For a man who's a literal genius, Hank Pym has done some dumb stuff over the years. Other characters who have taken up the Ant-Man alias over the years aren’t perfect either; pretty much every superhero in the history of comics has done one or two silly things in the past. Some of these Ant-Man moments are dumb. Others are silly. And others are flat out cringe-worthy. So with that in mind, here’s our list of the top 10 dumbest Ant-Man moments!
Starting off our list is one of those other characters to don the Ant-Man mantle, Eric O’Grady. The third Ant-Man, Eric O’Grady’s reputation is perhaps the most cringe-worthy. At least Hank Pym’s troubled life is due to his poor mental health. Eric on the other hand is just an asshole. One of the reasons why he’s an asshole is what he did when it came to his deceased best friend/roommate/co-worker Chris’ girlfriend. Chris, who Eric had literally stripped naked of the Ant-Man costume after he was killed in order to steal it for himself, was dating a woman named Veronica King. Eric always had the hots for Veronica while Chris was dating her, so he saw this as his chance to get it on with her. When Veronica was grieving, Eric made his move, and the two of them almost had sex on Chris’ grave. Yeah, really. The two did eventually sleep together, and Veronica got pregnant. When she told Eric, he abandoned her, refusing to raise the child, and Veronica has never been seen in the comics since.
Ant-Man, like most other heroes who navigated the silver age, has a slew of not-so-great villains that he’s encountered over the years. One of those is Scarlet Beetle, a character who first appeared in Tales to Astonish issue 39 back in 1963, his whole MO is to destroy the human race with the help of all the insects on the planet. Scarlet Beetle initially was an ordinary beetle, just being a beetle, minding his own beetle business. Until he was mutated by radiation from an atomic experiment, gained intelligence, superhuman strength and could command other insects. Oh, and became a giant beetle when he stole Ant-Man’s technology, which he then used to take over New York City.
Often the Marvel Ultimates line provides an interesting insight on characters outside of the main continuity. But sometimes, their Ultimates version is not the best behaved, as seen with the Hank Pym Ultimates version.In Ultimates issue 6, Hank tries to murder Janet after they get into an argument over Captain America. He starts to get violent, so she shrinks down to avoid him. But Hank deploys more sinister tactics, chasing after her with a can of bug spray, almost killing her. In addition to that, he also sent an army of ants after her which results in her needing to be hospitalized.
This one shouldn’t really count as dumb, because it’s actually pretty hilarious. So we’re throwing it on the list anyway! So back in Uncanny Avengers issue 4 vol 3, Hank Pym, who had previously merged with Ultron becoming Pymtron had returned; all of that happened before Secret Wars and the all new all different Marvel reboot. Anywho, he’s back in the name of good. But soon it’s revealed that really, it’s just Ultron essentially wearing Hank’s skin in order to get the Avengers to like him. He throws a dinner party, which he used as an opportunity to give a speech about Ultron and insult Steve Rogers.
Hank Pym abusing Janet is probably one of the most talked about points when it comes to disturbing, shocking or dumb moments in the character’s history. If you’ve seen any of our other Ant-Man videos, you’ll know that it caused quite the controversy, and it’s definitely not a plot point that will ever make it into an MCU movie. When Hank was Yellowjacket, and pulling that whole ‘I’ll save the Avengers from a robot’ scheme, Janet protested, and in response, he backhanded her, and basically told her to shut up and go along with his plan. Editor in Chief at the time Jim Shooter would later respond in a blog post saying that the hit was never meant to be intentional, but because of the artwork, that’s how it turned out. Regardless, it had people firmly believing that Hank Pym was a woman beater, and didn’t do much for the character’s reputation.
You know what’s a sure fire way to end your career as a superhero? Attack someone who has pretty much surrendered. That’s exactly what Hank Pym did when it came to Elf Queen; a villain that the Avengers were fighting. She had stopped though, and was carrying on a conversation with Captain America, when Hank, as Yellowjacket decided to attack her anyway, which immediately caused her to attack back, making any progress that Captain America had made go to s***. The Avengers would then decide to court-martial Hank, and at the trial, not only did he try to pull off a scheme where he saved the Avengers from a robot, but he also used it as an opportunity to criticize Cap. Seems like someone has some insecurities he needs to work through.
In Hank Pym’s first appearance as Yellowjacket, Hank apprehends some robbers. While his heroics are notable, and ever so cocky, it’s what he does afterwards that leaves people rolling their eyes. He gloats to the cops, who try to take down his real name, leading him to say “the witness stand is for stoolies, clyde! I play cops’n’robbers, let somebody else play judge’n’jury!” But, when it comes to the press, he makes sure he tells the cops how to spell his name right before taking off, specify that there’s no hyphen inYellowjacket.
Ant-Man once fought a Nazi Robot that turned things to gold. Actually. In 1943, the Nazis were running out of funds so they invented a robot that could spit gold out of its chest to help fund their side of the war. After the war it was kept in a vault in the First Capital Bank of Miami. Which was all good and fine until Ant-Man accidentally let it free. Scott Lang was showing off and deactivated the bank’s security systems to prove that they were weak, releasing the Midasbot, which caused a whole lot of chaos. He did end up saving the day, shrinking down and meddling with the robot until it exploded, but still. Luckily, the Midasbot only appeared in one issue, Ant-Man vol 2 issue 2.
Oh Eric O’Grady. Eric O’Grady was such an asshole that when Grizzly attacked Scott Lang, it was because he thought it was Eric O’Grady, and once realizing that it was a different Ant-Man, the two hung out and had drinks together while Grizzly told Scott how much of an ass Eric was. But that’s not the point of this number. Instead, Eric being a super big perv is. Or rather, a super small perv. Eric used his Ant-Man persona to get dates, often going out with women he rescued. If they didn’t want to go home with him, he’d shrink down and follow them anyway, spying on them, and watching them undress. He even pulled that stunt with Ms Marvel once, Carol Danvers, sneaking into her shower to watch her. Gross.
10. ERIC O’ GRADY’ LOVE LIFE
9. SCARLET BEETLE
8. BUG SPRAY
7. VOICE
Voice is yet another silly Ant-Man villain. Voice aka Jason Cragg was an overweight, average dude who worked as a radio announcer in the Midwest. Ionized atoms from a nearby atomic lab travelled through his microphone and mutated his vocal cords, giving him the ability to use his voice to make anyone listen follow and believe his every word. First introduced in Tales to Astonish issue 42 in 1963, he just happens to spot Ant-Man in action and decides to tell the people of New York that Ant-Man was a villain, so they try to run Hank out of town. Ant-Man tricked him by giving him laryngitis, making his voice hoarse, and subduing his powers.
6. PYMTRON DINNER PARTY
5. BEATING HIS WIFE
4. ATTACK ELFQUEEN
3. YELLOW JACKET AND THE PRESS
2. NAZI ROBOT
1. SEXUAL HARASSMENT
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