Just How Many Ant-Men Are There?

One of Hank Pym's defining characteristics is his constant changing of costumed identities and codenames. Pym has gone by many names, including Ant-Man, Yellowjacket, Goliath, Giant-Man, the Wasp. And it seems like every time Pym casts off a superhero identity, some other superhero (or villain) is always there with a handful of Pym Particles to snatch up the costume and carry on Pym's complicated legacy. So while there's only been a handful of characters to use the Ant-Man suit and codename, there's a small army of characters who have used Pym's many aliases in some other way. Let's take a look at Pym's unofficial superhero family tree:

Hank Pym

Any discussion about Hank Pym's complicated superhero legacy has to begin with Pym himself. A gifted scientist, Pym discovered a special type of subatomic particle that could shrink or grow people and objects to enormous or microscopic sizes. His first attempt at shrinking nearly ended in disaster, as ants nearly ate Pym when he became trapped in an ant hill. Pym developed a special helmet to help control ants and took on the costumed identity of Ant-Man.

After joining the Avengers, Pym's personality and anxieties cause him to frequently switch identities. Pym becomes Giant-Man after feeling inadequate compared to powerhouses like Thor and Iron Man. He then becomes the brash and arrogant Yellowjacket after accidentally inhaling chemicals that cause schizophrenia. Pym has also used the Goliath and Wasp codenames at various times in his career. None of the codenames has ever stuck for long, and Pym often changed identities depending on his mental state and moods.

Pym's a…controversial hero, largely due to a storyline that saw him hitting his then wife Janet during one of his emotional episodes. The writer of the arc, Jim Shooter, claims that the artist misinterpreted the script, but the slap and aftermath has defined the character ever since.

Janet Van Dyne
Janet Van Dyne, aka the Wasp, was Pym's original partner and team member. A founding member of the Avengers, it was Van Dyne who suggested the Avengers remain a superhero team after their initial mission and came up with the "Avengers" team name. Janet was a "glue" member of the Avengers, a relatively constant presence during the constant team turnover and roster changes. While initially depicted as flighty, she proved to be a skilled tactician and took over leadership of the Avengers several times.

While Janet shared the same growth powers as Hank, she also has the gained the ability to fly after Pym grafted artificial wings to her back (which only appear when she shrinks to a certain size). Over time, Janet also learned how to use her own bioelectricity to attack enemies with a harsh "Wasp's sting". Unlike Hank, she also kept the Wasp identity during her entire career, although she frequently modified her costume in keeping with her career as a fashion designer.

Janet and Hank always had a complicated relationship. Janet took advantage of one of Hank's bouts with schizophrenia to marry him and often felt that Hank neglected her in favor for his scientific studies. Their relationship broke down after Hank hit her, although they tried several attempts at reconciliation over the years. After finally breaking up for good, Janet would later enter into a relationship with the mutant Havok and had a daughter with him in an alternate future.

Clint Barton
Although he's best known as expert archer, Hawkeye, Clint Barton also used one of Pym's many aliases during an early stint in his career. When assembling for a space adventure, the Avengers chose not to bring Hawkeye due to his lack of powers. Barton used one of Pym's costumes and canisters of Pym Particles and adopted Pym's former alias of Goliath. Barton's tenure as Goliath was short-lived, he only used the Pym Particles and costume for a few months before returning to his usual bow-wielding alias.

Bill Foster (Goliath)
Bill Foster, Hank Pym's longtime lab assistant and friend, was the first hero to adopt one of Hank's many aliases. Originally an employee of Tony Stark, Foster met Pym after the latter stayed supersized after a battle. Foster eventually gained access to Pym Particles and became a superhero of his own. Using the name "Black Goliath", Foster worked alone at first, before joining the Champions, Defenders and West Coast Avengers. Much like his mentor Hank Pym, Foster would switch codenames several times, alternating between Black Goliath, Goliath and Giant-Man during various times in career. Foster met a tragic end during the superhero Civil War when a clone of Thor killed him during a fight between the warring teams of heroes. Foster's death was a turning point in the conflict and led to several heroes switching sides to join the Avengers.

