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Henry Pym was married to a Hungarian called Maria Trovoyana. Sadly, their marriage was cut short when Maria was killed by Hungarian Secret Police. Shortly after that, he discovered what he called Pym Particles. One had the power to make things shrink and the other would return it to its natural size. He tested them on himself and he shrunk down to the size of an insect. He then restored himself. He then constructed a "cyber-helmet" that would let him communicate with and control insects. He designed a costume and gave himself the superhero name Ant-Man. On his first outing as Ant-Man, he defeated some KGB agents that were trying to steal some anti-radiation gas that Pym had made. He started a career as Ant-Man and fought many supervillains and monsters.
Pym was contacted by Vernon Van Dyne. He was asked to help Van Dyne in contacting aliens. He refused, but became attracted to Vernon's daughter, Janet Van Dyne. Vernon Van Dyne was later slain by an alien outlaw. Janet asked for Hank's help to avenge his death. Pym then revealed his secret identity to her. Hank used some Pym particles on her and grafted wasp wings beneath her shoulders (but they disappeared when she was normal size and came back again when using Pym particles). Janet assumed the name of The Wasp. They tracked down and defeated Vernon's killer. They then formed a permanent partnership and started a relationship, and became founding members of the Avengers. Shortly afterward, he developed a variant Pym Particle that could increase his size; using these, he because Giant-Man and later Goliath.
However, Pym suffered a series of mental problems. Shortly before his wedding, he had a breakdown during which he became amnesiac and developed the cocky "Yellowjacket" persona; he only fully recovered after his wedding to Janet. Later, he created an android called Ultron, which, to his horror, became self-aware and evil, and plotted to kill and replace him and the rest of humanity with robots. The extent of his guilt involved in Ultron's creation was not revealed until years later, when he admitted that Ultron's brain patterns were in fact based on his own.
Several years later, Pym had a complete breakdown, and became completely paranoid. During the course of this breakdown, he became overbearing and verbally abusive towards Janet. At the nadir of this degeneration, he struck her, and then proceeded to concoct a plan to make himself look good in front of his teammates by staging an attack upon them which only he could win. This plan backfired and Pym was exposed, disgraced, and expelled from the Avengers, and the couple divorced. (His breakdown was later revealed to have been a combination of mental influence from the time-traveller Immortus and his then-unrevealed guilt over the true creation of Ultron.) After Pym's mental state returned to normal he rejoined the Avengers, first in an advisory role and later as Giant-Man. After a time, he and the Wasp became friends again and, some years later, resumed a romantic relationship.