Hank Pym (or at least the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of him) appears in the Ant Man and The Wasp film, which has once again started the dreaded discourse amongst fans and clickbait headlines online. So, let me state this fact once again:
HANK PYM IS NOT A WIFE BEATER.
Let me be clear: I’m talking about the Hank Pym of Earth-616, the mainstream Marvel Comics continuity, who first appeared in Tales to Astonish #27, and not any other version. I also want to add that Hank Pym is mentally unstable.
Years ago, while in the midst of a nervous breakdown, Hank–who was then in his identity of Yellowjacket–slapped his then wife Janet van Dyne (alias The Wasp).
The infamous slap. Avengers (vol. 1) # 213.
(By the way, Jim Shooter, the writer of the issue in question, has said that it was never his intention to have Hank hit Janet: in his original script, Hank threw up his hands in frustration and hit Janet by accident; the artist drew it as a backhand slap, and there was no time to correct it before the issue went to press. [Link] )
Hank hit Janet ONE TIME.
That’s it.
Here’s Hank being apologetic in Avengers # 214. Note that he refers to hitting her just once, not an ongoing pattern of abuse:
(Yes, this sounds like something an abuser would say, but Hank quite literally never struck her again after that.)
Here’s Hank reflecting on hitting Janet in Secret Invasion: Requiem. Again, it is spelled out that he only hit her one time, and he also correctly adds that one time was “one too many.”
As mentioned in this article, other heroes–Reed Richards and Spider-Man–have hit their wives, but neither got labeled as wife beaters while Hank Pym got thrown under the bus. As far as I can tell, neither of them ever got called on it, either.
The only version of Hank Pym that was truly and monstrously abusive to Janet was the Hank Pym of Earth-1610, the reality where Marvel’s Ultimate line takes place. Mark Millar, original writer of The Ultimates (the Ultimate Universe version of the Avengers) is a massive edgelord, so he took every problematic thing about the various Avengers characters and turned them up to eleven. Tony Stark had a long battle with alcoholism in the 616 universe; on Earth-1610, he drinks like a fish in and out of armor. Earth-616 Captain America is a true patriot; 1610-Cap is a jingoistic, ultra-Conservative asshole with a mind trapped in the past. The Hulk is a cannibal. It goes on and on.
As stated above, Earth-1610 Hank is indeed a serial abuser (warning: these panels are graphic):
This Hank is an outlier and shouldn’t be counted.
Ultimately (pun not intended), what Hank did after hitting Janet is what matters. He sought help, reconciled with Janet, and even established several shelters for abused women across the country. (Hell, even 1610-Hank was imprisoned for his actions and tried to better himself).
What Hank did was wrong, but he learned from his mistakes and tried to better himself. He is not a wife beater, and people who joke about it should be ashamed of themselves; domestic abuse is not a laughing matter.
One of my regular $100 Patrons requested a bit of yuri with characters from a webcomic that was called “Life of Riley”. The one in red is named Lilith and the one in green is the girl version of the character named Dan.
I had a lot of fun with this, it was nice and colorful. ^_^
Infectious Desire 