So, I hear in Civil War #4, Hank Pym cops to making a Thor-Clone for his buddy, Tony Stark so they can win the Civil War.
I’m not all that surprised.
Hank Pym is a self-styled king of bonehead moves, starting with this first appearance in Tales to Astonish when he shrunk himself down to the size of an ant, freaked out, then locked away his Pym Particles, swearing to never use them again only to become a costumed hero with an encylopedia of problems.
And that’s why I like him so much. It’s sounds horrible, but Hank Pym is the kind of hero not many aspire to be, but would turn out that way. Someone brilliant, someone who really wants to belong but just doesn’t have that ‘IT’ that makes a superhero. Ego and self-doubt and a lack of self-esteem always get in the way and make him either a wife beating villain or a people pleasing clone artist.
This is the guy who, after being accused of acting rashly, built a robot that only he could defeat to terrorise his teammates so he could get his cred back. A man who’s ‘airhead heiress’ wife totally upstaged him in the career that he started. A man who got the brush off by Tigra in the West Coast Avengers and tried to kill himself. That was the first issue I ever saw him in, by the way, and the poor guy in the red jumper contimplating taking his own life was something unheard of in comics to lil’ teen me.
Like most scientists, he’s got that God Complex and while Reed Richards hides his in stoicism, Tony Stark wrapped his up in Iron (though boy has there been a leak these days) and Bruce Banner shoves his into a big green monster, Hank Pym was the only guy to name his invention after himself. It’s not Stark Armor, it’s not the Richards Zone, it’s Pym Particles. He doesn’t have a corporation, he’s probably under a private contract to build whatever he wants and that… hasn’t been in some time. There really hasn’t been any new inventions from Dr. Pym outside of self-aware maniacal robots. I didn’t have a reference for it until recently, but it’s kind of like Dr. Venture from the Venture Bros., living off what his father built and taking on government contracts to pay the bills.
As a side note, I think Pym’s cash comes from the superhero community itself as they seem to be the ones using Pym Particles the most. Huh.
So yeah, I could see him agreeing to Tony Stark’s side of things in order to keep people happy with him. It’d be harder to go it on your own with Captain America, so why not stick with the plan that lets you stay in your own home and might possibly get you a good contract with SHIELD? Clone a god because this could get you back in the game scientifically and come on, aren’t you kind of curious? Take the easy route. Pym. Make your mistakes because, at heart, at least I know you really do mean well.
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Poor Hank Pym. Always trying to go that big Hail Mary, the one that’ll fix everything, and yet, always messing up.
Well, at least he usually realizes he’s messed up (like he has now) and tries to make amends (which he hopefully will soon).
Of course, the amends are yet another big Hail Mary, ending the same way, and thus the cycle of pain and failure, continues on forever.
david brothers: Hey, thanks! You had me at the review of the What If Anya Hadn’t Died? =)
CalvinPitt: Hank Pym, like Syssaphus in a way. But this is the kind of tradegy I don’t mind because of how the character reacts to his actions. This isn’t just killing and ressurecting Spider-Man, this is creating an abomination of someone you respected and realizing this has gotten a little out of hand.
Marvel characters are not, as Warren Ellis said way back, defined by their tradgedies. They are defined by their actions during and after the worst times in their lives. Hank Pym is my walking, talking example. =)
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[...] In the midst of near-universal condemnation of certain characterizations in Marvel’s Civil War, our own Carla Hewitt manages to find one kernel in the mess that ALMOST makes sense: Hank Pym is a self-styled king of bonehead moves, starting with this first appearance in Tales to Astonish when he shrunk himself down to the size of an ant, freaked out, then locked away his Pym Particles, swearing to never use them again only to become a costumed hero with an encylopedia of problems. [...]