Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Season 2, Episode 5: To Steal an Ant-Man
Well that's certainly different. Season two of Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes was described to me as half of it very focused on the Kree/Skrull invasion plot, while the other half is very focused on having guest-star appearances by other non-Avengers superheroes. In this case, the bigger Avengers team takes a full break as we focus on a neglected member of season one's main cast -- Hank "Ant-Man" Pym. With Ms. Marvel seemingly joining the Avengers, I guess it's time to make Hank's departure from the main cast official with a spotlight episode detailing his last hurrah. Hank Pym is a surprisingly complex character -- I admit that I've not been paying much attention to his character development in the first season, but his constant pleas for pacifism and his obsession and willingness to throw himself wholeheartedly into his work are definitely features of his character that are emphasized by the first season. So was it any wonder that when the whole Ultron business absolutely broke poor Hank's mind?
After a brief cold open showing Ant-Man stealing money in a bank by shrinking them, we then cut away to Hank cleaning up his lab -- quite literally, as he shrinks down every part of his research -- and completely ignore Wasp as she pleads, begs and demands that Hank Pym try and stay. Even if not as an Avenger, then as someone who'll be there for Wasp. It's genuinely heartbreaking because Wasp is such a bubbly, happy personality most of the time and seeing her so desperate is definitely pretty heartrending. Which is why I honestly found it kind of hard to be even rooting for Hank Pym when he's running away from all his problems and also hurting poor Wasp. I can empathize with him. Doesn't mean that what he's doing is really right.
Hank then discovers the fact that someone has stolen his Ant-Man suit and using it to rob banks. He decides not to involve the Avengers, and instead hires the Heroes for Hire -- Iron Fist and Luke Cage. And... and I won't lie, the two of them are pretty fun. From Luke Cage's gruff charm and his insistence on getting paid, to Iron Fist's silly zen koans... and add these two relatively straightforward punchy-punch heroes and put them in a situation where they have to apprehend the Ant-Man thief, who shrinks down into, well the size of an ant.
The thief is, of course, not an actual criminal but rather Scott Lang, who MCU fans would definitely recognize as the second Ant-Man. This one isn't as charismatic as the one played by Paul Rudd, but the thief backstory IMO works a lot better here. Hank, Luke and Danny confront Scott Lang, and he gives up this backstory about how he was a disgraced engineer who owes a lot of people money, and the gangsters have kidnapped Scott's daughter and threatened him to pay back a bunch of money that Scott had previously spent on his daughter's health bills.
It's a pretty neat and touching backstory, and while Scott initially refuses the heroes' help, when the villains, led by one Mr. Cross, ends up betraying Scott and wanting him to continue help them rob banks as Ant-Man, the three heroes burst in. And Cross's henchman are all super-powered characters that I bet are minor supervillains with actual names, and it's really fun to see Luke Cage and Iron Fist just tear through these fun-looking mooks. Hank ends up using his shrinking tools to rescue the little girl, allowing Scott to use the Ant-Man tech to beat up Cross. With all the villains beaten and all that's left is Luke Cage's bill, Scott is ready to turn himself in... but then Hank walks away, leaving the Ant-Man mantle to Scott.
It's just such a shame that this episode ends up being pretty standalone, as other than explaining Hank Pym's absence, Scott doesn't really factor into the rest of the season. Still, it's a fun standalone episode if nothing else, and all the Luke Cage/Iron Fist banter is pretty fun considering how the two of them don't exactly get a lot to do.
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