Early X-Factor puts Hank through another physical change when Carl Maddicks captures him. Maddicks is trying to find a way to help his son Artie, and Hank ends up looking human…

Early X-Factor puts Hank through another physical change when Carl Maddicks captures him. Maddicks is trying to find a way to help his son Artie, and Hank ends up looking human again while retaining his mutant physical abilities. That could sound like a simple restoration if you reduced it to a list of appearances. In the story, it comes through captivity and somebody else's experiment. Hank isn't calmly choosing a new stage of his life. Another person is making decisions about his body, with Hank left to deal with the result. Artie is important to this beyond being the reason Maddicks acts. After his father dies, he's one of the children X-Factor looks after. Hank's connection to the situation therefore doesn't end when the experiment is over. The child caught in the middle still needs people who will protect him. That is one of the useful things about this period of X-Factor: the younger mutants stay around. Rescuing them creates responsibilities that continue after the immediate danger passes. They need a home, attention, and adults they can trust. For Hank, it means his history is right there in the household around him. The team can't separate its superhero problems from its everyday life particularly neatly. A child can be connected to one of the worst things that happened to an adult and still deserve nothing but care from that adult.