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The Incarnations of Giant-Man

Note: Please pardon the quality of these scans. Some of my samples reflect the adage "beggars can't be choosers," and others reflect my own lack of expertise with optical technology.

Ant-Man, 1963

Henry Pym began his superheroing career as Ant-Man in the early days of the Marvel Comics Silver Age. Having discovered that bombardment with the amazing "Pym Particle" allowed him to control his size at will, he sought to avenge the murder of his first wife with these abilities and subsequently became a costumed adventurer under the name "Ant-Man."

Giant-Man, 1963

In the company of the likes of Thor, The Hulk, and Iron Man, Dr. Pym decided he needed to up his horsepower and took on the persona of Giant-Man. His first Giant-Man costume was basically his Ant-Man costume, minus the helmet, plus a red cowl with antennae on it.

Giant-Man, 1963

Giant-Man made a subtle change in his costume after one issue. He removed the black vertical stripe that split to run around his neck and replaced it with two suspender-like racing stripes that ran from his belt to his shoulders.

Giant-Man, 1965

About all that could be said for this outfit is that it was not appreciably worse than some of the uglier Silver Age costumes of its time. Fortunately, Avengers #15 seems to have borne the indignity of its only appearance, and it has failed to show in the time-travel stories in which modern Avengers confront their earlier counterparts.

Hopefully the costume isn't what drove the character out of the magazine for the next 12 issues.

Goliath, 1966

The Giant-Man character returned to the Avengers as Goliath in 1966. This blue costume lasted longer than any other Giant-Man costume, persisting until 1968.

Costumiers might notice the number of details that mirror the last costume Goliath wore as Giant-Man. For instance, the stripes on the crown of his head repeat the antennae that previously adorned his forehead. The glove and boot cuffs both bear the zig-zag pattern of the Giant-Man costume, and the racing stripes have become solid yellow bars.

Goliath, 1968

This short-lived outfit enjoyed the good fortune to have John Buscema to pencil it at the height of Buscema's work for Marvel Comics. In many ways, the costume suggests a retroactive change toward the second red Giant-Man costume, although some details remain from the blue Goliath costume. For instance, the bars on the chest remain, although in new colors; and this costume kept the goggles from the first Goliath costume. These goggles are trademark Silver Age costume features, especially from sixties Avengers comics.

Yellowjacket, 1968

In an unpredictable development that fueled numerous subsequent story lines of vastly differing quality, Dr. Pym abandoned his Giant-Man/Goliath identity for about 26 years in 1968. He took up the persona of Yellowjacket, whose powers were more like those of the Wasp, Dr. Pym's wife and fellow adventurer.

This costume is probably the weakest of Dr. Pym's outfits, although when it appeared Buscema was still penciling the Avengers and could, in those days, make anything look good. Perhaps the color scheme really keeps this outfit from working. Granted, it's accurate as far as yellowjackets go, but that never stopped the Wasp from innovations in her own outfits. In any case, the black and yellow just don't seem to work here.

Ant-Man, 1973

Dr. Pym went through stages as Ant-Man and as Yellowjacket in the years following, and would alternate these identities until the 1980s, although he spent most time as the Yellowjacket prior to abandoning costumed heroing for about 10 years.

This costume comes from a three-issue miniseries from 1973. The only holdover from a previous outfit is the Ant-Man helmet.

Giant-Man, 1994

Sometime in the 1990s, after abandoning the Yellowjacket identity in the early 1980s, Dr. Pym took up the Giant-Man persona again, this time in an outfit whose colors mirror early Ant-Man and Giant-Man costumes without really reflecting a Silver Age style. This costume seems strange in the context of previous outfits he had worn; it resembles a few of the costumes Dave Cockrum designed when he refit the outfits of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the early 1970s.

Some fans regret the reintroduction of Dr. Pym to superheroing after a long process of character development that seemed to preclude a future superhero incarnation.

Giant-Man, 1998

In 1998 (and even as I write) Marvel Comics has started a second reboot of its universe, supposedly to be as comprehensive a housecleaning as DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths revision. Part of this includes the restarting of the Avengers title under the able hands of George Perez and Kurt Busiek.

Note that this incarnation of Giant-Man includes the most retro of outfits; it's really Ant-Man's first costume with subtle changes, including tightening the helmet to a metal cap and certain changes in detailing.

Hawkeye as Goliath

In a characteristic bit of inspiration, Roy Thomas had Hank Pym abandon the mantle of Giant-Man/Goliath and, at the same time, had Hawkeye take it up in his place for several years, a period running from sometime in 1968 to sometime in 1971.

Goliath II, 1968

Although a short-lived latecomer, the Hawkeye/Goliath II character really speaks to me as the embodiment of the Silver Age Avengers. The remarkable run of Roy Thomas as writer and (mostly) John Buscema as penciller made for a memorable streak of the title.

The Hawkeye-as-Goliath character happened when Hawkeye felt outgunned and Dr. Pym had just taken the identity of Yellowjacket. The first appearance of this version of Goliath was in a blue-on-blue outfit.

His mention also goes here because, according to the plot of the story in which he first appeared, Hawkeye/Goliath was wearing a costume that the Wasp had created for Hank Pym.

Goliath II, 1968

After one issue, the costume took to the more pleasing red-and-blue version that lasted until Hawkeye permanently gave up the Goliath identity in Avengers #98.

(Black) Goliath III / Giant-Man II, 1975

In the late-sixties Avengers, Hank Pym had a lab assistant named Bill Foster, who, after Pym had given up the Goliath bit and Hawkeye had returned from giantdom as well, took up the Pym formula himself and became a superhero. He initially took the name "Black Goliath" and wore a costume as truly atrocious as his name, but late in the seventies realized that everyone knew he was a Black man and decided to use the name Giant-Man. Later on a story arc stripped every user of the Pym formula of the ability to use growth powers, leaving just Pym (and possibly Atlas) with growth powers from this source.

Goliath IV, 1990

Perhaps it shouldn't come as a shock that the Goliath concept got recycled even again, this time to a character who had been Power Man; then, after that name was left with Luke Cage, had been The Smuggler; then, who had his waning powers restored in a way that also gave him growth powers, so he took the name Goliath. Note that this Goliath costume suggests Hank Pym's first Goliath costume (the blue and green one) and Power Man's costumes, which used this color scheme.

Later on, with the same powers this character would resurface as one of the underground superhero team called Thunderbolts, using the name Atlas (as part of their concept, they're all semi-reformed super-criminals who assumed new superhero identities as a cover for activities on the behalf of the current Baron Zemo).