With Ant-Man and The Wasp hitting theatres July 5th, Ant-Man is so hot right now. But as awesome as he is, he’s not perfect, and has a number of weaknesses that we’ve seen throughout the comics and films. So let’s talk about them. Now, this is a bit of a tricky list to fill out, so I’ll be including everyone who has been Ant-Man, including Scott Lang, Hank Pym, and Eric O'Grady. But I'll make sure to specify which it is for each point. And a few of them might be a stretch. So let's take a look at the Top 10 Ant-Man Weaknesses.
10. HE DOESN'T HAVE WINGS
One thing that we saw in the trailer for Ant-Man and the wasp was Scott’s realization that Hope’s suit has wings. And his doesn’t. And there’s essentially no reason for that that I’ve been able to find. You’ll see a lot of excuses like “Oh, they get in the way, or they’d impede his heroics, or hinder his fighting style.” But guess what. They work just fine for the Wasp. I’m thinking the extra half hour it would take to get used to the wings would be far eclipsed by the usefulness of having freaking wings. Because he would be able to fly instead of having to run and jump around, or use ants. Please let me know in the comments if you’re aware of a reason for this, other than “It differentiates The Wasp from Ant-Man.” Because I’m stumped.
9. CRIMINAL HISTORY
This is one of the few weaknesses that don’t really affect Hank Pym, but affects Scott Lang and Eric O’Grady. When Scott Lang first became Ant-Man, he was an ex-con. He had been an electrical engineer, but when he was unable to support his family, he turned to crime. He stole from the company he worked for, took a bit for himself, and redistributed it to the customers of the company. So like... it was the good kind of crime, but still a crime. When he was caught, he was sent to prison for 5 years, and this criminal past continues to affect him even to this day. Now granted, for Scott, this isn’t much of a big deal, other than the usual drawbacks of being an ex-con. Largely because A) it was a pretty good crime, for good reasons, and B) because he’s done a bunch of good as Ant-Man. On the other hand, this is a huge issue for Eric O’Grady. All his past misdeeds, made even worse because they were committed while he was Ant-Man, cause him to be super conflicted. He feels like he is a bad person trying to do good things, and while this did cause him to try to redeem himself, it’s a source of constant distress for him.
8. HE'S STILL SUPER LIGHT
This goes for all the Ant-Men. One thing that the Ant-Man movie kinda glossed over, much to the chagrin of Ant-Man fans, was his weight. We know that the Pym particles allow the shrinking by compressing the space between atoms. But, while Scott was clearly significantly lighter in the movie, since he was able to run on top of dudes without them noticing, they didn’t explain why this is. The comics, however, have an answer: not only do the Pym Particles push the atoms closer together, but they also shift most of the mass to a pocket dimension. This is how he can run on top of people, and how they can carry around cars and tanks without breaking their backs. Why is this a weakness? Well, this lightweight can be taken advantage of, since it means that he can be picked up and thrown, or kicked, and there isn’t really much he can do about it. Sure, it would be tricky to hang onto him if he’s so small, and he’s still strong enough to fight back, but his lightness can be a bit of a hindrance in fights. That said, it also lets him ride on ants. And that’s awesome. So I’d say it’s worth it.
7. HUBRIS
If you’ve seen Age of Ultron, you’ll remember how Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, in trying to help humanity, very nearly doomed it, by bringing Ultron to life. Well, not life, but, you know what I mean. This hubris was very nearly the end of humanity, but in the comics, it went a bit differently. In the comics, it was Hank Pym who created Ultron, the criminally insane sentient robot, even using his own brain patterns as the basis for Ultron's robotic mind. Hank decided that he was so smart that he could totally go ahead and create artificial intelligence. Nothing could possibly go wrong, because Hank Pym is a genius and is awesome and oops Ultron’s gone and taking over everything. Yep, his belief that he could play God brought about one of the most dangerous villains the Earth has ever seen. If that’s not a weakness, I don’t know what is.
6. DANGERS OF GOING SUB-ATOMIC
One particularly impressive ability of the Pym particles is they can allow one to go sub-atomic. As I explained earlier, part of what the Pym Particles do is shift your mass to another dimension. If he goes too small, and the vast majority of his mass has been shifted over, he can enter alternate dimensions. This is super useful if you want to enter the Microverse, or go hang out with the Living Tribunal, but as we learned in the Ant-Man film, this can also go very badly. On one mission in 1987, Janet and Hank found themselves unable to disable a Soviet missile. Janet bravely removed her regulator, which allowed her to shrink to subatomic size, and get in and disarm the missile. Unfortunately, this caused her to become lost in the Quantum Realm. Now, thankfully we know she was able to come back, but it's a definite danger that Ant-Men and women face.
