Dirty Deeds

Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady) found himself in the middle of an Avengers battle and decided to take the opportunity to make some money by robbing the thief known as the Black Fox. However, he got distracted by a young girl who was trapped under rubble and decided to help her out.[1] This rescue was witnessed by Lenny Ballinger and his Damage Control team. Impressed by this, Ballinger offers Eric a job working for them.

Before Eric can consider the offer, he spots the Black Fox trying to steal back his backpack full of loot. O’Grady then threatens to call the cops but lets him go away. Before leaving, the Black Fox vows to get even with him. When Damage Control questions his reasoning, he dismisses the Fox as a confused old man and not worth his time. Since they need to get back to work, Lenny hands O’Grady his card and tells him to think about the offer.

A few days later, Eric is trying to sell the jewelerys at a pawnshop where he admits that his loot was stolen. Since the owner is crooked, he takes Eric into the back room where he appraises the jewelry for a huge haul. Eric then asks the owner if he knows somewhere he can get a good fake ID. The owner tells O’Grady to sit back down since, he deals in forged documents as well.

The next day, Eric shows up at Damage Control’s head office and accepts the job offer with his new bogus identity of Derek Sullivan. His employment application is processed by company director Anne Marie Hoag. She tells “Derek” that he is going to be part of their new search and rescue team. O’Grady is looking forward to the pay, but he is more interested in Visioneer, the female member of Damage Control. Anne Marie tells her that he can find her on the second floor of the building.

On his way up, he bumps into Monstro, who gives O’Grady a long hard look as he passes by in the hall. He soon finds Visioneer, and engages in small talk with her. He makes up a story about how he is a new hero named Slaying Mantis and boasts that he is smart enough to build his own suit. She sees right through his attempts at asking her out on a date and agrees to go out with coffee with him as long as he’s picking up the bill. The two end up at a nearby diner, where Visioneer tells him her real name is Abigale.[2] She isn’t entirely sure why she wears a costume or goes by a codename, but she has limited psychic powers that allows her to find people who might be trapped in a toppled building. After more made-up information about his true identity, “Derek” goes to pay their bill. Although Abigail doesn’t want him to leave a tip for the bad service they receive, he does so anyway. However, when they get up to leave, he notices that Abigail swiped the tip and put it in her back pocket. When he calls her on it, she justifies doing so because of the shitty service. Rather than put the money back, Eric is impressed to see that she is as shady as he is and asks when they can go out again instead.

Two weeks later, Eric has a brand new apartment and after he has his furniture moved in Abigale comes by to visit. However, before they can break in his new couch, the building is rocked by a loud crash outside. Looking out the window, they see that She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters) is in a brawl with Mister Hyde (Calvin Zabo) just outside the apartment. When Abigail pressures “Derrek” to go out and help. He reluctantly goes out as “Slaying Mantis” and is easily knocked out of the fight. O’Grady remains down until the battle moves out of sight of his apartment window. He then returns later after the fight is over. Abigail is impressed and hugs him. Eric then asks to be taken to the hospital for internal injuries.

Luckily, all Eric endured was some bruised ribs and after getting tapped up he is sent home where he crashes immediately. However, he is rudely woken up in the middle of the night by the Black Fox who has come for his loot. O’Grady tells him that he already sold it and that most of it is now gone. This infuriates the Fox because Eric sold them for far less than their actual value. Rather than getting shot, Eric suggests that he do something to pay him back. What he does, is break into the pawnbroker’s shop while the owner is asleep at his desk. Climbing onto his shoulder at ant-size, Ant-Man threatens to melt his brains unless he doesn’t put a bag full of money equaling the value of the jewels in the back alley. This works, and the Black Fox is impressed. He agrees to pay O’Grady 15% of their haul in exchange for a ride back to his apartment.

Moments after going back to sleep, Eric is woken up again. However, this time it is Abigail who broke into his apartment to spend the night with him. Seeing the lingerie she is wearing under her trench coat, Eric admits that he might be falling in love with her.

Recurring Characters

Ant-Man, Damage Control (Lenny Ballinger, Monstro, Anne Marie Hoag, Frank Johnson, Kathleen O’Meara, Visioneer, Fluppy), Mister Hyde, Black Fox, She-Hulk

Continuity Notes

1. This happened last issue, which occurred during the events of Mighty Avengers #1, where the Avengers fought the Mole Man and his monsters.

2. Only Abigail’s first name is given in this story. He last name is revealed to be Dunton in the Damage Control profile of Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Update #2.

Topical References

• In the pawnshop where Eric tries to sell the stolen jewels we see a computer with a CRT monitor. This should be considered topical as this is now an obsolete technology.

• The price range the crooked pawnbroker offers to buy the stolen loot is between 5 and 10 thousand dollars. This should be considered a topical reference due to inflation and the price listed is relative to the date of publication. For example the jewels would be worth between 7.5 and 15k in 2024. We later find out that they were actually worth 100k, or $151k in 2024 money.

• Speaking of obsolete technology, Eric is depicted as having a CRT television in his living room.

• When Eric calls Abigail “Abby”, she calls him a retard as an insult. While this was acceptable to use when this term was published in 2007. However, it has become a pejorative to refer to those with disabilities. Its usage should be considered topical.