The Marvel Cinematic Universe made the Avengers the most popular superheroes of the 21st century, and they did it in a way that movies usually didn’t: by actually using the source material in a way that wasn’t ashamed of it. The movies took some of the Marvel’s Silver Age greats and presented them on the screen, but it didn’t do so equally with all of the characters. There’s one hero who was extremely important to Avengers history that never got the fair shake he deserved: Hank Pym, founding Avenger and the first Ant-Man. We didn’t get to see Pym until seven years into the MCU, when he appeared in Ant-Man, a movie that starred the Scott Lang version of the hero.
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There are numerous reasons for this, but the biggest is Pym’s history. He’s most well-known for the time that he hit his wife the Wasp, and since then, he’s been pushed further and further down the superhero totem pole. However, this ignores just how important to the history of the Marvel Universe he is. While plenty of people like his girlfriend the Wasp better (and there’s a good reason for this: she’s awesome), it’s easy to forget his place in the team and its history. That doesn’t mean that Marvel forgot how integral to the team he was, and in the ’90s, we got a story that revolved around him and showed him and his role in the Marvel Universe’s history: The Last Avengers Story, by Peter David and Ariel Olivetti.
The Last Avengers Story Paid Homage to Hank Pym’s Place in the Avengers
The ’90s were an interesting time for Marvel. The X-Men and Spider-Man were ascendant, and the old school Marvel heroes weren’t “cool” anymore. However, another thing that seemingly wasn’t cool at the House of Ideas was good writing. That’s not to say there was no good writing at Marvel in the ’90s, but there was a stretch, from 1991 to about 1996, where the majority of the publisher’s writing wasn’t up to snuff. However, they did have some amazing writers who knew Marvel history very well and one of them was Peter David.
Peter David was doing bang-up work on The Incredible Hulk, and anything he worked on in the ’90s was amazing. In the mid ’90s, Marvel split into several “imprints”: the X-books, the Spider-Man books, the classic heroes, the edgy street level ones, and an “Alterniverse” that was the home to alternate universe books. Marvels showed that prestige format books, with painted art and amazing writers, would sell, and the Alterniverse was home to these kinds of books. Ruins took the idea of Marvels to a dark Marvel Universe in 1995, and later in the year, we got The Last Avengers Story.
The Last Avengers Story took place in a dark future. An Avengers wedding became a disaster that ended with Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and the Vision gone. The Hulk killed the other Avengers at some point, leaving the team dead. As an older Hank Pym tries to save the Wasp from a shrinking ailment given to her by Pym Particles, he’s pulled into one final battle with Kang, Ultron, Grim Reaper, and Oddball, bringing together a new team of Avengers. The battle and its preparation forces him to deal with the mistakes he made in the past, and sees him at his most heroic.
Hank Pym is one of those characters who played one of the biggest roles in Avengers history. He created Ultron, who created the Vision. The Vision married Scarlet Witch, and the two of them had children, Wonder Man was pulled into the whole situations, and years of Avengers stories were set up. Pym’s actions in Avengers history helped mold the team into what it is today and The Last Avengers Story does a perfect job of showing readers just how important he is. It’s a rare Avengers story, one where instead of getting Captain America or Iron Man or Thor as the end-all, be-all of the Avengers, we got Pym, and he honestly deserved it. He’s a forgotten icon, and if more people read this story, they would see why.
The Last Avengers Story Proves That Hank Pym Is the Most Important Avenger
The Last Avengers Story came at a time when the classic Marvel Universe of the Silver Age was out of style. Fans didn’t want these characters very much; they wanted extreme, violent stories, and so The Last Avengers Story gave them that, but it gave them it in such a way that it paid homage to the past. Hank Pym was once a major Marvel character, and his actions molded the team into what they are, so a story that showed just how important he was to the team and how great a hero he really could be was just what the doctor ordered.
I understand why Marvel doesn’t put a lot of respect on Hank’s name. He’s defined by his worst moment, and putting focus on him would see this brought up again and again. While some creators have established why Hank is the way he is, he’s a hard character to push, which is probably also why the MCU left him in the dust. However, The Last Avengers Story will show why he’s actually a great hero, a human who makes mistakes, deals with his own issues, and still does his best to be better. This two-issue series is honestly one of the greatest Avengers stories ever, and it’s about time we gave it its flowers.
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