Artificial Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady) Appreciation

[Michael Watkins]

with St.Patrick's Day approaching, i thought that it might be time for (arguably) the most accomplished irish catholic Ant-Man to get his own thread. anything LMD-Eric O'Grady or Irredeemable Ant-Man related is on topic. feel free to hate on him too.

[Michael Watkins]

a few ice-breaker questions:

1. What's your opinion on Eric joining Hydra? it's kind of ironic given that he originally became G.I. Ant-Man during Hydra's attack on the SHIELD helicarrier.

2. Do you think that he should track down the old Eric's son/baby mama?

3. Should he pursue Visioneer, Black Fox, or any of the old Eric's friends?

4. Do you like his friendship with Taskmaster?

5. What tattoo should he get next?

6. How did he survive detonation/who rebuilt him?

7. What irredeemable ant-man costume was your favorite (original, secret avengers, black ant, or thunderbolts version)?

[Michael Watkins]

[Michael Watkins]

how it all began

[Michael Watkins]

so insightful

[Kurolegacy]

I wish there that writers wouldn't treat Black Ant as the same character and would some day bring back the original to face his LMD copy. He had a heroic death and it's only been trampled on since.

[Michael Watkins]

I wish there that writers wouldn't treat Black Ant as the same character and would some day bring back the original to face his LMD copy. He had a heroic death and it's only been trampled on since.

that's a fair take on it. my personal take is that it matched his character arc; up until that point. Eric is not, naturally, a heroic or selfless individual. so, of course, his act of selflessness resulted in his death. even if he had lived and continued to be a good guy, he would still have all of that bad karma from what he did to Chris, what he did to Veronica, what he did to Cassie, what he did to Monkey Speedball (and Robbie Baldwin's parents), and what he did as a Thunderbolt. i guess what I'm trying to say is that Black Ant is the same character. he's just reacting to what has happened to him. he's not being any more overtly villainous when hanging out with Taskmaster than he was when he was hanging out with Black Fox. Eric's always been self-serving. i'll wait and see what how far he actually falls; from this point. he doesn't seem as evil as he was when he was facing the Secret Avengers.

[Inversed]

I haven't got a chance to read any of the Thunderbolts or Black Ant stuff, but I have read most of Irredeemable Ant-Man. And...it's really weird, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it.

I do think the idea of a comic where you follow a guy who is inherently a dick and basically does non-stop irredeemable (ha) acts is a neat concept, and I did want to keep reading. It was well written for what it was, I will say that for sure.

From what I've read about the character going forward, I did kind of like his arc where his selfish acts eventually lead to him being stuck with the Thunderbolts and in the end with a selfless act being the thing that does him in brings it to a decent conclusion. Not completely sure where the LMD/Black Ant stuff happens

[Huntsman Spider]

I haven't got a chance to read any of the Thunderbolts or Black Ant stuff, but I have read most of Irredeemable Ant-Man. And...it's really weird, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it.

I do think the idea of a comic where you follow a guy who is inherently a dick and basically does non-stop irredeemable (ha) acts is a neat concept, and I did want to keep reading. It was well written for what it was, I will say that for sure.

From what I've read about the character going forward, I did kind of like his arc where his selfish acts eventually lead to him being stuck with the Thunderbolts and in the end with a selfless act being the thing that does him in brings it to a decent conclusion. Not completely sure where the LMD/Black Ant stuff happens

In Secret Avengers by Rick Remender, right after his death, it turned out the robotic villain faction built an LMD clone and sent him to infiltrate the Secret Avengers so that they'd have no clue that the real Eric O'Grady had been killed in action. That's how I remember it, at least.

[Kurolegacy]

In Secret Avengers by Rick Remender, right after his death, it turned out the robotic villain faction built an LMD clone and sent him to infiltrate the Secret Avengers so that they'd have no clue that the real Eric O'Grady had been killed in action. That's how I remember it, at least.

That's about the gist of it along with him being sent to retrieve the child they had in their possession. The way he's portrayed, he has O'Grady's memories but finds that selfless sacrifice isn't worth it though whether that's how he's programmed, him viewing the real O'Grady as a fool or his natural thought process is up to interpretation.

[Michael Watkins]

I haven't got a chance to read any of the Thunderbolts or Black Ant stuff, but I have read most of Irredeemable Ant-Man. And...it's really weird, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it.

I do think the idea of a comic where you follow a guy who is inherently a dick and basically does non-stop irredeemable (ha) acts is a neat concept, and I did want to keep reading. It was well written for what it was, I will say that for sure.

I'm of the opinion that it's some of Kirkman's best Marvel work (as little of it as there is). I think he was very clever about walking the line of making Eric despicable but not entirely unsympathetic. but more than that, I think Eric was representative of that era of comic books. he was a low level guy exploiting superhero conventions to level up. Parker Robbins/The Hood was the other end of that spectrum; stuck in the lowest level of villainy but ready to take advantage of any opportunity to level up. and they both did so by breaking every rule of costumed heroism/villainy. it was fun for me to watch Eric react unconventionally to familiar superhero set-ups. his instincts were to watch the Mister Hyde fight instead of rush in and risk his life. he only did so to impress a woman. he lied to each and every person he met; without needing to. he stole from the Black Fox and then pretended to apprehend him. he used good deeds to leverage women into dating him. it was just refreshingly weird. but, yes, it had a built-in time limit. I'm happy where and how the story ended.

From what I've read about the character going forward, I did kind of like his arc where his selfish acts eventually lead to him being stuck with the Thunderbolts and in the end with a selfless act being the thing that does him in brings it to a decent conclusion. Not completely sure where the LMD/Black Ant stuff happens

I liked that they were consistent with Kirkman's portrayal. his moral compass wouldn't stop him working for Osborn. but he could clearly tell that he was out of his league when working with monsters and sadists like Mister X/Headsman. but instead of trying to fight the system from within (the expected action for a hero), he bid his time and waited for others (Paladin and Ghost) to turn the tide. even his actions of turning over the Headsman's equipment to the guy's older brother wasn't cut-and-dry good or bad. he basically just helped create another potential villain. but he did it to honor a teammate (even if that teammate liked to decapitate people). Eric was just a really complicated character; almost accidentally villainous.

[Michael Watkins]

That's about the gist of it along with him being sent to retrieve the child they had in their possession. The way he's portrayed, he has O'Grady's memories but finds that selfless sacrifice isn't worth it though whether that's how he's programmed, him viewing the real O'Grady as a fool or his natural thought process is up to interpretation.

from my perspective, Black Ant sees himself as the real Eric O'Grady; brought back to life Frankenstein-style. we saw his inner thoughts. he regretted acting selflessly. and that is realistic for Eric. it went totally against his instincts. coincidentally, that's what makes me like him. no one bats an eye when Hawkeye risks his life to save someone. but Eric is a coward. he had to overcome that built-in fear to save Parvez (I'm not even sure why they bothered since the Avengers exterminated the Descendants). Black Ant's motivation was that he feared being killed again (because he "remembered" dying). but my interpretation could be wrong. I just think he's more than an LMD. Father was using some kind of magical energy to activate the replicas. Eric is now a lot like Jim Hammond.

[Michael Watkins]

welcome back to the big time, Eric. I hope you survive the experience.

[Michael Watkins]

seems like only yesterday...

[Michael Watkins]