Tales to Astonish! Hank Pym Appreciation 2019

[Mary Jay]

Yay, Hank is in the game, and is not an old man!

But I said it before and I'll say it again: Hank does not look like Michael Fassbender

[Mary Jay]

It's about Machine Man, not Ultron...

Yeah, I read the sollicit, and I honestly don't know what to think at this point. In the thread created for the event (or arc, or whatever) I think people have just given up and went with the "Oh it's Machine Man and not Ultron".

I don't know... why would they go and put Ultron on the teaser for the event, and another time on the cover of the IM book coming out in Sept.?

On the other hand, I vividly remember this story about Wolverine and the Invisible Woman that was called "Age of Ultron"...

[Mary Jay]

So, I've been thinking... With all these talks about will he/won't he come back, I started really thinking about the possibility of having Hank back in comics. I mean, I would love for that to happen, but then what? Where would the character go from there?

Personally, being a bit of a traditionalist and lover of continuity, I would of course want things to go back to the way they were before. But realistically, comic books being fluid and going forward, I know that things can't just pop back to how it used to be. Still, I'd like to see Hank go back to his Giant-Man ID and join a team of Avengers once more. A team similar to Avengers A.I., but with better art could be interesting IMO. The main team would be better, depending on who'd be writing it in the future. I still feel that the writers who would be best to handle Hank would be, besides Waid, Jim Zub.

But realistically speaking, if he comes back, what would he come back to? His suit and namesake has been given to a total stranger, his (ex-)wife is now with someone else, his daughter of which he knows nothing about doesn't even bear his name, no friend has really gone out of their way to try and rescue him... so I really don't know.

Would you like a new fresh start for the character, or see him try to pick his former life up where he left off? A return to the Academy? A new West Coast team? An uncostumed superhero/adventurer? I don't agree with people who say he should stay dead because all the stories have been told. It simply isn't true. There are so many possibilities still.

[scribbleMind]

Idk about Giant-Man. It's my favorite persona of his, but they just gave it away like they do with all of his personas. If this man made a new Persona tomorrow, someone else would have it two years from now.

Imo, I think Hank needs a book where he's leading the agenda. I believe that's the only way he won't get screwed over. What that book might be, however, is up in the air. It could be a book about A.I. again. It could be a book with an older Stryker and Finesse. It could be a buddy book in the vein of the last Ant-Man and Wasp mini-series. I just don't want it to be called Avengers. I think the Avengers have this idea that they're a big dysfunctional family, but Hank doesn't feel like part of the family anymore (to me), and character wise I don't see how he could possibly feel like part of the family. In fact, if Pymtron has said anything with any truth, we know he doesn't. So, imo, it's time for Hank to find his own extended family away from the Avengers.

If they ever did do a Buddy book who would you guys want him to pair up with? Cho? Venom? Black Widow? Deadpool!? Skies the limit.

[K7P5V]

Idk about Giant-Man. It's my favorite persona of his, but they just gave it away like they do with all of his personas. If this man made a new Persona tomorrow, someone else would have it two years from now.

Imo, I think Hank needs a book where he's leading the agenda. I believe that's the only way he won't get screwed over. What that book might be, however, is up in the air. It could be a book about A.I. again. It could be a book with an older Stryker and Finesse. It could be a buddy book in the vein of the last Ant-Man and Wasp mini-series. I just don't want it to be called Avengers. I think the Avengers have this idea that they're a big dysfunctional family, but Hank doesn't feel like part of the family anymore (to me), and character wise I don't see how he could possibly feel like part of the family. In fact, if Pymtron has said anything with any truth, we know he doesn't. So, imo, it's time for Hank to find his own extended family away from the Avengers.

If they ever did do a Buddy book who would you guys want him to pair up with? Cho? Venom? Black Widow? Deadpool!? Skies the limit.

During his Daredevil run, I always thought Mark Waid had a great idea when he paired Hank & Matt together.

[Mary Jay]

During his Daredevil run, I always thought Mark Waid had a great idea when he paired Hank & Matt together.

You're right, I loved their interactions together in Waid's runs!

Waid's run of Dr. Strange is ending in September with #20. I wonder if it will free Waid for other stuff... everybody knows Waid has a soft spot for Hank

[TravelerInTheDark]

Just keep Hank away from Janet. That character always brings him down.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Well considering that she's parenting his daughter at the moment that would not be likely to happen at least to some degree...though it would take some time for everyone to not think of him as Pymtron anymore...

