to follow in his footsteps in being a superhero. However, she has a strained relationship with her stepfather Blake Burdick, a police officer who cannot stand the world of superheroes the young girl loves, and he unsuccessfully tries to keep Cassie and Scott apart. In the events of Avengers Disassembled, when Scott is killed due to the actions of an insane Scarlet Witch, Cassie retreats into herself, blaming Blake for being unable to understand her as her father always did. Though Blake does try unsuccessfully to be a caring stepfather, despite sometimes being distant toward her and seeing her as a "less than brilliant" girl, it is clear that Cassie favors her father over him.
• Got the Call on Speed Dial: After being killed, when she was resurrected she found that she'd lost her powers. When the Power Broker launched Hench X (in Astonishing Antman), which offered the chance to get superpowers to use against the heroes, Cassie applied, intending to get her powers back and then bring the organisation down. She is given Pym Particles, a new uniform, a new codename: Stinger.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Blonde haired and she's a pretty nice and caring girl.
• Heroic BSoD: She has one in Young Avengers Presents when she accidentally indirectly injures her stepfather. She shrinks herself to microscopic size and keeps shrinking the more she talks. Eli snaps her out of it.
• I Just Want to Be Special: After her resurrection, she becomes increasingly bitter and resentful over no longer having powers. She ends up forming an alliance with the Power Broker in exchange for a new costume and Pym Particles.
• In-Series Nickname: Cassie is short for Cassandra.
• Interspecies Romance: With Jonas, a synthezoid.
• Jumped at the Call: Was originally planning to join the Runaways but forced her way into the Young Avengers after she found out about them.
• Junior Counterpart: She has the powers of her father, Scott Lang.
• Psychoactive Powers: She grows when she gets angry and shrinks when she feels guilty.
• Sacrificial Lion: Killed near the end to hammer in that Children's Crusade is a tragedy.
• Sizeshifter: Her power is to make herself grow or shrink at will.
• Spin-Offspring: She became a superhero after Scott's death, and effectively took his place as far as the Lang family goes. This ended upon his revival, where she died, but quickly got better.
• Superior Successor: While Scott needs a special suit to access his shrinking and growing abilities, Cassie's powers are completely innate.
• Younger than She Looks: She's the youngest of the Young Avengers but it's hard to tell.

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Yellowjacket

Rita DeMara

Yellowjacket II

Alter Ego: Rita DeMara

First Appearance: The Avengers #264 (February 1986)

Rita DeMara became Yellowjacket after stealing the identity from the former Avenger, Hank Pym. She was a member of the Masters of Evil and the Femizons but ultimately joined the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy in their quest to keep the universe safe.

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• Action Girl: Is female and is a badass in her own right.
• Affirmative-Action Legacy: She took Henry Pym's former Yellowjacket identity.
• Animal Theme Naming: She's named after a species of wasp, a recurring theme for Ant-Man and his related identities & partners.
• Clothes Make the Superman: All of Yellowjacket's powers derive from her costume.
• Color Character: Yellowjacket.
• Dating Catwoman: Yellowjacket had a flirtatious, possibly romantic, relationship with the Black Knight.
• The Dragalong: Quite literally dragged into the events of "The Evolutionary War" when she showed up at an abandoned Avengers Manion, and everyone else figured it was a bad idea to leave her there.
• Everyone Has Standards: About two minutes after becoming a crook, she was recruited into the Masters of Evil, led by Baron Zemo at his pettiest. She spent much of Under Siege being silently appalled by his terrible management styles.
• Flight: Her original costume (which was a straight modification of Pym's) included cybernetic wings that let her do this. When she revamped it in the Guardians' time, it was modified to allow her to fly without wings.
• Heel–Face Turn: She was part of the Masters of Evil, though she ultimately turned on them, and was even named an honorary Avenger after helping out during the Evolutionary War. She did pass through the Heel–Face Revolving Door a couple of times, though, before she turned face for good and eventually joined the Guardians of the Galaxy and time-traveled to the 31st century where she became a hero.
• How Do I Shot Web?: She stole one of Hank's Yellowjacket outfits and repurposed it. Turns out it came with a few features she didn't know to check for, such as a connection to the Avengers emergency frequency.
• Killed Off for Real: In The Crossing, having gotten homesick for her own time, she came back to the modern era, found out along the way that something bad was about to happen to the Avengers, and was promptly killed by Iron Man.
  • Back from the Dead: Came back briefly during the Chaos War when she was part of the Backup from Otherworld.
• Legacy Character: DeMara stole one of Hank Pym's old costumes to become a villainous version of Yellowjacket.
• Sizeshifter: Inherited from the original Yellowjacket identity, she uses Pym Particles to manipulate her size and the size of others.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: She was resurrected during the Chaos War, and was one of the few returned Avengers to survive the event, but hasn't been seen since.

Darren Cross

Yellowjacket III

Alter Ego: Darren Agonistes Cross

Notable Aliases: Darren Cross

First Appearance: Marvel Premiere #47 (April 1979) ^note As Darren Cross; The Astonishing Ant-Man #12 (September 2016) ^note As Yellowjacket

The ex-CEO of Cross Technological Enterprises and the first enemy of Scott Lang in his role as the second Ant-Man.

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• Back from the Dead: After being dead for decades, he was brought back to life by his son Augustine Cross.
• Hulking Out: A side effect of his radioactive pacemaker is his body enlarging, turning pink and developing a muscular physique.
• Legacy Character: He's the third person to don the Yellowjacket identity.
• Organ Theft: His introduction involves him kidnapping people to steal their hearts because an experimental pacemaker is burning out his own. When he comes back he steals Cassie's heart.
• Powered Armor: Being based on his Marvel Cinematic Universe incarnation, his Yellowjacket suit is bulkier and is better armed.
• Ret-Canon: Being brought back and taking the Yellowjacket identity references his role during the Ant-Man movie, in which Cross was the main antagonist.
• Superhuman Transfusion: In his return, he stole and transplanted Cassie's heart into himself, gaining sizeshifting powers, though uncontrollably linked to his emotional state.

The Wasp

In General

See The Wasp

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