Minor SPOILERS for Ant-Man #4!There have been multiple heroes (and villains) calling themselves Ant-Man over the years, but they all share one crucial trait that has proven to be both a needed strength and a dangerous weakness.
Ant-Man has a deceptively long and storied legacy for such an unassuming hero. While they might be the world's smallest superheroes, all the Ant-Men have made huge impacts on the world around them. Henry Pym was a founding Avenger, inventor of the revolutionary Pym Particles that allow the to change size, and creator of the malevolent robotic tyrant known as Ultron. Scott Lang also fought alongside the Avengers, while having notable tenures with the Fantastic Four, Future Foundation, the Heroes for Hire and even the Guardians of the Galaxy, as well as raising a superhero daughter, Cassie. The irredeemable Ant-Man Eric O'Grady was certainly less heroic than his predecessors, but even he played a major role in several notable events, such as stopping a robot revolution in the pages of Secret Avengers by Rick Remender and Gabriel Hardmann. A recent miniseries, Ant-Man by Al Ewing and Tom Reilly, showcases the latest Ant-Man, Zayn Asghar, a super-scientist from the 26th century.
The miniseries highlights a common trait that all Ant-Men share, despite their vastly different personalities (beyond a propensity for ant-ics). In the final showdown against All-Father Ultron, a mystically-empowered time-traveling version of the notorious villain, the four Ant-Men team up and Hank Pym gives a brief speech that cuts to the core of what Ant-Man is: "I've been told I suffer from hubris. But... maybe that's part of what it means to be Ant-Man. Because when you're the world's smallest hero, the best thing you can do is think big!" All of the Ant-Men - even the newbie Zayn - are both empowered by, and suffer due to, "thinking big", or what Hank referred to as hubris.
The Amazing A(rroga)nt-Man?
The same trait that has allowed the Ant-Men to prevail against superior foes is also responsible for most of their darkest moments. Hank Pym's a tenured superhero who's saved the world numerous times thanks to his intelligence, curiosity and readiness to reach for the impossible. But this also means he has long been a borderline mad scientist in denial, and created his own worst enemy - Ultron, who has ravaged countries, interstellar empires and even timelines, serving as the trans-temporal ant-agonist of the miniseries. While Scott Lang hasn't had a failure as big as Ultron, his desire to be a superhero led to both his and his daughter's deaths (since undone), as she tried to follow in his footsteps and honor his memory. Eric O'Grady was a low-level S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who could have had a successful, if not impactful, career of being a mediocre employee cutting corners and avoiding his supervisors. But when he came across the Ant-Man suit he couldn't help himself and constantly got into trouble, ending with his (surprisingly noble and heroic) death while with the Secret Avengers and replacement with an evil Life Model Decoy.
The recent miniseries shows us that even in the far future, Ant-Man will still think big (and sometimes cause his own problems because of it) - Zayn tries to use the antique Ant-Man technology to help feed his starving world, but ends up unleashing one of the most powerful versions of Ultron to date, nearly dooming his Earth. The Ant-Men manage to use their skills and intellect and ultimately save the world by thinking big. But the miniseries highlights a common feature of all the men who wore the Ant-Man suit: they will tend to think big, both for good and for ill.
