Ant-Man is the name of several

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

es appearing in books published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

Publication history

Created by

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book author, writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later bec ...

, Larry Lieber and

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

, his first appearance was in ''

Tales to Astonish ''Tales to Astonish'' is the name of two American comic book series, and a One-shot (comics), one-shot comic, all published by Marvel Comics. The primary title bearing that name was published from January 1959 to March 1968. It began as a scie ...

'' #27 (January 1962) as Dr. Henry Pym; however, he first appeared in costume as Ant-Man in ''

'' #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 Ant-Man mantle after the original changed his superhero identity to various other aliases, such as Giant-Man,

Goliath Goliath ( ) was a Philistines, Philistine giant in the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's giant, immense stature vary among biblical sources, with texts describing him as either or tall. According to the text, Goliath issued a challen ...

, and

Yellowjacket Yellowjacket or yellowjacket is the common name in North America for predatory social wasps of the genus, genera ''Vespula'' and ''Dolichovespula''. Members of these genera are known simply as "wasps" in other English-speaking countries. Most of ...

. Pym's Ant-Man is also a founding member of the super hero team known as the Avengers.

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

Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym was a Biophysicist and Security Operations Center expert who decided to be the original Ant-Man, 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 as the mystery-solving Ant-Man, solving crimes and stopping criminals. He soon shared his discovery with his second wife Janet van Dyne as his crime-fighting partner Wasp when he helped Janet avenge the death of her scientist father Vernon van Dyne who was killed by an alien unleashed by one of Vernon's own experiments. The duo would be founding members of the Avengers, fighting recurring enemies such as the mad scientist

Egghead In U.S. English slang, egghead is an epithet used to refer to intellectuals or people considered out-of-touch with ordinary people and lacking in realism, common sense, sexual interests, etc. on account of their intellectual interests. A similar ...

, the mutant

Whirlwind A whirlwind is a phenomenon in which a vortex of wind (a vertically oriented rotating column of air) forms due to instabilities and turbulence created by heating and flow ( current) gradients. Whirlwinds can vary in size and last from a cou ...

, and Pym's own robotic creation

Ultron Ultron () is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist John Buscema, the character first appeared as an unnamed character in ''The Avengers (comic book), The Avengers'' #5 ...

. While Pym is the original Ant-Man, he has adopted other aliases over the years including Giant-Man,

, and Wasp after Janet's presumed death in ''

Secret Invasion "Secret Invasion" is a comic book fictional crossover, crossover storyline written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu, that ran through a self-titled eight-issue Limited series (comics), limited series and several ti ...

''. Leaving his original persona vacant, his successors have taken up the Ant-Man role while Pym explored these other identities.

Scott Lang

Scott Lang was a thief who decided to be the second Ant-Man after stealing the Ant-Man suit to save his daughter Cassandra "Cassie" Lang from a heart condition. Reforming from his life of crime, Lang soon took on a full-time career as Ant-Man with the encouragement of Hank Pym. He became an affiliate of the

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four, often abbreviated as FF, is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in '' The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover-dated November 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism i ...

and later became a full-time member of the Avengers. For a period of time he dated

Jessica Jones Jessica Campbell Jones-Cage, professionally known as Jessica Jones, is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Michael Gaydos and first appea ...

. He was killed by the

Scarlet Witch The Scarlet Witch is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The X-Men #4 in March 1964, in the Silver Age of Comic Boo ...

along with the

Vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...

and Hawkeye in '' Avengers Disassembled'', and his daughter took up his heroic mantle as Stature in the book ''

Young Avengers The Young Avengers are the names of two superhero teams appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung, the first team appeared in ''Young Avengers'' #1 (April 2005). The Young Avengers tea ...

''. He returned to life in 2011 in the mini series ''The Children's Crusade''.

Chris McCarthy

Chris McCarthy was the third character to take up the Ant-Man title albeit briefly, serving only as a plot point to get the Ant-Man suit to Eric O'Grady.''Irredeemable Ant-Man'' #1 (October 2006)''Irredeemable Ant-Man'' #2 (November 2006)''Irredeemable Ant-Man'' #3 (December 2006) The character, created by

Robert Kirkman Robert Kirkman (; born November 30, 1978)Löchel, Ingo"The Walking Dead: Die Comic-Serie – Robert Kirkman" Zauberspiegel. Retrieved February 17, 2013. is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for co-creat ...

and Phil Hester, first appeared in ''Civil War: Choosing Sides'' #1 (October 2006). A low level agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. working on the

Helicarrier The Helicarrier is a fictional airborne aircraft carrier appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the aircraft First appearance, first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #135 (August 1965). The ...

