Tonight They Race In Outer Space. Or Fight. Whichever.

I normally don't bother with Marvel or DC when it comes to these hypothetical teams because there's a chance whatever five characters I pick from either universe, they're probably going to have worked together at some point. But what the hell, the post office has bounced my comics shipment all over the damn state for the last three days.

So for this one, I tried to pick characters I like or at least find interesting, but aren't what I'd necessarily classify as favorites. I may pick the character from a particular point in their history, but that's probably just a sign of what status quo I'm most familiar with.

The Leader: Monica Rambeau (Photon) - I'm not sure what codename Monica's rolling with these days, but "Photon" isn't bad, and I always thought it was nuts she gave back the "Captain Marvel" name to Mar-Vell's stupid, whiny son, then the kid changes his codename to Photon after she'd already taken that.

Anyway, bare minimum this is Monica from some point post-NextWave. Monica's done good work as a leader prior to that, but it felt like she was reluctant to take command. This group, in its own way, could be as difficult to handle as Machine Man, Boom-Boom, and The Captain were. It would help to have a Monica that has already managed to deal with that trio's nonsense. She needs to be able to project confidence, both in herself and their mission, despite any challenges.

Although hopefully we're far enough past NextWave she's eased back off the throttle a bit, because she was pretty angry and bloodthirsty at times in that book. I'm not sure that's going to play well with some members of this team.

Monica is actually also the real powerhouse of the team in a broad sense. The others have specialties where they might exceed her, but overall, she's the one most likely to be able to fight an entire alien army. If, you know, that's a thing that they need to do at some point.

The Rogue: Hank Pym - If we're picking a specific era, I'm going with West Coast Avengers cargo suit Hank Pym. The "scientist adventurer." I've always felt that's really the identity that suits him best, because it focuses more on him using his intelligence and aptitude for making thing. As opposed to growing 40 feet tall and punching people. Honestly, the growing thing always feels like him trying to compensate in the most obvious way possible. And there's never been any indication Hank's a particularly gifted hand-to-hand fighter, so he probably ought to shy away from a powerset that encourages it.

Still, it's Hank Pym, he's always walking a knife edge. He was moments away from killing himself before Firebird stopped him and helped devise the "scientist adventurer" approach. I'm not going to pretend all that doubt, guilt, and insecurity just vanished because he decided to take a different approach to being a hero. Even if this is the type of hero I think suits him best, he's still going to want to prove himself. I think he'll be a team player, but there aren't any other scientists on this crew. Is he going to put a lot of pressure on himself to figure out the solutions to all their problems? Even if it's an area outside his expertise?

Something goes wrong, he makes a miscalculation, there comes a point where it looks like maybe they could have used a giant guy, is he going to fall apart? Is the rest of the team going to wake up the next morning and here's Yellowjacket, talking shit and challenging Monica's decisions? Which might be the most important reason for Monica to be more mellow than she was in NextWave. NextWave Monica will probably just cook Yellowjacket if he doesn't shut his trap.

The Muscle: Mantis - Mantis circa Abnett/Lanning's Guardians of the Galaxy might not be her at her most powerful. In Engelhart's Silver Surfer run she could literally travel across interstellar distances, as long as there was plant life on the next world for her to use to basically regrow a body. Still, DnA Mantis had telepathy, limited precognition, pyrokinesis, and still had some ability to stimulate plant growth. Plus, you know, kickass martial arts skills. Maybe she can teach Hank Pym how to throw a punch. Or maybe not. Don't want to encourage him to start thinking with his fists again.

Mantis is, most of the time, a fairly placid character. Probably because she has at least a vague sense of how things are going to turn out (or because she's spent time seeing things from a more cosmic level). She rarely shares that information with her teammates, and may not even tell them she has that ability. From their perspective she can look like a bit of a "space case." Looking at things they can't see. Monica's going to have to find some way to get Mantis to communicate important information without having to be pressed for it.

At the same time, she can be very empathetic and caring. She was able to put up with the Silver Surfer and his whinging, even managed to tease him out of it at times. She could put up with Star-Lord's self-pity, Drax and Gamora's less-than-pleasant personalities, Bug's constant inappropriate comments. With the latter three, she tended to let any of it directed towards her just wash over her with no outward reaction. A blade of grass swaying in the wind. With Quill, she gave him a kick in the pants from time to time as needed.  Still, her capacity to just listen and let people get stuff out could come in very handy.

If that's all she does, because she also gave members of the Guardians a slight mental nudge to get them to join, at Quill's request, which is a little troubling. If she tries to "nudge" Pym, there's no telling what that'll do to either of them, and there's at least one character on this team that will probably kill her if she tries it on them. OK, one character beside Monica.

