Hank Pym was Not a Wife-Beater
Back in 1981 I was writing the Avengers. Hank Pym aka Yellowjacket was married to Janet Van Dyne aka The Wasp and things had not been going well for him for a long time.
Before I embarked on the storyline that led to the end of Hank Pym and Janet van Dynes marriage, I reread every single appearance of both characters. His history was largely a litany of failure, always changing guises and switching back and forth from research to hero-ing because he wasnt succeeding at either. He was never the Avenger who saved the day at the end and usually the first knocked out or captured. His most notable achievement in the lab was creating Ultron. Meanwhile, his rich, beautiful wife succeeded in everything she tried. She was also always flitting around his shoulders, flirting, saying things to prop up his ego.
As I was developing the storyline, I discussed the potential pathology of their relationship with a psychologist who happened to be sitting next to me on a five-hour flight. The story made sense, he thought. I went ahead with it. During the time the story was running, I got a great deal of hate mail. It worried me enough to ask Stan what he thought. He said he got the same kind of mail in the 60s regarding Peter Parkers various romantic travails. He asked me how Avengers sales were doing. They were in fact, increasing by 10,000 copies per issue. Stan said that people obviously cared passionately about what was happening to Hank and Janet, as if they were real people. Thats the key. And he said, Dont worry about the mail.
In that story (issue 213, I think), there is a scene in which Hank is supposed to have accidentally struck Jan while throwing his hands up in despair and frustrationmaking a sort of get away from me gesture while not looking at her. Bob Hall, who had been taught by John Buscema to always go for the most extreme action, turned that into a right cross! There was no time to have it redrawn, which, to this day has caused the tragic story of Hank Pym to be known as the wife-beater story.
When that issue came out, Bill Sienkiewicz came to me upset that I hadnt asked him to draw it! He saw the intent right through Halls mistake, and was moved enough by the story to wish hed had the chance to do it properly.
By the way, I was too busy to finish the story, so Roger Stern took over two-thirds of the way through. I thought he did a great job. Hes an excellent writer who doesnt get enough credit.