Scott Lang (Ant-Man)
Hero of the upcoming Ant-Man movie, Scott Lang was a reformed burglar and employee of Tony Stark. After his daughter Cassie grew seriously ill, Lang stole Hank Pym's Ant-Man gear and used it to free a doctor who could cure Lang's daughter. Recognizing that Lang stole the suit with good intentions, Pym allowed Lang to keep the suit, as long as he only used it for heroic purposes. Lang was a frequent ally of both the Avengers and Fantastic Four and joined both teams on different occasions. Ant-Man was thought to be one of the many casualties during the Avengers: Dissembled story arc, which broke up the Avengers team "for good". However, his daughter Cassie traveled back in time to rescue him from the deadly explosion, bringing him alive and well in the present day. In recent months, Ant-Man traveled to Miami and started his own security firm, hiring several reformed villains in the process.

Rita DeMara (Yellowjacket)
The second Yellowjacket is a morally grey character who has fought on both sides of the law. Like Scott Lang, DeMara was a small time thief who stole the Yellowjacket suit from Avengers mansion. While she initially teamed up with the Masters of Evil, DeMara came to the aid of the Avengers several times and was even made an honorary member of the team after a battle with the High Evolutionary. DeMara later joined the Guardians of the Galaxy (the original team from the 30th century, not the modern version) and was killed by an Immortus-controlled Iron Man while trying to return to the 20th century to warn them about a pending attack.

Eric Josten (Goliath)
Another reformed villain (sense a pattern here?), Eric Josten was an ionic powered supervillain named Power Man (taking the name years before Luke Cage used it). After losing his original set of powers, Josten used a stolen sample of Pym particles and adopted the name Goliath (the fourth person to do so, for those keeping track) as a new villainous incarnation of the character. After joining the original incarnation of the Thunderbolts (then a group of supervillains posing as heroes), Josten ditched the Goliath costume for the new identity of Atlas and became a hero. As Atlas, Josten enjoyed the popularity and accolades as a hero, and eventually reformed.

The Irredeemable Ant-Man
During the mid-2000s, Robert Kirkman (of The Walking Dead fame) brought back the Ant-Man franchise with the amoral and selfish Eric O'Grady. O'Grady was a low-level SHIELD agent who had, along with his friend Chris McCarthy, stolen a prototype Ant-Man suit from Hank Pym's lab. McCarthy was killed during an attack by HYDRA, leaving O'Grady in sole possession of the suit. O'Grady used the suit mainly to spy on women and generally act like a jackass. O'Grady worked his way up from the Avengers Initiative training camp to the ranks of the Secret Avengers where he died while protecting a child. Marvel recently teased O'Grady would return in the pages of their new Illuminati series, although how or why has yet to be explained.

Cassie Lang (Stature)
As a child, Cassie Lang stole Pym Particles from her father's equipment to the point that she no longer needed them to shrink or grow in size. Cassie's powers appear to be linked to her emotions; feelings of extreme rage or sadness would cause her body to grow or shrink without her knowledge. Cassie joined the Young Avengers after her father's death, and would later be a member of both the Avengers Initiative and the Mighty Avengers during different parts of her career. During a time travel adventure with the Young Avengers, she rescued her father by bringing him forward in time moments before his presumed death. Unfortunately, her reunion with her father was short-lived, as Dr. Doom killed Cassie while she and the Young Avengers battled for control of Scarlet Witch's reality warping powers. After Doom's morality is inverted during the Axis event, he resurrects Cassie hoping to make amends for some of his past misdeeds. Cassie, now retired from superheroics, lives in Miami.

Tom Foster
The newest member of the Pym family of growing/shrinking misfits is Tom Foster, nephew of Bill Foster. After watching his uncle die on national television, Bill vowed revenge against Iron Man and Reed Richards and sought to create his own Pym Particles to continue his uncle's legacy. After the Hulk attacked Manhattan, Foster used the distraction to steal Pym Particles from Avengers Mansion and became the fifth Goliath. He then joined the Revengers, a team of disillusioned heroes and villains, in an attempt to bring all the Avengers down. While he was unsuccessful, it's clear that Tom is living up to the proud Goliath legacy!

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Ant-Man is in theaters now. And for a complete list of Marvel Studios' other release dates, head to ComicBook.com's Comic Book Movie Database here.