The Lady of Mystery: Longshot - With Longshot the mystery may be how recently his mind has been wiped. If it has been, who wiped it (it can't always be Mojo and Spiral)? And was anything really important lost in the process? Depending on how Mantis has been acting, and how oddly she behaves around the others, this could be a source of tension if suspicion falls on her. If Pym has doubts about her, or hears someone else on the team voice doubts, then makes a screw-up, does he try to pin the blame on her? That's she undermining him for some purpose?

That said, Longshot is (usually) a cheery ray of sunshine, even when his memories are missing. So excited and curious about every new thing he's getting to experience. His innocence is going to provide a distinct counterpoint to the next team member, but it could also be an issue. His luck power requires pure motives to work properly, and I wonder if that's going to limit him if he doesn't entirely grasp what's going on around him, due to memory loss. If he has to take the others' word for it on what they're doing and why, or if he acts out of trust in them, but that turns out to be a mistake. Their motives aren't considered "pure" even if his desire to help them is. Longshot's definition of what's OK might be (almost certainly is) very different from the rest of the team. Does that cause a backfire?

I don't think Longshot ever got to go on any of the X-Men's outer space adventures (and this would have to be in outer space, at least part of the time). It's time for adorable mullet baby's first outer space trip! Given his luck and agility, he ought to be a natural at zero-gravity fighting, which will come in handy at some point. Also, he kind of has a reputation for being very attractive, and I have absolutely no idea which member of this team would fall for him. Honestly, I can't see it being any of them, but maybe someone would surprise me.

The Guy with a Boat: Ghost Rider - The image is of Johnny Blaze, but it can be Robbie Reyes or Dan Ketch, or that one lady who was Ghost Rider for 5 seconds 10 years ago. Johnny and Robbie probably have the most experience on teams at this point, depending on whether you want them to be used to working with others, or not.

Look, it's most likely that Pym is going to provide a spacecraft (unless they steal or commandeer one from somebody), but you can't pass up the opportunity to put Johnny/Robbie at the controls so the ship bursts into flames and takes on a demonic visage. I figured that was 90% of the point behind Cosmic Ghost Rider, but he just rides some spacebike with one of those spheres you touch that makes your hair stand on end for a front tire.

The Rider gives them at least some mystical aspect, even if they're not much in terms of spellcasting. Some potential defense or offense of a supernatural nature is better than none, right? They might even meet some other planet's Spirit of Vengeance. Depending on circumstances, could be friend, could be foe. Say they're dealing with the Kree, and it's Kree-Lar's Ghost Rider trying to avenge its people (even though the Kree probably started it). The Rider's actually the physically strongest member of the team, assuming Pym doesn't do the Giant-Man thing at some point. That should come in handy.

The question is how well he's going to work with the rest of the team. Not just in the sense Johnny or Robbie might go tearing off after some soul they sense needs to be punished, even if it involves tearing through the side of their spaceship. But will the Rider be able to control himself from taking vengeance on his teammates if he's stuck in close proximity to them for a long period of time? Pym's got a lot of dirty laundry in his closet (how much responsibility does he bear for Ultron's actions?) If Mantis does start acting in a questionable manner, well, plants have a tendency to burn, and I'm not sure how susceptible the Rider is to mental attacks.

Which makes Ghost Rider sound like he should have been the Rogue, and I did consider it, but I feel like you know what you're dealing with when it comes to him. You just have to be on your toes, and careful about what you do. Whereas with Hank Pym, he may make it through A-OK. He does go long stretches where he functions perfectly well. But when/if he does fall apart, you don't know which direction he's going to go. If he's going to go the Giant-Man route, or become a real abrasive force on the team in Yellowjacket, or just fall apart entirely. The potential outcomes are more varied.

A Failure To Communicate Is A Big Problem For Ant-Man

Looking back over the two Ant-Man movies, it seems like there are a lot of problems that emerge because Hank Pym is bad at emotions. Not saying it's his fault, that he did it deliberately. Most of it seems to have happened after he believed he'd lost Janet, in which case Hank had a lot of grief and regret and closed himself off. Still, it's notable that he seems to have left a trail of angry, hurt people in his wake, and it keeps causing problems.

