Well, considering that new books are coming out tomorrow, if you HAVEN’T read Mighty Avengers #30 yet, and don’t want to be spoiled, just move along, nothing to see here.
Seriously, nothing to see here. Just keep reading. We’ll wait.
Okay, ready to have some high-falutin’ comics discussion? Then SPOILERS ON and read away…
While the Mighty Avengers may be seen as a hearkening back to the old-school Avengers lineup, writers Dan Slott and Christos Gage gave Hank Pym — physicist, former Yellowjacket, one-time domestic abuser, current leader of the “real” Avengers — another bit of an upgrade:
That’s right — the yin to Brother Voodoo’s yang, the Scientist Supreme. It was an interesting thought — and Slott and Gage try to explain why some others weren’t chosen over him — but I’m curious what other scientists in the Marvel Universe would say about that. That said, I don’t really have a horse in the race, but let’s take a look at some of the supremeyist scientists that could vie for the position:
Hank Pym - Wasp: Creator of the Pym Particles, which allow him to grow or shrink to as-yet-undetermined levels. This alone breaks the known laws of physics, as in just this last issue, he outgrew physical reality to meet Eternity himself. Yet Hank also was the creator of Ultron, one of the most advanced cybernetic systems in the galaxy (considering Ultron nearly took it over in Annihilation).
Reed Richards - 
Mr. Fantatic: Described by Slott and Gage as “the Explorer,” Reed has broken into parallel universes, stemming from (at least as Grant Morrison described it in his miniseries 1234) the fact that he can stretch his synapses to induce creative scientific thought. Indeed, under Mark Waid’s Fantastic Four run, Reed managed to bring Ben Grimm back from the dead.
Tony Stark - Iron Man: Slott and Gage call Tony “the Engineer,” and I suppose that makes sense. As the world’s premiere futurist, Tony’s always on the prowl for the next big device — whether it’s a smartphone that’ll kill the Blackberry, or making redesigns on his Iron Man armor. That said, he’s always been willing to take a page from someone else’s playbook, such as injecting himself with Extremis.
Bruce Banner - The Incredible Hulk: This one might be a bit of a long shot, as Banner has always been so wrapped up in his own issues — including containing the nigh-limitless rage of the Hulk — to really bring his game to the next level. But this is also the man who helped harness the gamma bomb… even if it had irreparable reprecussions on his own life.
Victor Von Doom - Dr. Doom: On the one hand, Doom is always under the shadow of Reed Richards, having not only been defeated by Reed numerous times, but even by having his face scarred when he failed to listen to Richards’ mathematical kung fu. Yet at the same time, Doom is a self-made scientist who has dabbled both in cosmic power and the occult — indeed, this guy could take on Celestials if he wanted.
Kang the Conqueror: Kang has bounced around the Marvel Universe for so long, that he almost a defacto Lord of Time. He has always worked in mysterious ways, with his technology being so advanced we might as well call it magic. Whether it’s his Growing Man technology, his subtle mind-control, or the insights he has gleaned from the future to the Stone Age, Kang should at least be in the running.
Newsarama readers, what say you in all this? Is there a scientist I’m missing? Does Hank stand above the rest? Let us hear it!
October 27th, 2009 at 9:54 am
It’s Reed. His field of expertise is everything. Hank Pym is far from a dope, but he seems to lag behind on biology. And he never built a time machine. And who discovered the Negative Zone?
A case for Tony Stark could be made since his areas of expertise also outstrip those of Dr. Pym. And an Avengers annual in the 80s implied that Bruce Banner was able to invent more things in a brief window of Hulk-control than Reed and Hank did in years.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:59 am
I absolutely adored this little plot twist for one very important reason.
There’s nothing to prove it actually happened.
As much as I would love to see Hank Pym get credit as being one of the MU’s preeminent scientists, I also like the way Dan has been playing him as just a half-bubble off of center. From taking his dead ex-wife’s powers and name, to establishing a slightly more than platonic relationship with the gynoid containing a nicely domesticated copy of his dead ex-wife’s memories (the lucky dog), he’s getting more done than he ever has before…but he might just be riding a manic wave.
