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As a character Hank Pym stood out among most of the Marvel pack, by virtue of the fact that by all rights he should have been over at DC Comics: as an independently wealthy scientist, he didn't have a lot to be plagued with unlike his fellow Marvel heroes Next to Hulk (man/monster), Captain America (man out of time), Iron Man (heart disease), the X-Men (feared and hated for being different), and Spider-Man (teenage angst), he was almost as bland as the stable DC sported at the beginning of the Silver Age as a fairly nondescript scientist who just happened to get into superheroics. Certainly Stan Lee recognized that and tried to give the Ant-Man comic strip some reason, with Pym's first wife being killed by Communists, but outside of that the dark times of being known as Hank Pym weren't there for anyone who ever wanted to backtrack to times before he was known as the guy who slapped his wife around.

As Ant-Man the most he had to deal with was a growing desire to be a better hero and stand among his fellow Avengers as a force to be reckoned with. Which was a noble thought, as anyone who shared space with Thor, Hulk, Captain America, and Iron Man would surely think their own powers of shrinking would feel out of step. Stan Lee thought so too, which is probably why he made the decision in issue #49 of Ant-Man's feature in "Tales To Astonish" to have things start going in a bigger direction.

Giant-Man was probably Hank Pym's most famous persona and his most continuous one: from "TtA" and "Avengers #2" in 1963 until the change to Goliath in 1966 in "Avengers #28" and a couple brief returns (most recently in the pages of Avengers Academy) the Giant-Man persona was to be Pym's ascension to the upper tiers of the growing Marvel Universe. Sadly, it didn't work out that way. Namor and the Hulk would soon bump the Ant-Man/Giant-Man strip from "Tales to Astonish" which would relegate Wasp and Pym to the pages of Avengers primarily. With the departure of the Hulk from the Avengers, however, it fell on Pym (as Giant-Man) to help carry the big loads, and in that regard he succeeded.

Later retcons to this period of Avengers history would have it that due to the recent nature of Pym's new growth abilities, he'd be virtually useless in battle (to quote Iron Man, Pym would be "out of it" every time he grew into Giant-Man) but on the surface when looking back at those particular stories it is under the Giant-Man persona that Pym was probably at his most comfortable. He wasn't afflicted by the crippling depression that would manifest as Goliath, or the disassociative personality disorder that became Yellowjacket's ultimate legacy, or the suicidal redeemer during his time as himself in the West Coast Avengers, or even the stagnant feeling of not contributing enough as Ant-Man; Giant-Man was as simple as simple can be in the pantheon of Pym's personas with no baggage and no trauma to connect it with. It's a goofy Silver Age persona with an even goofier costume, but it worked and it showcased one of the few times that Pym wasn't faced with his legendary mental problems, which probably is why it was chosen as his main identity in Avengers Academy (after he'd been calling himself Wasp in honor of Janet for a bit).

Its the one that fans should see and read up on when it comes up about Pym's role in the Avengers history and as a hero in general.

Description
As a character Hank Pym stood out among most of the Marvel pack, by virtue of the fact that by all rights he should have been over at DC Comics: as an independently wealthy scientist, he didn't have a lot to be plagued with unlike his fellow Marvel heroes Next to Hulk (man/monster), Captain America (man out of time), Iron Man (heart disease), the X-Men (feared and hated for being different), and Spider-Man (teenage angst), he was almost as bland as the stable DC sported at the beginning of the Silver Age as a fairly nondescript scientist who just happened to get into superheroics. Certainly Stan Lee recognized that and tried to give the Ant-Man comic strip some reason, with Pym's first wife being killed by Communists, but outside of that the dark times of being known as Hank Pym weren't there for anyone who ever wanted to backtrack to times before he was known as the guy who slapped his wife around.

As Ant-Man the most he had to deal with was a growing desire to be a better hero and stand among his fellow Avengers as a force to be reckoned with. Which was a noble thought, as anyone who shared space with Thor, Hulk, Captain America, and Iron Man would surely think their own powers of shrinking would feel out of step. Stan Lee thought so too, which is probably why he made the decision in issue #49 of Ant-Man's feature in "Tales To Astonish" to have things start going in a bigger direction.

Giant-Man was probably Hank Pym's most famous persona and his most continuous one: from "TtA" and "Avengers #2" in 1963 until the change to Goliath in 1966 in "Avengers #28" and a couple brief returns (most recently in the pages of Avengers Academy) the Giant-Man persona was to be Pym's ascension to the upper tiers of the growing Marvel Universe. Sadly, it didn't work out that way. Namor and the Hulk would soon bump the Ant-Man/Giant-Man strip from "Tales to Astonish" which would relegate Wasp and Pym to the pages of Avengers primarily. With the departure of the Hulk from the Avengers, however, it fell on Pym (as Giant-Man) to help carry the big loads, and in that regard he succeeded.

Later retcons to this period of Avengers history would have it that due to the recent nature of Pym's new growth abilities, he'd be virtually useless in battle (to quote Iron Man, Pym would be "out of it" every time he grew into Giant-Man) but on the surface when looking back at those particular stories it is under the Giant-Man persona that Pym was probably at his most comfortable. He wasn't afflicted by the crippling depression that would manifest as Goliath, or the disassociative personality disorder that became Yellowjacket's ultimate legacy, or the suicidal redeemer during his time as himself in the West Coast Avengers, or even the stagnant feeling of not contributing enough as Ant-Man; Giant-Man was as simple as simple can be in the pantheon of Pym's personas with no baggage and no trauma to connect it with. It's a goofy Silver Age persona with an even goofier costume, but it worked and it showcased one of the few times that Pym wasn't faced with his legendary mental problems, which probably is why it was chosen as his main identity in Avengers Academy (after he'd been calling himself Wasp in honor of Janet for a bit).

Its the one that fans should see and read up on when it comes up about Pym's role in the Avengers history and as a hero in general.