In Ant-Man, Hope is reluctant to turn to her dad for help stopping Cross because there are a lot of unresolved issues between them. She felt abandoned by him after her mother's seeming death, because Hank was struggling to process his own grief and survivor's guilt, and couldn't help her. His tendency to keep things to himself, and their lack of communication, means when Hope sees him bringing Scott Lang in for the heist. She sees it as a sign he doesn't trust her, or won't acknowledge her skills in using the suit and directing the ants. Really, it's that he can't stand the thought of losing her too, but since he won't just, you know, say that, she doesn't realize it until Scott points out that Hank sees him as expendable.

Which is kind of shitty, since Cassie would certainly miss her dad if he got killed trying to break into a super-science facility in a suit he can barely control*, but I can't fault Hank for prioritizing his own daughter's safety over someone else's daughter's happiness. Actually, should we count Hank baiting Scott into breaking into his house as a test, so he can show up later to "rescue" him from the cops, and then basically extort Scott into doing this job for him? I doubt Scott would have agreed if Hank simply contacted him and asked, but maybe try that first.

Cross has been trying to unlock the Pym Particle formula for years in some measure because he resents Hank for what he sees as a lack of trust. Hank's always denying the existence of Ant-Man, never letting Cross in on the secrets. As it turns out, Cross is going to sell the stuff to friggin' HYDRA, so Hank was right to keep it hidden. But maybe there was a way to help Cross feel appreciated and trusted without unlocking that particular door.

Eh, probably not, he was a pretty entitled guy. But I get the impression Hank didn't really try, and that's how you end up with a guy trying to sell an incredibly dangerous weapon to a bunch of would-be world conquerors at least in part to thumb his nose at Hank. All that gloating. "Oh you didn't think I could be trusted Hank, well look at me now!" Yes, you're selling your suit to HYDRA, I don't know how I could have misjudged you.

At this point, I'm moving on to Ant-Man and the Wasp, so there are probably SPOILERS.

The example that got me thinking about this was the hostility between Hank and Bill Foster, who apparently worked together for SHIELD back in the day, Bill acting as Goliath. Neither of them has any use or patience for the other. Hank is insulted Bill would even suggest they were partners, and contends Bill never had an original idea in his life and was just riding his coattails.

You can imagine if Hank hadn't been quite that big ass that Bill might have contacted him to consult on Ghost's condition. If Hank's willing to help, maybe he and Bill can keep her out of SHIELD's grasp, and she doesn't spend her formative years being turned into a thief, spy, and assassin. Then she's not trying to steal Hank's lab constantly at the worst possible time for him.

As for Ava's father, I don't know. She believes he was a scientist that Pym got booted, but Han contends her dad was a traitor. He has the same name as Pym's old comic arch-foe Egghead, so I'm guessing we're supposed to believe Hank about this one. In which case, I'm not going to fault Hank for not managing to make an inspirational speech that makes Starr's heart grow three sizes that day.

I don't know what lesson to take from this. Don't wall yourself off emotionally from others? Don't be an arrogant dick who treats coworkers and proteges poorly? Scott seems much more willing to ask for help, or admit his shortcomings. He hasn't always been there for Cassie, because of his own choices, but is trying hard to make up for it. For as much as he's treated as an idiot by Hank and Hope, he seems more mature emotionally than either of them, at least in some ways. I feel like the people close to Scott know how he feels about them.

* And if Scott did get killed during the heist, it would probably happen while he's tiny, so his body might never be found. Cassie and her mom might never know what happened to him. Just figure he decided to vanish somewhere.

Dealing With Exasperation Is Its Own Super-Power

Jennifer Walters - 'So he wants to shrink me and then have me poke around to find his friend. I'm fine to do it, but I just thought, you know, if there's anyone you talk to before you get all tiny, it has to be Hank Pym. I mean, you wrote the book on this stuff. So. . . Do you have any tips or - ?'

Hank Pym - 'Do not do any of the things you just said you were going to do.'

She-Hulk #7. I laughed at Pym's line. The just immediate interruption, and specifying she not do anything. You know Hank has had similar conversations a lot over the years.

Which made me wonder, which Marvel hero has uttered some version of that line the most over the years? For my money, it has to be Dr. Strange. After all, there are a lot of science-type heroes who can field the ill-advised experiment calls, but fewer magic types. And Strange is the go-to, unless the writer is trying specifically to not use Dr. Strange. Spider-Man alone must have called him at least a dozen times.

'Hey Doc, it's Spidey, I found this glowing doorway to a weird place where everything is upside-down, and I think a hoodlum ran in there. I see a guy with a big, flaming head, too.'

'That is Dormammu's Dark Dimension, an extremely perilous domain, wait for me -'

'Sorry, Doc, people in danger!'

'Do not just jump through the - ! Damn.'

