"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Character Highlight: Hank Pym (Ant-Man)


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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