[Frontier]

So, I've been thinking... With all these talks about will he/won't he come back, I started really thinking about the possibility of having Hank back in comics. I mean, I would love for that to happen, but then what? Where would the character go from there?

Personally, being a bit of a traditionalist and lover of continuity, I would of course want things to go back to the way they were before. But realistically, comic books being fluid and going forward, I know that things can't just pop back to how it used to be. Still, I'd like to see Hank go back to his Giant-Man ID and join a team of Avengers once more. A team similar to Avengers A.I., but with better art could be interesting IMO. The main team would be better, depending on who'd be writing it in the future. I still feel that the writers who would be best to handle Hank would be, besides Waid, Jim Zub.

But realistically speaking, if he comes back, what would he come back to? His suit and namesake has been given to a total stranger, his (ex-)wife is now with someone else, his daughter of which he knows nothing about doesn't even bear his name, no friend has really gone out of their way to try and rescue him... so I really don't know.

Would you like a new fresh start for the character, or see him try to pick his former life up where he left off? A return to the Academy? A new West Coast team? An uncostumed superhero/adventurer? I don't agree with people who say he should stay dead because all the stories have been told. It simply isn't true. There are so many possibilities still.

Well, a "Fresh Start" seemed to work for a lot of Marvel characters...

[Captain M]

I think they are bringing Ultimate Pym back in Miles' book

[Mary Jay]

I think they are bringing Ultimate Pym back in Miles' book

Ugh... I hope not. It's bad enough that people can't understand that they are two completely different characters, if Ultimate Pym comes into the main universe, it's going to be even worse.

[Captain M]

Ugh... I hope not. It's bad enough that people can't understand that they are two completely different characters, if Ultimate Pym comes into the main universe, it's going to be even worse.

And if he does that's really bad news for 616 Pym too

[Frontier]

I think they are bringing Ultimate Pym back in Miles' book

What makes you say that? The Ultimatum villain?

[Captain M]

What makes you say that? The Ultimatum villain?

Isn't he on the cover for the september issue

[Sutekh]

Idk about Giant-Man. It's my favorite persona of his, but they just gave it away like they do with all of his personas. If this man made a new Persona tomorrow, someone else would have it two years from now.

Imo, I think Hank needs a book where he's leading the agenda. I believe that's the only way he won't get screwed over. What that book might be, however, is up in the air. It could be a book about A.I. again. It could be a book with an older Stryker and Finesse. It could be a buddy book in the vein of the last Ant-Man and Wasp mini-series. I just don't want it to be called Avengers. I think the Avengers have this idea that they're a big dysfunctional family, but Hank doesn't feel like part of the family anymore (to me), and character wise I don't see how he could possibly feel like part of the family. In fact, if Pymtron has said anything with any truth, we know he doesn't. So, imo, it's time for Hank to find his own extended family away from the Avengers.

If they ever did do a Buddy book who would you guys want him to pair up with? Cho? Venom? Black Widow? Deadpool!? Skies the limit.

I think you nailed it perhaps with the mention of him hooking back up with Striker and Finesse (and others who might be headed down the wrong path, if not given some timely guidance by their elders, which is something Tony and Steve don't seem to have time for, or really 'get,' being more focused on the young heroes who are already paragons of virtue or prodigies, and not the ones who most *need* someone looking out for them, and steering them away from bad choices).

As Mettle (paraphrased) in Avengers Academy, 'These are the perfect Avengers to teach us, because they're *not* perfect.'

Some mileage could be gotten out of the fact that Steve and Tony *don't* approve of Hank appointing himself to try to steer some young potential heroes to a more heroic path, and that friction just adds to the drama. Someone like Clint Barton, who started out as a crook, and later tried to help the original Thunderbolts find their way to a more heroic footing, might understand more viscerally that Hank, bad reputation and all, teaching some at-risk young metahumans not to screw up their lives, could be pretty effective. Scott Lang seems already to be taking this to a different level, trying to get ex-villians into legitimate work, and Hank would be coming at it from a more pro-active stance, trying to find and stop people before they even become super-villains, and find more productive uses for their abilities.

Instead of waiting for them to commit a crime and then go in punch some face and throw them in the slam, his goal would be to show up before the crime and offer them some better opportunities for their lives.