Seriously, think of all the impetuous types Doc knows. Spider-Man, Namor, Valkyrie, Nighthawk, Namor. Hmm, listed Namor twice without realizing. What the hell, let's go with it. Even Hellcat, though Patsy's more sensible about magic than most. So Doc's my pick, but you might feel Reed Richards or Tony Stark among the super-science sect, or perhaps the Black Widow  in the world of espionage. Maybe even Wolverine, just for the sheer number of people he seems to know who are always getting into trouble. Though Logan kind of has an unfair advantage being so much older than the others.

What's your pick?

Stick To The Small Things, Hank

One thing I've enjoyed recently is this scattered, low-key rehab for Hank Pym.

During Avengers Arena, he was the one working hardest to try and track down the abducted kids. In Avengers Undercover, he was the one pushing Maria Hill to go into Bargalia and pull them out, and he was the one Hazmat called for help, who immediately agreed to help. He's been doing what he can to help Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson, from trying to slow the spread of Foggy's cancer, to aiding in the faking of Foggy's death. And he's showed up to help She-Hulk as soon as she called about the Shrinko issue (and at the time of her call was helping to construct/fix some wind turbines).

None of this is earth-shattering, world-saving stuff, but that's a good move for Hank. His problem always seems to be his feelings of insecurity compared to other heroes. He thinks being Ant-Man doesn't measure up to Thor or Iron Man, so he becomes Giant Man. That doesn't work so he becomes Goliath. Then he snaps and becomes Yellowjacket, an arrogant hotshot to try and make an impression. Oh, and somewhere in there he creates a genocidal artificial intelligence, presumably to show Reed Richards and Tony Stark aren't the only smart guys around.

Point being, when Pym starts trying to prove himself, things go badly. So this is a good move for him. He's just trying to do his best to help where he can, how he can. It isn't trying to make himself look good, just him trying to be good. It won't last, I know. Pym will eventually overreach and be back where he started, trying to pick up the pieces after his next screw-up. But for now, this is a good direction for him.

A Discussion of Ant-Men

Reading She-Hulk #7, something that concerned me was that Patsy made reference to talking to Eric O'Grady, aka the Irredeemable Ant-Man. Setting aside my confusion about when this could happen, because Remender killed O'Grady two and a half years ago in Secret Avengers, or why Patsy would listen to O'Grady. Because it made me think those two had gotten close, and I know Sally and I joked about who Patsy could get into a relationship with that would be worse than Damion Hellstrom, but we didn't actually want it to happen. Yes, O'Grady would constitute a step down from the Son of Satan. At least Hellstrom could be charming some of the time. He would call. O'Grady's the type who tries to pick up the Avengers Academy girls with cheap booze. Guy has "loser" stamped on his forehead in 20-foot high letters.

I will admit, when it comes to Ant-Man, I'm on Team Scott Lang. I find Pym interesting, his constant attempts to find a way to be useful, to get it right. But the cyclical nature of comics means he's pretty much always stuck somewhere in that, either getting it right, or watching it all fall apart. That gets exhausting after awhile. As for O'Grady, fine, you don't have to be nice, or a good person to save the day. But O'Grady's such a scuzzy shitheel I don't want to deal with him.

Lang, though, seems like a comparatively decent and stable guy.  He did spend time in prison, but it was for burglary. We know how I feel about thieves, and other than that, he's been a reliable guy. He's smart, but not overwhelmingly so, although maybe that's changed if Reed Richards is asking him to fill in. He seems to have a pretty realistic idea of where he stands among the heroes, as in, he's not an A-lister, but if you need his help, he'll step up. But his first priority was to his daughter, which was nice. I found it obnoxious they went to the trouble of bringing Scott back in Children's Crusade, only to kill Cassie off a few issues later (and I note Heinberg killed the member of the Young Avengers he didn't create. Great job breaking other people's toys, ass).

I would have loved to see Scott and Cassie fight crime together. Scott would probably have spent most of his time working to pay the bills, but if Cassie wanted them to go fight evil, sure. So many heroes had lousy parents, or good ones who are dead. Or they're poor parents themselves, or they can't be around their kid because of reasons. Scott always seemed like he was trying to put Cassie first, which is maybe the big difference to me. Pym always feels like he's trying to prove something, or make up for one of his past mistakes. O'Grady's, hell, I don't know what O'Grady's after. Money and women, I think. Lang has done things in the past to try and pay back debts (helping Stark in Armor Wars), but even then, he's thinking about Cassie (Stark offered to pay, and Lang's small business could use the cash influx). Lang felt more more like a character I could relate to, and respect, because he's not a train wreck.

