Ant-Man

Ant-Man is the name of several superheroes appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby, Ant-Man's first appearance was in Tales to Astonish #27 (January 1962); however, he first appeared in costume in Tales to Astonish #35 (September 1962). The persona was originated by the brilliant scientist Hank Pym's superhero alias after inventing a substance that can change size (Pym Particles), but reformed thieves Scott Lang and Eric O'Grady also took on the mantle after the original changed his superhero identity to various other aliases, such as Giant-Man, Goliath, and Yellowjacket. Pym's Ant-Man is also a founding member of the super hero team known as the Avengers. The character has appeared in several films based on the Marvel character, such as Ant-Man (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). Fictional character biography Over the years, a number of different characters have assumed the title of Ant-Man; most of them have been connected with the Avengers. Hank Pym The original Ant-Man was Biophysicist and Security Operations Center expert Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym who decided to be a superhero after the death of his first wife Maria Trovaya who had been a political dissident in Hungary. Falling in love with him and believing that his American citizenship would protect her, Maria traveled with Hank to Hungary shortly after their marriage to start their new life together. Unfortunately they were confronted by corrupt agents of the secret police. Hank was knocked unconscious and Maria was murdered. Pym was greatly distraught by his wife's death, and decided to do whatever he could in the future to battle injustice. After discovering a chemical substance, which he called Pym Particles, that would allow the user to alter his size, he armed himself with a helmet that could control ants. After that, Pym would shrink down to the size of an insect to become the mystery-solving Ant-Man, solving crimes and stopping criminals. He soon shared his discovery with his new girlfriend Janet van Dyne, who became his crime-fighting partner Wasp, when he helped her avenge the death of her scientist father Vernon van Dyne who was killed by an alien unleashed by one of Vernon's own experiments.