Atom Ant (character)


 * This article is about the main title character. For other uses, see Atom Ant''.

Atom Ant is a superhero insect and the main title character in the Atom Ant animated TV shorts. His voice was first originated by Howard Morris, and then by Don Messick.

Atom Ant operates out of his anthill, where he gets contacted by the police to be sent on a number of missions. His abilities mainly consist of enormous strength, superspeed, flight, and invulnerability. He is also known for his gallant catchphrase, "Up and at 'em, Atom Ant!"

In the theatrical animated film Scoob!, Atom Ant is a tiny human wearing a special suit.

Character description
Atom Ant is an anthropomorphic ant with a red body and a yellow mouth. He wears an orange shirt a purple "A", purple legwear, and a metal helmet.

TV series

 * Atom Ant
 * Yogi's Gang
 * Yo, Yogi!
 * 1.6 "Super Duper Snag"
 * Super Secret Secret Squirrel
 * 1.8 "Agent Penny" (picture)
 * Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law
 * 2.8 "Peanut Puberty"
 * 4.2 "Incredible Hippo"
 * 4.7 "The Death of Harvey"
 * Jellystone!

Movies

 * Yogi's Ark Lark
 * Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon (poster)
 * Scoob! (comic)

Shorts

 * "Everyone" (no lines)

Comics

 * Atom Ant (Gold Key Comics)
 * The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera
 * #3 "The Man Who Stole Thursday" (mentioned)
 * Hanna-Barbera Presents
 * #1A "I Spied a Spider"
 * #1C "Blow Little Blowfish, Blow"
 * Scooby-Doo! Team-Up
 * #32 "Don't But Me!"
 * Atom Ant (DC Comics)
 * #1 "A League of His Own!"
 * #2 "Bugs, Bracelets and Behemoths!"
 * #3 "G'Nortwest Passage!"
 * #4 "When Atoms Collide"
 * #4 "Supermant!"
 * #5 "In the Belfry"
 * #6 "Awards Season"

Books

 * Here Comes Scooby-Doo

Video games

 * Hanna-Barbera's Turbo Toons

It's Yogi's Gang
Atom Ant is the focus of the episode "Mr. Waste," in which he is irritated at everyone for being wasteful, since he, as an ant, does not believe in wasting things. He is the first one to notice that "Mr. Plenty" is not who he seems.

Jellystone!
In a cut scene from "DNA, A-OK!," Atom Ant was supposed to be murdered by Yogi via magnifying glass. In the scene that replaces it, Yogi uses Atom Ant to get free food by putting him in his food.

Development
In the first season of the Atom Ant segments, the character was voiced by Howard Morris, who had previously done some voice work for Hanna-Barbera with characters such as Jet Screamer and Mr. Peebles. Don Messick took on the former's role in the second season of the shorts, after Morris profanely told Joseph Barbera to "Go f*** yourself," and quit working for the studio; which occurred when he found out that Barbera replaced him with Messick for doing an LP record of the TV movie Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid like You Doing in a Place like This?, in which Morris was the voice of the White Rabbit. Morris was later rehired by the studio more than a decade later, where Barbera was pleased to see a nervous Morris again.

Behind the scenes

 * In the Yo, Yogi! episode, "Super Duper Snag," it is revealed that Atom's atomic powers come from his "atomic" helmet.

In popular culture

 * Atom Ant's catchphrase, "Up and at 'em!", is used by comic book superhero Radioactive Man in The Simpsons.
 * Near the end of the Veronica Mars pilot, Veronica's dad wants her to leave his office for family fun night by saying "Let's up and at them, Atom Ant."