But to bring it back around to the beginning, I can't figure why Patsy would have been talking to O'Grady. I can absolutely see him trying to put the moves on her, but I'd think Patsy would hang out with enough of the other heroes to know what scuzzball Eric O'Grady was. That's a toxic waste dump she'd do well to steer clear of. Especially because he's dead.

The Hate Doesn't Always Stick With Me

Someone posted this question on a forum, and I thought I'd ask my audience. Is there a character you disliked when initially introduced to them, who you later warmed up to? The shift in your opinion can be caused by anything. The thread starter listed Amanda Waller, because they didn't like her on the Justice League cartoon, but changed their mind after reading some Suicide Squad.

I was having a little trouble thinking of one at first. It seems like if start out not liking a character, then I usually avoid them after that. Or any appearances they make after that are viewed through my biased perspective, and aren't able to change my mind. I didn't care for Cyclops when I first read comics with him in them, and that hasn't changed 20 years later, for example. I did come up with a few, but I only listed the first one that came to mind.

Hank Pym.

I hadn't read much Avengers prior to picking up Kurt Busiek's run, so I'm not sure how much I knew about Pym prior to that. Busiek made it clear Hank had made some mistakes in the past, and had some problems he was still working through, both in how he viewed himself, and in his relationship with Janet van Dyne. These problems were brought up, dealt with, and at least somewhat addressed. I don't have the comic with me, but I feel like Hank and Jan agreed reaffirmed their friendship, though they weren't back together as a couple, which is still nice. Soooo, great. Problem solved.

Naturally, subsequent writers went back to the well and tried to put them together again, seemingly so they (or the next writer) could have the fun of breaking them up. They became one of those comic couples doomed to try and get together only to have it destroyed somehow. With Hank and Jan, it seemed like it was his periodic mental instability, or the time he backhanded her. Which isn't something to be brushed over lightly, but it was strange how much of an issue it would be. It wouldn't prevent them from starting to get together, but it would eventually rear its ugly head and split them up again. Tedious.

Somewhere along the line I put together a run of Steve Engelhart's first 2 years on West Coast Avengers, where he did his own arc with Pym, and it was actually deeply satisfying to read. Hank was struggling with his various issues, almost killed himself, and Firebird (or La Espirita) came along and helped him out, by demonstrating he wasn't a big failure, as he believed. he had made mistakes, but they were ones he could learn from, so he could succeed the next time. It didn't solve all Hank's problems, but it gave him a way to go forward, and I was interested.

Eventually, I figured out it was better to simply ignore all the stories I didn't care for, and once I excised all those repetitive stories from my personal Hank Pym continuity, I liked him a lot better. He still has recurring difficulties with self-doubt and relationships, and that makes sense. Those sorts of insecurities and issues don't go away easily. But they're aren't occurring as frequently, the issue isn't always the same (like most recently he's had to cope with Janet's death or dissolution) and his solutions seem a little different each time. As though he's trying out different theories on how to get it right, which seems appropriate for a scientist.

Anyway, that's how Hank Pym won me over. A few good writers, and a conscious decision on my part to ignore all the other writers. Who's the character for you, and how did they win you over?

It's Bound To Get A Size-Changing Scientist Down

Sorry about the absence. The lack of a post on Saturday wasn't in my plans. The lack of posts Sunday and Monday were, but the Saturday post would have told you I was heading away to celebrate the Fourth with friends. Then the Internet was unavailable on Saturday and the plan went up in smoke.

Anyway, Hank Pym set up to fight the Absorbing Man this month in Avengers Academy, a rematch of their fight from last December. Of course, the Absorbing Man has one of those Fear-Hammers now. And Pym only beat him last time by enlarging him to the scale where Abstract Entities exist, overwhelming Creel's mind. This is not likely to go as well for Hank.

I am curious how it'll play out between them. Not the fight so much as the fact that Hank actually tried to do something nice for Crusher Creel by designing a cell that wouldn't require the villain to be in a constantly drugged state. Which Hank certainly didn't have to do, but I imagine he thought it was a nice gesture. No reason to deprive someone of their higher-brain functions. Yet here the Absorbing Man is, rampaging and smashing Pym's face with a magic hammer. There's gratitude for ya.

It may not be Creel's fault, since Maria Hill suggested the hammer is a means for something else to control him. Which makes sense. Why else would Ben Grimm be using his fear-hammer to further the villain's agenda, rather than using its powers to help stop this mess? It'd be interesting if the Absorbing Man actually tries to rein himself in, regain control, because he does remember how Pym actually listened and tried to help before?