There’s nothing to say that the whole scene with Eternity wasn’t a massive hallucination. He COULD be incubating the single biggest case of Messiah complex in human history, and the only reason it’s not a bad thing is he happens to be working on the side of good.
This is the best use of Hank Pym in years, possibly decades. I am really friggin’ pleased.
October 27th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Reed. Hands down.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:19 am
What kind of things does he get for being Scientist Supreme? Drs. Strange and Vodoo have the Eye of Agamato and the Cloak of Levitation and stuff like that. Does he at least get the Test Tube of Truth?
October 27th, 2009 at 11:21 am
I think this is cool even though the old Science vs Magic trope is a bit played out to my mind.
Makes me think of that sequence in NextWave where we get a breakdown of how utterly irresponsible Pym has been over the years. But he’s dedicated, I’ll give him that. Thumbs up to this. Best development of an in-continuity institution since Sinestro Corps.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:28 am
I’m fine with Hank Pym getting this title over Richards for two reasons.
1) Richards (as a character) doesn’t need it nearly as much as Pym does. This is something that could really advance Pym in a good way, a way that Richards doesn’t need because he’s been established as the preeminent mind in the Marvel Universe.
2) Despite everything he’s done to forward science, Richards has still never been able to full heal his best friend.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:31 am
The whole thing is one major head trip…the universe was kicking his ass because he wanted it to happen…then stopped because he wanted it to happen…then told him he was the best because he wanted it to happen. Nothing happened that he didn’t will to take place.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:38 am
These all make absolute sense to me. Reed has always been seeking the newest frontier, and Tony has always been searching for the new “big thing.” Thinking about it, the only two scientists in the Marvel staple that are in it for the pure science are Pym and Banner, and Banner is so concerned with the Hulk that Pym has moved past him in leaps and bounds.
Good move by Slott.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I hope this isn’t too far off topic, but with the new Sorceror Supreme, what makes Brother Voodoo a doctor? With Dr. Strange, the doctor part of his name came from the fact that he was an actual medical doctor, right? I’m not really familiar with the character of Brother Voodoo- was he a doctor previously? Or is the title now a part of the position of Sorceror Supreme?
October 27th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
No one would ever argue that Reed and Tony aren’t smarter or better scientists and I loved that Slott made that very clear and articulated why Pym would get the position over them.
But to play Devil’s Advocate, what if the real reason why Pym got it was because it actually isn’t a real position but a made-up one meant to boost Hank’s ego and prepare him for all the challenges to come. For one thing I don’t see any power upgrades like one would get as the Sorcerer Supreme (not that Hank really needs any). Either way, it will be very interesting to see how this plays out.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
r-
Jericho “Brother/Doctor Voodoo” Drumm is an accredied psychologist, with the Ph.D. to prove it.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
I would say Kang is in the running as well, but he is currently trying to save all of time over in Guardians of the Galaxy. And everyone knows that Eternity is the embodiment of space and Infinity is the embodiment of time.
October 28th, 2009 at 12:33 am
Reed and Tony are both smarter but their roles in the Marvel Universe are already confirmed and well-established. I think Slott and the editors are trying to re-position Pym by giving him a role more innate to his personality than just “leader of the Avengers”.
October 28th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Well, I think one thing should be kept in mind; Slott et al built in a fairly large “escape pod” to this plot development. That is, I like Pym in this role, but if it doesn’t catch on, it’s easy enough to say that this was Pym’s perception of the universe appointing him Scientist Supreme. That is, Eternity was kicking his ass on the previous page because, said Eternity, that’s how Pym views the universe’s relationship to him; it’s not a big jump for him to shift from insecure to egotistical and self-appoint.
Personally, I hope it sticks — but the bail-out button is clearly there in the writing if it needs to be pressed.
October 28th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Who’s to say Pym didn’t get something out of this new title. How did he know about China? We have yet to see what comes along with it. I’m ecstatic to see my favorite character finally getting some credit.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:36 am
Im an Avenger fan going back 25 years…but I don’t know about Hank over Reed. I think Hank is in the top 5, but… Also, power minds left off the list….
1) Hank McCoy
2) Doc Octopus
3) The Leader
4) High Evolutionairy