Why Do Hanks Go Bad?

[Marvell2100]

It seems like everyone named Hank in Marvel/DC goes bad at some point.

Hank Pym - Founding Avenger, heroic for many years, has breakdown, goes bad.
Hank McCoy - Founding X-Men, heroic for many years, does experiments, goes bad.
Hank/Henry Gyrich - First Avengers Liason, not heroic but not evil either, something happens, goes bad.
Hank Hall - One-half of Hawk and Dove, heroic for many years, loses partner, has breakdown, goes bad.
Am I missing any Hanks?

Why do they do it? Why do Marvel and DC make their Hanks go bad(tongue-in-cheek here)?

[marhawkman]

because all scientists in comics go evil at some point?

[Alan2099]

Am I missing any Hanks?

Well....

[Marvell2100]

because all scientists in comics go evil at some point?

It happens more often with the Hanks though.

[Marvell2100]

Well....

Thank you for reminding me. I don't know how I forgot about this sonuvagun.

Poor Bill, he never knew that Hank was behind all of his misery.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Someone cursed the name....

[Marvell2100]

Someone cursed the name....

You may be onto something there. There must be something that Dr. Strange or Wanda can do.

[MichaelC]

It seems to be more of a scientist character thing. Richards and Stark have both had their mad scientist moments, and they aren't named Hank. The question to me is why are so many scientist characters named Hank? While by no means universal, it substantially disproportionate. Hansen's another name that seems to pop up in scientist fiction, especially anything biological for some reason. There is likely some historical character lots of writers are taking inspiration from.

[marhawkman]

It seems to be more of a scientist character thing. Richards and Stark have both had their mad scientist moments, and they aren't named Hank. The question to me is why are so many scientist characters named Hank? While by no means universal, it substantially disproportionate. Hansen's another name that seems to pop up in scientist fiction, especially anything biological for some reason. There is likely some historical character lots of writers are taking inspiration from.

Oh yeah.... 7 of 9 in Star Trek: Voyager... aka Annika HANSEN....

[MichaelC]

Oh yeah.... 7 of 9 in Star Trek: Voyager... aka Annika HANSEN....

Maya Hansen in Iron Man, the biologist Hansen in Starcraft, the Doctors Hansen who were Annika's parents, if there is a biologist in a science-fiction story, there are high odds that they will be named Hansen. There's something going on there, maybe some famous historical biologist, or some really iconic biologist in a science fiction story, SOMETHING is inspiring writers to name their biologists Hansen.

[Aarkus]

Am I missing any Hanks?

I mean......
4694853062_6e9711c6d1_b.jpg

true story: my ex-girlfriend's son, who was 8 years old at the time, saw me watching some live Rollins Band footage on YouTube a while back... he stared at the screen transfixed for a bit and then turned to me and asked "is that guy a super hero?" lmao

[SturdyMike89]

It seems like everyone named Hank in Marvel/DC goes bad at some point.

Hank Pym - Founding Avenger, heroic for many years, has breakdown, goes bad.
Hank McCoy - Founding X-Men, heroic for many years, does experiments, goes bad.
Hank/Henry Gyrich - First Avengers Liason, not heroic but not evil either, something happens, goes bad.
Hank Hall - One-half of Hawk and Dove, heroic for many years, loses partner, has breakdown, goes bad.
Am I missing any Hanks?

Why do they do it? Why do Marvel and DC make their Hanks go bad(tongue-in-cheek here)?

I actually am going to try to go for belt here so let's get started.

Hank Pym- From the very beginning it could be argued that Pym could be seen as suffering from a superiority/inferiority complex. He always felt a need to prove himself which can lead to disaster. Even as far back as the 60s, he seemed to wrestle with mental health issues. Fans forget that his most infamous moment came because he was brainwashed and before that seemed to suffer something akin to a nervous breakdown. Other writers (Mark Miller) saw this as the character's only defining point and it has sadly stuck.

Hank McCoy- In 1995 during the Age of Apocalypse we were given a very dark version of Beast. This character worked well because up until that time Beast was seen as one of the kindest and gentle of the X-Men. It also served as a good counterpart to his boss Mr. Sinister who while still quite dark and manipulative was given more characterization and made more relatable in this story than in any previous others. It was so effective, that this Dark Beast made it over to the 616 and was a huge character in countless stories told between 1995 and 1997. Later writers seemed to decide that Beast had this darkness always inside him never mind that his whole background was different and that was the point. They then decided that having the original version be evil is better and more impactful no matter how stupid that is.

Hank/Henry Gyrich- Originally just intended to be a stern authority figure who could be seen as having a point, later writers decided that him being in the government meant that he was corrupt running all kinds of black ops. It sadly morphed from being concerned about uncontrolled mutants/superpowered beings causing massive damage to him hating mutantkind's very existence. Any gray he may have had washed off years ago.

Hank Hall- Always a a**hole if we are being honest. An angry jerk who bullied his brother and who confused being proactive with at times descending into knight templar territory. But none of this has any bearing on why he went bad. He was revealed as a future big bad named Monarch because enough people had guessed that his identity was supposed to be Captain Atom and DC decided that wouldn't stand. And since his book was just cancelled and he was known as an angry jerk anyway...

[From The Shadows]

I wasn't thinking about Hanks but I was wondering why Excalibur seemed to hate anyone named Nigel. They were souly created to be jerks. Nigel Frobisher and Nigel Orpington Smith.

[marhawkman]

I wasn't thinking about Hanks but I was wondering why Excalibur seemed to hate anyone named Nigel. They were souly created to be jerks. Nigel Frobisher and Nigel Orpington Smith.

Nigel seems to be the default name for British snobs.

[DigiCom]

Why are so many of Kitty Pryde's boyfriends named Peter (or a variation thereof)?

Piotr Rasputin
Pete Wisdom
Peter Quill
even Peter Parker (over in the original Ultimate Universe).