OK, that's unlikely. So assuming Hank survives the fight (I imagine he will), does it provoke a reaction in him? He tried to help this crook out, and when next they met, said crook cheerfully used his enhanced powers to make Hank's face resemble roadkill. Will this lead to more self-doubts for Pym, or might he start trying even harder to guide the cadets away from villainy, figuring that once they go that route, there'll be no bringing them back? It's a silly notion, considering all the criminals that have reformed and joined the Avengers, but Hank can tend to get obsessed, and his judgment isn't always the best, so there's a possibility he would overreact to the fight with Creel.

He's Not Building A Genocidal Robot, Trust Pym A Little

In Avengers Academy, Veil has the idea that if she does something heroic, she'll be forgiven for assaulting the Hood and recording it. To that end, she opts to throw the switch that will allow the Wasp to come back from the scattered energy form she is now. Considering Pym held off on this because he isn't sure how solid Jan's grip on reality would be after months at the level of Abstract Entities, this won't end well.

The thing that bothers me about Veil's reasoning is she seems convinced that if she gets thrown out of the Academy, she's doomed. Her atoms are losing cohesion, and one day she'll just drift apart, like Shadowcat's nearly done a couple of times. Now I've given Hank Pym a lot of grief over the years (not as much as the writers, mind you), but I don't buy for a second that he'd stop helping her just because she wasn't at the Academy anymore. I don't think Pym's problem has ever been a lack of desire to help others. It's usually that he's worried he's not strong/good/smart enough to help, and the poor decisions that insecurity leads to. I could buy Pym working his tail off, but not finding a solution to her problem, but that he'd simply leave her in the lurch? Short of another nervous breakdown, I don't see it happening.

Of course, veil's a teenager, and I remember enough about those years to know I didn't usually want to admit my concerns to others, especially authority figures. I have to think the fact the teachers haven't been forthright with the students about why they're really there (namely, concern these kids will go villainous) is the issue. Withholding that creates a tension and lack of trust that affects everything that's said and done, or how they're interpreted. If they fear Veil's going to go evil, why would they help her? We know it's because they're heroes and that's what they do. Witness Pym developing a way to keep Crusher Creel in prison that doesn't involve drugging him constantly. Creel's certainly never demonstrated the sort of altruistic streak that might encourage one to care about his plight, but Hank listened and helped anyway.

Can't A Scientific Adventurer Be A Super-Hero Too?

Talking about Avengers Academy #7, I don't agree with Pym's (or Christos Gage's if you prefer) assessment of Hank's stint as Dr. Pym. Hank describes it as 'Trying to deny I was a super-hero while on a team of them.' I don't feel like, at least during the Engelhart issues, Hank denied he was being a super-hero. The whole point of that arc with Firebird, was about Hank coming to grips with his past missteps, recognizing he still had it in him to be a hero, then figuring out what method was right for him. Hank and Bonita's conclusion was that rather than being a guy who gets big and punches stuff, Hank was better suited to carrying a vast array of devices, which he could shrink or grow as necessary. He'd rely on his ingenuity, rather than his fists.

Admittedly, his options were somewhat limited. At that point - even though he'd somehow internalized Pym Particles so he could make himself (or anything he touched) change size - his body couldn't handle the strain*. That ruled out trying something along the lines of Ant-Man or Giant-Man. Still, Pym's never struck as a particularly good fighter, so an identity that emphasizes brute strength and hitting people doesn't seem like a wise course. I guess he could have gone back to Yellowjacket, minus any shrinking hijinks, but things hadn't worked out too well for him in that identity, and the personality he adopted wasn't right for him either. Being Dr. Pym keeps him from having some excuse to go charging into battle, so he could hang back and assess the situation instead. Come up with the right tool for the problem. The team already had Iron Man and Wonder Man. If what they were up against was too strong for those too (say Count Nefaria), then it's doubtful Hank would be much good as Goliath.

I don't know why I like the Dr. Pym identity so much. It's the one he had around the time I started reading comics, but the only West Coast Avengers comic I had for years was #6, and he was still inactive at that point. The next issue I had was after they'd switched the title to Avengers West Coast for some reason, and involved Immortus*. He was still Dr. Pym at that point, but didn't get a chance to do much that explained how he was approaching heroing. I might have even though he was just some poor support staff guy that got sucked into the mess. I wasn't very impressed.

