Atom Ant (character)

This article is about the character. For other uses, see Atom Ant.

Atom Ant
Alvin wants his shirt back.
Species	Ant
Gender	Male
Member of	Yogi's Gang Grape Apers Falcon Force
Father	Not mentioned
Mother	Not mentioned
Marital status	Single
First appearance	AA: "Up and Atom" (1965)
Played by	Howard Morris (1965-66) Don Messick (1967-91) Maurice LaMarche (2006-07)
Atom Ant
Scoob!
Jellystone!

Atom Ant is an anthropomorphic superhero insect and the main title character in the Atom Ant animated television 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 and is a member of the Falcon Force.

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.

Appearances

TV series

• Atom Ant
  • 1.1 "Crankenshaft's Monster"
  • 1.2 "Up and Atom"
  • 1.3 "Ferocious Flea"
  • 1.4 "Atom Ant Meets Karate Ant"
  • 1.5 "Nobody's Fool"
  • 1.6 "Rambling Robot"
  • 1.7 "Gem-A-Go-Go"
  • 1.8 "Fastest Ant in the West"
  • 1.9 "Mistaken Identity"
  • 1.10 "How Now Bow Wow"
  • 1.11 "Dragon Master"
  • 1.12 "The Big Gimmick"
  • 1.13 "Super Blooper"
  • 1.14 "Wild, Wild Ants"
  • 1.15 "Dina-Sore"
  • 1.16 "Amusement Park Amazement"
  • 1.17 "Bully for Atom Ant"
  • 1.18 "Termighty Mean"
  • 1.19 "Go West, Young Ant"
  • 1.20 "Nine Strikes You're Out"
  • 2.1 "Rock-a-Bye Boo-Boo"
  • 2.2 "Knight Fight"
  • 2.3 "Up in the Air Squares"
  • 2.4 "Pteraducktyl Soup"
  • 2.5 "Killer-Diller Gorilla"
  • 2.6 "Mouser-Rouser"
• 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!
  • 1.2 "Gorilla in Our Midst" (no lines)
  • 1.13 "DNA, A-OK!" (no lines)
  • 1.18 "Jelly Wrestle Rumble!" (no lines)
  • 1.19 "A Fish Sticky Situation" (no lines)
  • 1.31 "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Rat Race" (poster)
  • 1.40 "Sweet Dreams" (no lines)

Movies

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

Specials

• The World of Secret Squirrel and Atom Ant

Shorts

• "Everyone" (no lines)

Comics

• Atom Ant (Gold Key Comics)
• The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera
  • Issue #3: "The Man Who Stole Thursday" (mentioned)
• Hanna-Barbera Presents
  • Issue #1A: "I Spied a Spider"
  • Issue #1C: "Blow Little Blowfish, Blow"
• Scooby-Doo! Team-Up
  • Issue #32: "Don't Bug Me!"
• Scooby Apocalypse (DC Comics)
  • Issue #30B: "A League of His Own!"
  • Issue #31B: "Bugs, Bracelets and Behemoths!"
  • Issue #32B: "G'Nortwest Passage!"
  • Issue #33B: "When Atoms Collide"
  • Issue #34B: "Supermant!"
  • Issue #35B: "In the Belfry"
  • Issue #36B: "Awards Season"

Books

• Here Comes Scooby-Doo

Video games

• Hanna-Barbera's Turbo Toons

Biography

Crossover Era

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.

Everyone's Back in 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.

Gallery

Main article: Atom Ant (character)/Gallery

Toys and merchandise

Main article: Atom Ant (character)/Toys

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 TV series.
• 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."