Credits:
“The Vengeance of the Scarlet Beetle!”
Cover Date: January 1963
Plotter: Stan Lee
Scripter: Larry Lieber
Penciller: Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
Cover Artists: Jack Kirby, Dick Ayers
What’s Going On?
After being accidentally irradiated by atomic tests, a once ordinary insect gains telepathy and intelligence to become the Scarlet Beetle! The Beetle’s Plan is to rally the insects of the world to conquer humanity.
When Ant-Man tries to stop the Scarlet Beetle, he is overpowered and loses his tools. The Scarlet Beetle then uses Ant-Man’s growth gas on itself, becoming roughly the size of a human.
Will he be able to help without his special helmet and size-changing gases?
Is It Good?
It’s pretty dumb, but it’s silly enough to be passable. It’s also the second consecutive issue where a villain tries to rally insects against Ant-Man, and that’s a weird trend.
Sub-Plots:
- Ant-Man’s ants stayed loyal to him, and helped him escape the underground maze where Scarlet Beetle left him stranded.
- Ant-Man manages to draw the Scarlet Beetle into a position where the shrinking gas (which the Beetle has kept with him) can be triggered, and the villain is shrunk back down to typical insect size.
- Back in the lab, Henry Pym manages to remove the Beetle’s radiation, transforming it back into a normal Beetle with normal intelligence and no telepathy. He then releases Scarlet Beetle back into the wild.
Continuity:
- This is the first (and, shockingly, not also the last) appearance of Scarlet Beetle.
Comics Are Goofy:
- You know what would solve this problem quickly? Growing to normal human size and stepping on Scarlet Beetle. Why is this never an option?
- Ant-Man: “Good thing I have the strength of a normal-sized man!” Moments later, he is overwhelmed and defeated by bugs.
- The Scarlet Beetle, after using the growth gas, becomes the size of a human. That’s gross, sure, but that is still small enough for a non-super-hero to handle, right?
- The Scarlet Beetle has fantastic eyesight!
- I had no idea that Ant-Man’s ant buddies were nihilists. These ants are fucking dark, man.
- You would think that the following scenes would explain this panel. They do not.
- Why was Scarlet Beetle wearing a belt? Why would it need to use the gases ever again?
- He’s not Insect-Man, jerks. Since when are all insects his problem?