Tales to Astonish #40
The Day Ant-Man Failed!
A series of armored car robberies have been committed by a new costumed criminal calling himself the Hijacker. In each instance, the security guards wake up to find themselves stranded with no memory of how they were robbed. The Hijacker appears to be targeting one particular company: The Mitchell Armored Truck Company. Owner Howard Mitchell is furious and is fed up with the police’s inability to capture the thief and decides that it’s time to call in outside help.[1]
His desire to hire on Ant-Man is overheard b the hero’s network of ants and relayed back to Henry Pym. When Pym is alerted of the need for Ant-Man, he stops working on his new gasmask prototype to go into action as the diminutive hero. He soon arrives at the head office of the Mitchell Armored Truck Company and is brought up to speed by Howard Mitchell. Mitchell is deeply concerned because if he suffers another robbery his business will go under. Ant-Man asks Howard to publicize another armored car delivery in the hopes that Ant-Man can lure the Hijacker into a trap by hiding inside. Before leaving Mitchell’s office, Ant-Man takes an interest in some Incan statues that Howard brought home from a vacation to Peru a year earlier.
Later, the armored car is loaded up with the money to be transported. Unfortunately, Ant-Man becomes suddenly ill. Fearing that he might be suffering from appendicitis, Ant-Man is carried away from the scene by his ants. Howard Mitchell is deeply upset that this has happened, but decides to go on with the delivery anyway because he can’t afford to lose another customer, hoping that the armed police officers will be enough to stop the Hijacker. Things get from bad to worse when the armored car comes upon a truck that appears to be stalled in the middle of the road. However, this turns out to be a trap laid by the Hijacker and before the drivers can turn the armored car around, the back of the trailer opens and a powerful magnet draws the vehicle inside. Once it is inside, the Hijacker tosses a gas bomb that knocks out all the guards. He then begins using a blow torch to melt through the locked storage compartment.
Before the Hijacker can get in he is ambushed by Ant-Man, who faked being ill so he could follow the armored truck from above in a model airplane. When the vehicle was about to get hijacked, Ant-Man ejected from his plane and landed on the roof of the truck. Wearing his new gasmask, Pym was able to protect himself from the effects of the gas. When the Hijacker tries to capture Ant-Man, the hero crawls into the steering column of the armored car. Unfortunately, this plan backfires when Ant-Man gets his leg caught in one of the mechanisms. The Hijacker then begins blaring on the horn in an effort to deafen his foe. Luckily, Ant-Man manages to get his legs free and disconnects the horn before his eardrums can burst.
Popping open the hood, the Hijacker begins looking inside the engine block for Ant-Man. By this time, the small hero has managed to get onto one of the windshield wipers and has his ants activate them. This allows Ant-Man to lanch himself onto the Hijacker’s mask and rip it open. This causes the crook to begin succumbing to his own gas. With his foe down, Ant-Man yanks off the rest of the mask confirming what he already suspected: That the Hijacker was Howard Mitchell himself. When the gas wears off and the police take Mitchell into custody, Ant-Man explains that he became suspicious of him after seeing the Peruvian statues, recalling a tale about a tribe in that region that used a type of gas that could cause short term memory loss.
Recurring Characters
Ant-Man, Hijacker
Continuity Notes
The Scourge Victim’s entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition #19 suggests that Howard Mitchell was an alias as the brief profile for the Hijacker provided states that his real name is unknown. However, this is an error that is corrected when the Hijacker is given a new profile in Marvel Encyclopedia: Fantastic Four.