, McCarthy was tasked with guarding Dr. Pym's lab. After panicking and accidentally knocked Pym unconscious, he found the most recent Ant-Man suit which he promptly used to shrink, getting lost. McCarthy was caught up when a group of Hydra superhumans attacked and was killed in the chaos.

Eric O'Grady

Eric O'Grady was the fourth character to take up the Ant-Man title. O'Grady is a low-level agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who stumbles upon the Ant-Man suit. A man of few morals and willing to lie, cheat, steal and manipulate in order to get ahead in life, O'Grady stole the armor for his own selfish plans, which included using his status as a "super-hero" to seduce women, as well as humiliate and torment others. He had his own short-lived title before being part of other teams such as joining ''Avengers: The Initiative'' as his first team and then joining the Thunderbolts before the character perished heroically while defending a child against the villain known as Father.

Criti Noll

Criti Noll was a

Skrull The Skrulls () are a race of List of fictional extraterrestrials, extraterrestrial shapeshifters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They first appeared in ''Fantastic Four (comic book), Fantastic Four'' #2 and were crea ...

who impersonated Hank Pym / Ant-Man during occasions before the ''

'' storyline.

Zayn Asghar

Dr. Zayn Asghar operates as the Earth-14831 equivalent of Ant-Man in the year 2549. The character, created by

Al Ewing Al Ewing ( ; born 12 August 1977) is a British comics writer who has mainly worked in the small press, for '' 2000 AD'', and for Marvel Comics. Career Al Ewing began his career writing stories in the four-page '' Future Shocks'' format for '' ...

and Tom Reilly, first appeared in ''Ant-Man'' Vol. 3 #1 (July 2022). Born to eco-scientists working to repair the damage to Earth caused by All-Father Ultron in ''Ultron Forever'', he developing an obsession with redeeming Hank Pym, Ultron's creator, and created the Nano Ant Swarm which he used to fight paleo-capitalists and disaster opportunists as Ant-Man. Dr. Asghar began cloning thousands of extinct ant species to restore his world's climate, but these ants lacked the evolved instincts of the insects. Using

Doctor Doom Doctor Doom is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in '' The Fantastic Four'' #5 in April 1962, and has since endured as the arch ...

's Time Platform, he returns to the time periods of the three previous Ant-Men to study their methods of insect control to synthesize artificial instincts for his ants, briefly interacting with each of his contemporaries. Dr. Asghar's tampering with time resulted in All-Father Ultron finding a way to return to the Earth he once conquered. Zayn pulls Pym, Eric O'Grady, and Scott Lang to his time. Using Time Master's aging ray that was brought to the future by Lang, Zayn removes the artificial aging that turned Ultron into the All-Father, causing him to vanish to parts unknown.

In other media

Television

* The Hank Pym incarnation of Ant-Man appears in a 1979 sketch in ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'', portrayed by

Garrett Morris Garrett Isaac Morris (born February 1, 1937) is an American actor, comedian and singer. He was part of the original cast and was the first black cast member of the sketch comedy program ''Saturday Night Live'', appearing from 1975 to 1980. He ...

. * An ''Ant-Man'' TV series was one of several planned from Marvel in the 1980s. * The Hank Pym incarnation of Ant-Man appears in '' Avengers: United They Stand'', voices by Rod Wilson. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. * The Hank Pym incarnation of Ant-Man appears in '' Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes'', voiced by John Payne. * The Hank Pym incarnation of Ant-Man appears in ''

The Super Hero Squad Show ''The Super Hero Squad Show'' is an American superhero animated series produced by Marvel Animation that aired from 2009 to 2011. It is based on the Hasbro toyline " Marvel Super Hero Squad", which portrays the Avengers, the X-Men, and various ...