I didn't go back and start buying the Engelhart issues until after I had this blog. By then I'd read some of Busiek's Avengers, so I'd seen Hank as Goliath and Yellowjacket. Still, I prefer him as Dr. Pym. Engelhart took Pym right to the brink of killing himself, but Busiek wrote a story where Hank's difficulties reconciling the parts of himself nearly killed him, so I'm not sure it's that Dr. Pym was the result of Engelhart breaking Hank down so he could build him up.

Some of it's Dr. Pym's a very different way of doing things from any of his other identities. It's interesting that he can't use his powers on himself, because of the health risk, but he doesn't retire, he just alters his approach so they help him have a utility belt of sorts. He's the guy who relies on gadgets and brains, but unlike Batman, he's not much of a fighter. He didn't develop his fighting skills along with his scientific ones, because he was a scientist first, a super-hero later. It makes sense for Hank to rely on smarts. Reed Richards has powers, but often, they're a way to restrain a foe, or keep Reed out of reach until he devises the means to win. The powers support Reed's intellect, and Pym's ability to shrink objects does the same for him. He can devise all sorts of helpful tools, and the powers give him a way to carry those along without it being unwieldy.

* #62, with a mentally manipulated Wanda. So it's one of those issues we can probably blame for giving Bendis the idea of the whole Disassembled/House of M mess.

Hank's Getting Smarter With Age. Until His Next Foul-Up, Anyway

I've been meaning to do this post for a month, but kept getting sidetracked.

Avengers Academy #7 reminded me of West Coast Avengers #15. You have Hank Pym on the verge of a huge decision, the difficulties of his relationship with Tigra, and a super-villain that badmouths Hank about his superheroic career choices.

With WCA #15, Hank and Tigra are in San Francisco with Hellcat and Damion Hellstrom, celebrating Tigra managing to integrate her human and cat selves, so she's not at war with herself. This revelry is interrupted by Tiger Shark trying to elude Harbor Police, and the ladies make the capture. Turns out Tiger Shark was double-crossed by Whirlwind, who's still on the loose, and the heroes decide to bring him in as well.

At that time, Hank Pym's out of the crimefighting biz. He lives at the WCA's headquarters, but he's basically support staff. Not like Jarvis, or Oracle, more like that Harold fellow who lived in the Batcave in the '90s. Anyway, even though Whirlwind is one of his old foes, Hank is not going to suit up. He will, however, lend his experience by helping set a trap to put Whirlwind in a location where his powers are neutralized, and Tigra and Hellcat have a better shot at him. Things are going fairly well until Whirlwind tries to escape by slingshotting onto the roof Hank happens to be directing the fight from. At which point, Whirlwind giving Pym crap about being a loser who gave up his identity and let others take it, while Whirlwind, no heavyweight himself , has a unique shtick he won't let anyone steal from him. Hank flips out, tries to rush Whirlwind. . . and nearly falls to his death. The issue ends with Hank learning that while he and Greer Nelson (Tigra's human half) may have had a thing going, in her current form, she needs to figure out who she is, so Hank doesn't even have a girlfriend. Which helps drive him to the point of putting a gun to his temple in the last few pages of West Coast Avengers #16.

Avengers Academy is a little different. Hank's still taking a teaching role, but he's also still fighting crime himself. It had been as the Wasp, but he's opted to return to Giant Man. The Absorbing Man breaks confinement, there's no one else left to stop him, so Hank steps up. Crusher talks some trash himself, making fun of Hank for using his ex-wife's crimefighting name, shrugging off Hank's insults about his education, and electrocuting him in response. Crusher calls Pym a loser, and Hank flips out and rushes him, too. It works a little better this time, since he makes contact, but it allows Crusher to steal Pym's powers. This time around, Hank does take care of business, by enlarging the both of them to a realm where Abstract Beings reside, which is more than Crusher's mind can handle. The whole fight is set in between Tigra and Hank awkwardly discussing her son's parentage, and Hank's big plan to bring Jan back to them, over Jocasta's concerns.

It's interesting to contrast the two issues. In each case, Hank tries to attack a super-powered foe. In the first, he does so without any powers himself, because he's trying to give up superheroics, claiming he's not cut out for them. In the later case, he does have powers, because while he still may not be able to settle on an identity, he's at least accepted that he does, if not enjoy fighting crime, feel a responsibility to do so. Also, a charge is a somewhat better strategy against The Absorbing Man, who isn't particularly fast. He'll naturally steal Pym's powers when given the opportunity, and that ends up helping Hank defeat him, by making it easier to enlarge him to a size where the weakness Hank mentioned earlier (Crusher's mind) can come into play. Even if that wasn't Hank's intention at the time, if he simply tackled Crusher because the taunts got to him, he was able to think, and retake control of the situation. Trying to rush Whirlwind, whose entire deal is he's quite fast and hard to get ahold of, was ill-advised, especially considering they were standing on the edge of a rooftop.

