In "When We First Met", we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.

Reader Tommy R. wrote in to ask, "When were Pym Particles first described as being key to these shrinking/growing abilities? In Hank Pym's first appearance, it's a "potion" or a "serum" that enables him to change size, but at some point it became "Pym Particles" that were behind the technology. When the concept of "Pym Particles" first show up?"

Excellent question, Tommy. It's something that I was shocked over the fact that I truly had no idea. I had a rough estimate in my head that it had to be around the late 1970s/early 1980s, but I was really not sure. Heck, even now, I'm not POSITIVE that the answer that I'm giving today is correct. I'm sure enough that I'm, you know, giving it, but if you told me that you found a different reference that predated what I'm going to show you, I wouldn't be shocked (although I would be surprised as, again, I'm pretty sure that this is correct).

As you may or may not know, Hank Pym actually debuted as a NON-superhero character. He first showed up in Tales to Astonish #27 as a traditional scientist character who got caught up in a fantastic science fiction premise. In this instance, it was that he invented a shrinking serum (and its responsive growth serum)...

Naturally, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (the creative team for the first story) realized that, hey, shrinking powers worked out okay for that Ray Palmer guy (who debuted just a couple of months before Hank Pym did) over at DC Comics, so they decided to make Hank Pym a superhero. He returned to Tales to Astonish in issue #35 as the amazing Ant-Man.

Again, he used the two serums to shrink and return to his normal size...

Naturally, that caused a bit of a problem because, come on, he's going to dip serum on himself every time he needs to turn into Ant-Man or back to his normal self?

So in the next issue, they turned the serum into a releasable gas form...

Soon after, it obviously occurred to Stan and Jack that, hey, we've already established that Hank has a growth serum, why only use it to bring himself back to normal size after he shrinks down? Why not have him use it at normal size to become a, dare I say it?, Giant-Man!

That was pretty much it for the next few decades. It was either a serum or a gas, but that's all it ever was. Like when Hawkeye took over as Goliath briefly (in one of the most awkward series of panels imaginable, as it's all "It's too bad Hank didn't want to become Goliath again, and I just made this brand-new costume." "Yep, well, I guess I'll put the costume and this serum in the closet over here.") it is still just a serum.

Later, when Scott Lang became Ant-Man, it was just a gas. Nothing about particles...

So when did the change happen? Read on to find out!

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Honestly, if you ever wonder when some technical aspect of the Marvel Universe was first established, here's something that if you just answer it to everything, you're going to be right a goodly chunk of time - just say, "It probably debuted in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe."

In that book, which debuted in 1982, Mark Gruenwald led an effort to come up with scientific explanations for nearly every superhero's powers. For Ant-Man, they came up with the idea that the gas actually carried these unique particles that caused the shrinking and the growing. They dubbed them "Pym particles"...

However, here's the thing with the Handbook. Even when it DID establish something, it wasn't like every writer was rushing to adapt the idea into their own stories. Heck, very often writers would expressly CONTRADICT what the Handbook said. When it came to books that Mark Gruenwald edited, however, things tended to follow the Handbook fairly well. Especially when Steve Englehart returned to Marvel after being away for a few years and thus, who else would he consult on stuff like this?

So in 1987's West Coast Avengers #18, after Firebird stopped Hank Pym from killing himself, they talk about his past, and she notes how he came up with the whole particle deal...

And in the next issue, Hank notes that they are, in fact, referred to as "Pym Particle"...

Englehart was clearly fascinated by the concept of "Pym Particles," as he then had Hank began to use the Pym Particles within him to grow and shrink stuff...

At this point, it was now just an established part of the Marvel Universe and writers have used it ever since. It's now even MORE famous since it is a major part of the Ant-Man movies and the Marvel Cinematic Universe in general.

Thanks for the question, Tommy!

If anyone else has a comic book first that they were wondering about, please drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!