Hank Pym Was Always An Idiot

Yes, I've given Hank Pym a lot of crap for being a crap scientist and human being--inventing Ultron, multiple nervous breakdowns, generally being a stupid jerk. But well before Ultron, well before his first (of several) breakdowns, Pym was already an idiot, even back in his early days.

Here he is testing out his brand new formula to accelerate plant growth:


Twenty seconds, and already things are out of control. Typical Pym experiment...

But it's all in how you define the terms--it's not that's he's failed, it's that he's been "too successful"!!!

So, let's see...he tested this formula before he had thought about the possibility of an antidote...and now it's raging out of control and about to destroy the city. Yeah, doesn't sound like the Ultron situation AT ALL.

"Avengers-type karate blow"??

But once again, the line between brilliant scientist and raving lunatic who almost kills everyone is merely in how you define your terms:

Yep, it's not that he was terribly reckless and a crap scientist and jeopardized everybody's life in a dubious and uncontrolled experiment--nope, it's that he "succeeded too well."

Hank Pym--he was always an unstable putz.

From Tales To Astonish #62 (1964)