5. DEPENDENCE ON TECH
This is a pretty self-explanatory one, that’s true of all the Ant-Men. A lot of superheroes have pretty amazing powers that are part of them at all times. Superman, Scarlet Witch, Deadpool, so many heroes could go out as naked as the day they were born, and still be effective heroes. Even Spider-Man, who depends on his web shooters a lot, could still be a damn fine hero without them. But Ant-Man without his ability to shrink and grow is basically just “Mental Illness Man”. Not counting Scott Lang. Whether it’s his shrinking suit, or the helmet that lets him communicate with ants, Ant-Man without his gadgets is just a dude with a stupid name. Of course, there is an exception. Repeated exposure to the particles have caused Hank Pym to be able to grow and shrink at will, but he still needs his helmet and suit to do any real heroism.
4. MENTAL INSTABILITY
Yep, if you’ve read the comics, you’ve probably guessed that this is a Hank Pym one. For ages, Hank grew and shrank with the use of Pym Particle Serums, and everything was dandy. But as time went on, he started to have more and more psychological issues, which turned out to be a side effect of the particles. He became increasingly depressive and irritable, and eventually even developed a split personality. This was in the Yellowjacket years, and while this extra personality did allow him to finally propose to his girlfriend, it led to the act that would haunt him for the rest of his life: he struck Janet out of frustration. And abuse is a big no-no. He eventually learned to make the helmet protect his brain, which allowed later Ant-Men like Scott Lang to take on the mantle without the nasty side effects. Thankfully, in recent years he has reformed big time, and has even taken the Yellowjacket persona on again in an attempt to make up for the harm he had caused previously. I mean, he’s not perfect, considering he’s currently Ultron, but that’s a story for another time.
3. HE'S TOO RANDY FOR HIS OWN GOOD
Here’s another Eric O’Grady one. Seriously, it’s like he was trying to one-up Hank Pym in a game of who’s the biggest dirtbag. And the dude kept letting his burning loins get the better of him. For one, he uses his powers in pretty lecherous ways. Damn I don’t think I’ve ever used that word in a video before... Anyway, yeah, he had a habit of saving attractive women, and using that fact, and the fact that he's a superhero, to try to get into their pants. And if they weren't into it? That's cool, he'll just follow them home and spy on them in the shower. True story. He even stalked Ms. Marvel once, while she was the leader of the Mighty Avengers. He hid in her purse, went home, and watched her shower. Now, is this something that a hell of a lot of nerds would do too if they had his abilities? Probably. Does that make it okay? Heeeeeell no. Not only that, but he seduced the girlfriend of his dead best friend Chris, made out with her at his grave, later knocked her up, and left her. Like... Holy crap. His excuse was that he wouldn't be a good father, and frankly, I think he's right, but that is so not cool.
2. SELFISHNESS
This is another one for Eric O’Grady, who was just a big jerk. For one, he became Ant-Man in the first place when he stole it out of selfishness. Not only that, he would use the Ant-Man suit to commit crime. Yeah, not exactly the usual MO of a superhero. Whether he's stopping a thief and taking what they stole for himself, or even using the distraction of a superhero fight to commit a robbery, the dude is always putting his own selfish desires over the greater good. He even severely burnt the face of his friend when he was stealing the Ant-Man suit. Plus, after taking over the mantle of Ant-Man from Scott Lang by stealing the suit, much to the chagrin of pretty much everyone, he decided the best way to make himself look better, would be to put Scott down as much as possible. He would slander him, claiming that the crimes committed by Eric were actually committed by Scott. This got worse when Scott's daughter Cassie heard him, they fought, and he eventually smacked her into the ground. And what did he say? Who's your daddy now?
1. INFERIORITY COMPLEX
This one is, of course, referring to Hank Pym. Now, it’s true that superheroes tend not to be the most mentally healthy individuals. Sure they put forth a confident exterior, but on the inside, many doubt themselves a good deal, with a bit of Imposter Syndrome sprinkled in. But Pym takes this to a new level. He constantly feels as though others look down on him, and he cares way too much about what people think. This causes him to act out in an attempt to prove himself, which often ends up going very poorly. Whether he’s abusing his wife, abandoning his team, or going rogue, Hank has been known to let his inferiority complex get the better of him. It also caused him to change persona time and time again, when he thought his friends weren’t giving him enough credit. This has recently proven to be a detriment to him with All-New, All-Different Ultron. After months alone, Pym joined with Ultron, with Ultron’s hate for the Avengers, and Pym’s feelings that they had abandoned him, causing him to strike out. In reality, they just thought he was dead, but he immediately jumped to the worst possible conclusion.
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