Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Ant-Man and Doll Man in: "A Tiny Little Trance!"



One of my favorite Easter eggs in Avengers: Endgame was the glimpse of the original Ant-Man helmet in the lab of Hank Pym.  I loved the brief flashbacks with Pym in super hero mode in the two Ant-Man movies, and it would be great to see another with him using his first helmet and costume.  Maybe that's something we will get to see in a third installment or even in The Fantastic Four's Marvel debut, which at this early stage is rumored to be a period piece.

These two first crossed paths in STF #907...

17 comments:

det_Tobor said...

Yes, the Man in the Ant hill did not deserve the treatment he got from Marvel. Granted, he might have had self confidence problems in the past, but he wouldn't have stayed a crime fighter if they persisted. And liking ants? No different than some people who have a special fondness for dogs or cats or horses.

Strange how he was made a villain while Atom's ex-wife was made a villain as well. Both with major emotional issues. They both needed to see a shrink?

MarchHareSupreme said...

That pun earned an overly loud groan and massive ey eroll combo. Can't wait to share it.

Anonymous said...

Who's the Top-hatted villain?

emsley wyatt said...

Good pairing. Work Atom and Shrinking Violet in next time.

det_Tobor said...

Blogger MarchHareSupreme said...
"That pun earned an overly loud groan and massive eye roll combo. Can't wait to share it."

Thank you very much. I'm known for my pun-manship.

Bob Greenwade said...

The next Fantastic Four reboot will be a period piece? I'd consider that an unnecessary complication. I hope the rumor turns out to be wrong, or at worst premature (meaning, it's being considered but ultimately dropped).

Here's how I'd do it (if there was some remote chance that I'd actually be allowed to write the script). Some of the more recent retcons to their origin has turned Reed Richards' "rocket" into an experimental FTL ship, and what we've seen in a couple of the most recent MCU films sets that up perfectly. Reed can simply be expanding on the groundbreaking work of Wendy Lawson, Bruce Banner, and Tony Stark, and when the fateful quartet take their test flight, something goes horribly wrong and drops them into the lap of the movie's main villain. (I'd use Mole Man myself, though Annihilus is another possibility.) In my version, Bruce would have a supporting role; as would Shuri, with much of the funding and technical support coming from Wakanda.

This is a nicely exciting cover, Ross. I have the same question as our Anonymous friend above, though, wondering who the villain is, and which if the Big Two he hails from. (If he's Marvel, you might team him up later with the Mad Hatter.)

Emsley's comment had me wondering if you'd ever done a team of miniature/shrinking heroes. I didn't find any, though to be fair I really can't think of that many, particularly outside the worlds of Marvel (Ant-Man and the Wasp) and DC (Atom, Doll Man, and Shrinking Violet). Even an Internet search gives me only Shrinking Ray (from "Invincible"). Most other heroes I could find are related to Ant-Man or the Atom in some way, and in any case from one of the Big Two. Maybe the combined brainpower of this blog's other commenters can come up with some more.

Also, you forgot to mention that these two heroes first met way back in #907!

Carycomic said...

@Anonymous the First: I think it's a Silver Age villain know as...The Voice! I never heard of him, myself, prior to the "Acts of Vengeance" story arc back in the Nineties. But, if I'm right, where the X-foe Mesmero can optically channel psionic hypnosis, The Voice does so verbally.

Dr. OTR said...

Doll Man had a decent gimmick but probably one of the least practical costumes in comics. Robin wore shorts too, but he was a kid, and that's what kids wore back then. But a grown man? If I tried fighting crime in shorts, my legs would be a continuous surface of abrasions, probably embedded with splinters as well.

Ross said...

Bob G., for a shrinking team, I refer you to STF #1690, Microforce...

Simreeve said...

Bob Greenwade said...

"Emsley's comment had me wondering if you'd ever done a team of miniature/shrinking heroes. I didn't find any, though to be fair I really can't think of that many, particularly outside the worlds of Marvel (Ant-Man and the Wasp) and DC (Atom, Doll Man, and Shrinking Violet). Even an Internet search gives me only Shrinking Ray (from "Invincible"). Most other heroes I could find are related to Ant-Man or the Atom in some way, and in any case from one of the Big Two. Maybe the combined brainpower of this blog's other commenters can come up with some more."

Tinyman, who fought against and later allied with the android 'Captain Marvel' of the 1960s.

Anonymous said...

@Dr. OTR: That's COSTUMES for you. XD

Anonymous said...

There was a superhero debuting on TV in 1979 called Mighty Man, whose normal ego(?) was a human who only has superpowers as a TINY character.

Bob Buethe said...

There was another Mighty Man published by Centaur Comics around 1940, created and drawn by Martin Filchock. Along with super-strength, he had the power to grow or shrink.

Bob Greenwade said...

Ah, I'd completely missed Microforce -- I was checking Ant-Man's listings, assuming he'd be part of such a team. Well, if you ever try a second Microforce cover, maybe you can add Shrinking Ray and possibly Tinyman and/or one or the other Mighty Man.

Anonymous said...

2Carycomic: thanks! :-)

Anonymous said...

Next time you have a group of shrinkers maybe have them go on a Fantastic Journey.

Carycomic said...

Provided he can find artwork from the Filmation cartoon series of the same name.

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