Warning! Spoilers ahead for Battleworld #3!
Original Avenger Hank Pym just called out Marvel for making his life “a disaster.” The first Ant-Man isn’t wrong. Pym’s character arc over the past 60+ years is among the darkest in Marvel history. It’s arguably the reason he’s not an A-lister alongside other OG Avengers like Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk; now, Marvel wants him to confront the darkness.
Battleworld #3 is written by Christos Gage, with art by Marcus To. In the preview for the issue, Hank Pym finally admits why it pains him to be around an alternate version of his ex-wife Janet Van Dyne.
The reason? It’s because she reminds him so acutely of the failures he is desperate to atone for.
Original Ant-Man Hank Pym Confronts His Troubled Past In Marvel Canon
Battleworld #3, Written By Christos Gage; Art By Marcus To; Available November 26, 2025 From Marvel Comics
Battleworld assembles a Multiversal band of Avengers heroes. The mainstream Marvel version of Hank Pym plays a pivotal role. The team’s alternate Janet, “the Avenging Wasp,” comes from a timeline where her husband Hank was killed early in their hero careers fighting the villain Baron Zemo. “He was reckless…and paid with his life,” main-Hank says in Battleworld #3’s preview.
“Probably due to undiagnosed bipolar disorder,” he says. In other words, he reveals his own diagnosis, providing context for six decades of turbulent history for Hank Pym, going back to the 1960s and the dawn of The Avengers. The diagnosis serves to contextualize the inconsistencies and dramatic shifts in character that have plagued Pym practically his whole heroic career.
“If he’d lived, it would have grown worse,” Hank tells Janet, radiating guilt as he tells her it’s not worth mourning the loss of her Hank. It is a heavy moment, which confronts the complicated legacy of the original Ant-Man, in perhaps the only way that could legitimately change his Marvel Comics future.
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To illustrate his point to Janet, Hank Pym rattles off the worst of his transgressions. In a self-aware moment, the character identifies his “rock bottom.” Of course, it is the controversial 1981 domestic abuse storyline in which Hank hit Janet, leading to their divorce, and to him being kicked out of the Avengers.
This version of Wasp seems more concerned that Hank created Ultron in his timeline, but Hank Pym’s acknowledgment of his greatest sin is important. It forever compromised him as a hero. It has anchored fans’ understanding of his character for over forty years. It gives him something to be eternally atoning for.
If there is a path forward for Hank Pym to have a true renaissance as a Marvel hero, this would be the place for it to start. Fans will have to watch closely as Battleworld plays out, because there might be clues to this first-gen Avenger’s role in the next phase of the Marvel Universe.
Battleworld #3 will be available November 26, 2025 from Marvel Comics.