'', voiced by Greg Grunberg. * The Hank Pym and Scott Lang incarnations of Ant-Man appear in '' The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes'', voiced by Wally Wingert and

Crispin Freeman Crispin Freeman is an American voice actor, voice director, and screenwriter who is best known for voicing characters in English-language dubs of Japanese anime, animation, and video games. Some of his prominent anime roles include Zelgadis Grayw ...

respectively. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. * The Scott Lang incarnation of Ant-Man, with elements of Hank Pym and Eric O'Grady, appears in '' Avengers Assemble'', voiced by Grant George and Josh Keaton. * The Scott Lang incarnation of Ant-Man appears in ''

Ultimate Spider-Man ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' is a superhero comic book series that was published by Marvel Comics from 2000 to 2011. The series is a modernized re-imagining of Marvel's long-running Spider-Man comic book franchise as part of the company's Ultimate Ma ...

''. * The Scott Lang incarnation of Ant-Man appears in '' Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Avengers Reassembled''. * The Scott Lang incarnation of Ant-Man appears in ''

Guardians of the Galaxy The Guardians of the Galaxy are a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Comic book teams 1969 team The 1969 version of the Guardians of the Galaxy (1969 team), Guardians of the Galaxy were the origi ...

''. * The Scott Lang incarnation of Ant-Man appears in '' Ant-Man'' (2017). * The Scott Lang incarnation of Ant-Man appears in '' Marvel Super Hero Adventures'', voiced by

Adrian Petriw Adrian Roman Petriw (born August 5, 1987) is a Canadian television, film and voice actor. He is best known for his voice role of Tony Stark / Iron Man in the television series '' Iron Man: Armored Adventures'', Commander Gren in '' The Dragon Pr ...

. * An unidentified incarnation of Ant-Man, based on the MCU incarnation of Scott Lang, makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the '' Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur'' episode "Today, I Am a Woman". * The Hank Pym incarnation of Ant-Man, with elements of Scott Lang, appears in ''

Spidey and His Amazing Friends ''Spidey and His Amazing Friends'' (also known as ''Marvel's Spidey and His Amazing Friends'') is an American animated television series produced by Marvel Studios Animation (formerly Marvel Animation) and animated by Atomic Cartoons (who als ...

'', voiced by Sean Giambrone. * The Scott Lang incarnation of Ant-Man appears in ''Lego Marvel Avengers: Time Twisted'', voiced by Ian Hanlin.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Paul Rudd and

Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the ...

portray Scott Lang and

Hank Pym Dr. Henry Jonathan Pym is a character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by penciller Jack Kirby, editor-plotter Stan Lee and writer Larry Lieber, Pym debuted in ''Tales to Astonish'' #27 (Ja ...

respectively in media set in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appe ...

. Both have appeared in the live-action films '' Ant-Man'' (2015), '' Ant-Man and the Wasp'' (2018), '' Avengers: Endgame'' (2019), and '' Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'' (2023). Additionally, Lang appears in the live-action film '' Captain America: Civil War'' (2016) while alternate timeline variants of Lang and Pym appear in the

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

animated series '' What If...?''.

Video games

* An unidentified incarnation of Ant-Man appears as a purchasable outfit in ''

Fortnite Battle Royale ''Fortnite Battle Royale'' is a 2017 Battle royale game, battle royale video game produced by Epic Games. It was originally developed as a companion game part of the early access version of ''Fortnite: Save the World'', a cooperative survival ...

''. * The Scott Lang and Hank Pym incarnations of Ant-Man appears as playable characters in '' Lego Marvel's Avengers''. Additionally, downloadable content based on the MCU ''Ant-Man'' film was released in a later update. * The Zayn Asghar incarnation of Ant-Man appears in ''

Marvel Contest of Champions ''Marvel Contest of Champions'' is a 2014 fighting video game developed and published by Kabam. It was released on December 10, 2014, for iOS and Android. The fighting game is primarily set in the Marvel Universe. The game is strongly based o ...

''.

References

External links

Ant-Man (disambiguation)
at the Marvel Universe * Ant-Man at the Marvel Database Project
Ant-Man
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on April 4, 2012. {{Jack Kirby Groups of fictional characters Characters created by Jack Kirby Characters created by Larry Lieber Characters created by Stan Lee Comics characters introduced in 1962 Fictional characters who can change size Fictional characters who can control animals Fictional entomologists Marvel Comics American superheroes Marvel Comics adapted into films Marvel Comics male superheroes Marvel Comics telepaths