Ant-Man

The original Ant-Man was Dr. Henry "Hank" Pym, a fictional character that appears in publications published by Marvel Comics.

Created by editor and plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber and penciler Jack Kirby, Hank Pym debuted in a standalone story in the science fiction/fantasy anthology Tales to Astonish #27 (Jan. 1962), in the seven-page cover story, "The Man in the Ant Hill," about a scientist who tests a shrinking technology on himself. Eight issues later, the character and the technology were recruited for a new costumed-superhero feature, "Ant-Man," in the 13-page, three-chapter story "Return of the Ant-Man/An Army of Ants/The Ant-Man’s Revenge" in Tales to Astonish #35 (Sept. 1962). Both issues' stories were by the same creative team of editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, penciler Jack Kirby, and inker Dick Ayers. Lee in 2008 described his reasoning for the character's atypical genesis: "I did one comic book called 'The Man in the Ant Hill' about a guy who shrunk down and there were ants or bees chasing him. That sold so well that I thought making him into a superhero might be fun".

Joining Pym in issue #44 (June 1963) was his socialite girlfriend and laboratory assistant, Janet van Dyne, who adopted the identity of superheroine the Wasp and co-starred in Pym's subsequent Tales to Astonish stories. She also later served as a framing-sequence host for anthological science-fiction backup stories in the comic. Ant-Man and the Wasp went on to become founding members of the superhero group the Avengers in that namesake comic-book series that debuted in 1963.

Pym later dropped the Ant-Man alias and began assuming other superhero identities, beginning with the 12-foot-tall Giant-Man in Tales to Astonish #49 (Nov. 1963).