Sift through your memory banks through the founding members of the Avengers. Pick out the one who wound up living the most screwed-up life. A no-prize to everyone who chose Hank Pym. The first Ant-Man returns to Earth this week, more powerful and creepy than he used to be. Hank Pym is one of Marvel’s most complicated superhero characters. Early on, the scientist created Ultron, the super-intelligent, nearly indestructible robot that became a villain who wants to destroy humanity.
The one-time Scientist Supreme’s ups-and-downs have been a hallmark of the character, and figured prominently during his last big adventure. Driven by guilt and responsibility in Avengers: Rage of Ultron, Pym became fused with the malevolent AI he created and the story ended with the psychologically confused man-machine fusion made flying off into space.
The fate of the two character was unclear but, after a few instances of subplot teasing, this week’s Uncanny Avengers #9 brings the two characters back to Earth. They’re not really separate entities anymore, though.
Hank Pym pretty much is Ultron now. More specifically, he’s a cyborg that wears Ultron and wields the robot’s abilities. Naturally, this is a concern for the Avengers Unity Squad:
There’s almost certainly going to be a struggle for psychological and physiological supremacy between flesh and silicon in the coming months. He’s been close to the edge before and it’ll be interesting to see if this will be a heel turn to the dark side for the shrinking genius.