In the more recent story, Hank actually listens (eventually) to everyone's concerns that he might be rushing his plan to bring Jan back. It also helps that he saw what brief exposure to that level of existence did to Crusher. In the WCA story, Hank can't really get past Tigra needing time to find herself. Even though she says they might wind up together again some day, he can't see it, he can't wait. He's frustrated that they were together, and then she changed, and now they aren't, and he seems to consider that emblematic of the superhero world he supposedly wants no part of. In reality, he did miss being a superhero, he just hadn't found a style that fit him.

And he wouldn't confide in anyone. When Hellcat asks him what Whirlwind was saying to him, Hank's response is he has no idea. He refuses to let on that anything is bothering him, and so nobody can help him through it. Granted he didn't tel everyone right at the start that his 'Infinite Mansion' was actually helping keep Jan's body together, but before he made his big attempt to save her, he let some other folks in on the plan. Ultimately, the decision was his, but hearing the doubts other people had, helped him realize he had the same doubts, that he was rushing into things again. This time he slowed down a little bit farther away from the edge.

I Need To Work Through This In Writing

Or typing. Six of one, half dozen of the other. Reading through Avengers vs Atlas #4, I keep coming back to the point when Giant Man connects with the chronovirus. Not because I'm still confused by the temporal stuff, but because of something Tony Stark says.

Since it's a mindscape, Hank can assume the identity he feels best in, and so he regresses back to his Ant-Man form, complete with the cybernetic helmet, and he flies off through wherever he is on top of an ant. As he does so, Stark - who, along with the rest of the Avengers and Atlas, are linked into Hank's mind so they see what he does - comments that he thinks Hank's 'always felt more at home as Ant-Man'.

I suppose it caught my attention because I subscribe to the, let's call it Englehartian view that Hank's never really been suited for those sorts of costumed heroics. In that theory, Pym's never really been true to who he is when he throws on a costume and runs around punching people, zapping them with bio-blasts, or changing his size. So the fanboy part of me felt he should have traipsed about as Hank Pym.

Obviously, the fanboy part of me ignored these Avengers are from a time period 20+ years (our time) before Hank went the "scientist adventurer" route, complete with flight suit with dozens of pockets to carry gadgets in. The idea he could go on an adventure like this simply as himself, no codename or costumed identity, would probably never enter '60s Pym's mind. In the '80s, he had to come within seconds of blowing his brains out, and be walked through his history by Firebird to figure it out, so an earlier Hank wouldn't have the experiences to lead him to such a thought.

Setting that aside, visualizing himself as Ant-Man still makes a lot of sense. I still think Hank isn't well-suited for being a hero who punches things, which would seem to be the primary reason to become Giant-Man, rather than remaining Ant-Man. I think it's telling he found Pym Particles, shrank himself, was nearly killed by ants, and his solution was a helmet so he could communicate with insects. He didn't develop a suit of powered armor to blast the insects with, he instead came up with a way to talk with them, to convince them not to attack, and even to help him. It says something about Hank Pym as a character, such as that his solutions to problems won't involve application of brute force, but something more diplomatic, shall we say. Ant-Man is the identity that follows that works with that more readily*.

It would make me wonder if Pym wasn't having regrets about changing identities. One of my high school teachers said that when it came to multiple choice questions where we weren't sure, our first instinct was usually our best one. I guess the reasoning went, that instinct is informed by whatever little bit of useful knowledge we recall, and if we take the time to second guess, we get that info twisted around until we've confused ourselves.

I never took the opportunity to check my tests and see how often changing my answer worked out, but maybe this would be Parker's way of saying Pym should have stuck with his first choice. Giant-Man was a decision made out of insecurity, where he didn't think he could be useful on a team with Hulk (just for a minute), Thor and Iron Man. Pym decided to go the opposite direction from how he started, but did the team really need another strongman? That's something Parker did in this mini-series I enjoyed, play up Hank's brains. He doesn't have a lot of success at the physical stuff, but he's the one best able to comprehend all the weird time happenings. The other Pym was also the one who tried using Kang's machinery to keep his team of Avengers from being wiped out of existence. It's a nice reminder of where Pym's strengths lie.

* Not that he can't come up with clever solutions to problems as Giant-Man, but imagine when he's gone to the trouble of growing to 12 feet tall, it's easier to convince himself he ought to simply hit the problem. Otherwise, what was the point of growing to that size?