With Ant-Man, Hank Pym joined the ranks of
Marvel geniuses: Tony Stark, Bruce
Banner, Peter Parker, and so forth. The
particle he created and the subsequent technology he’s invented to manipulate
it make Ant-Man and the Wasp’s fight scenes pop in a way unlike those of any
other MCU franchise, but Hank’s contributions to the larger universe are more
than just functional (a few Hank-related spoilers.)
Hank is
far from the first brilliant STEM type in the MCU, nor is he the first father
with a complex relationship with his child – after all, Tony’s issues with
Howard are baked into his character, and the film that introduces Hank also
introduces Scott Lang and his daughter.
He’s also not the first “difficult” man in the franchise, someone
prickly to get along with who freely goes rogue based on the assumption that
his way is the only logical one. Still, there
are a few things that make Hank stand out.
One
detail I instantly love is the fact that Hank is a retired superhero, the first
Ant-Man. First, he was a legitimately
covert hero, and not just having a secret identity a la Spider-Man. Even members of various intelligence agencies
don’t know if the Ant-Man was ever real, or if he was just an urban legend
dreamed up from grainy footage of unexplained things happening in the
field. Hank’s era wasn’t Cap’s time of
pledge drive tours and newsreel footage, and it wasn’t the current age of fans
stopping Thor on the street for selfies.
For Hank, there was no glory, no recognition, not even an acknowledgment
that he existed. And that kind of fits
with who he is. Just as Tony’s “I am
Iron Man” announcement makes perfect sense for him, Hank’s low-key approaching
to getting in, getting out, and getting the job done feels in-character.
Hank’s
tenure as Ant-Man also helps bridge the gap between our big superhero
eras. Before Hank, we had Cap in World
War II, and we saw how the S.S.R. would eventually become S.H.I.E.L.D. And while we know S.H.I.E.L.D. carries
through into the present day, bringing with it spies like Nick Fury or Black
Widow, it’s not until Iron Man that we see another superhero in this
world. Hank, though, shows that heroes
were still there – they just weren’t in the public eye. I imagine that, when Captain Marvel’s movie
comes along, we’re going to see her similarly fleshing out some of that stretch
between Cap and Iron Man.
Another
thing I like about Hank is how genuinely disturbed he is by the idea of anyone
else getting a hand on his technology.
While we’ve seen shades of this before, like Howard Stark worrying about
his stolen “bad babies” on Agent Carter
or Tony trying to keep the military away from his suit, Hank gets very
next-level about it. He realizes that
the Pym Particle could very literally destroy the world (sure, part of that is
arrogance, but Hank has the smarts to back it up,) and he goes to the length of
pulling a heist on the company he founded to make sure no one else takes
control of it.
Finally,
I like that we see Hank actively grooming a successor for his mantle, even if
it’s long after Hank hung it up himself.
Of course, I would’ve preferred Hank to have looked to Hope from the
start, but I like Hank recognizing the qualities he feels are needed in Scott
and, along with Hope, training him to use the suit and other Ant-Man-related
stuff, like working with the ants.
Hank’s tutelage feels very true to form for him – kind of manipulative
and full of half-truths, peppered with insults and impatience – and it’s fun to
watch him cantankerously try to craft Scott into Ant-Man, only to watch Scott
take the suit and do something entirely new with it.
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