Atom Ant is a superhero ant who operated out of an anthill in the countryside, where he possessed such things as a mainframe computer and exercise equipment. His powers mostly consisted of the ability to fly, superspeed, incredible strength, and invulnerability. His catchphrase was "Up and at 'em, Atom Ant!" He was often contacted by the police, who sent him out on an assignment. Some of these missions parodied the missions of Batman. The police force was constantly shown to be underfunded and inept, as they relied on Atom Ant to do all their police work. As seen in "Nobody's Fool," the only two police officers were the chief of police and deputy chief. The department only possessed one rusted patrol car. Atom Ant fights various villains, including recurring ones like Ferocious Flea and mad scientist Professor Von Gimmick.
Atom Ant appeared in a comic book, Atom Ant #1, published by Gold Key/Western Publishing in January 1966.
Atom Ant later appeared in Yogi's Ark Lark and its spin-off series Yogi's Gang, voiced again by Don Messick.
In the early 1990s series, Yo Yogi! with Don Messick reprising Atom Ant. He appears as Jellystone Town's residential superhero. In the episode "Super Duper Snag," it was revealed that his Atomic Helmet is his source of power.
Hi-Tech Software released a budget labeled computer game for the Commodore 64 in 1990 called Atom Ant: Up and Atom. The idea of the game is to fly and collect a certain amount of bombs scattered around high rise buildings and 'atomize' them in a special bubble-like device at the top of each area.
In 2000, Cartoon Network produced a short cartoon as a part of their "Groovies" series, called "We Must All Get Ready Now". Featuring Atom Ant as the lead character, the short contained several audio tracks from the Atom Ant cartoon, and some audio from the classic Cold War civil defense film, Duck and Cover. The short could formerly be seen as interstitial programming on Boomerang; its last time on the channel being June 1, 2014, due to the network's rebrand in January 2015. The short was directed by Jonas Odell, with its music by Michael Kohler. Sometimes, at that point it was followed by another cartoon that Cartoon Network produced in their "Groovies" or "Shorties" series.
Atom Ant appeared in Yogi's Treasure Hunt.
Atom Ant as a picture made a cameo in the "Agent Penny" episode of the Super Secret Secret Squirrel segment of 2 Stupid Dogs.
Atom Ant makes a cameo appearance in a MetLife television commercial that aired in 2012.
Atom Ant is featured in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Incredible Hippo" and voiced by Maurice LaMarche. He appears as the defendant accused of radioactive contamination by the EPA.
Atom Ant makes a cameo in the direct-to-video film Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon in a framed picture.
Atom Ant has appeared in backup stories to Scooby Apocalypse.
Atom Ant appears in the end credits of Scoob!. This version has four arms. He appears as a new recruit of the Falcon Force, a new team made by the Blue Falcon.
Home video
The episode "Up And Atom" is available on the DVDSaturday Morning Cartoons 1960s Vol. 1. The episode "Atom Ant Meets Karate Ant" is available on the DVD Saturday Morning Cartoons 1960s Vol. 2. The episode "The Big Gimmick" is available on the DVD Best of Warner Bros. 25 Cartoon Collection Hanna-Barbera. On October 6, 2015, Warner Archive released Atom Ant: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com. In 2016, The Atom Ant Show was made available for download via iTunes Store. Both seasons of The Atom Ant Show are available on the streaming Boomerang subscription app.
Animation: George Kreisl, Irv. Spence, Edward Aardal, Don Lusk, Bob Carr, Don Patterson, C.L. Hartman, Bill Hutten, Dick Lundy, Allan Wilzbach, Carlo Vinci, Ken Southworth, Jack Parr, Rudy Cataldi, Jerry Hathcock, Louis Kachivas
Layout: Willie Ito, Dick Bickenbach, Brad Case, Lin Larsen, Homar Jonas, Bruce Bushman, Alex Ignateiv, Walter Clinton, Morris Gollub
Background: Richard H. Thomas, Ron Dias, F. Montealegre, Bob Gentle, Fernando Arce
Camera: Frank Paiker, Charles Flekal, Norman Stainback, Roy Wade, Frank Parrish
Film Editing: Warner Leighton, Don Douglas, Larry Cowan, Greg Watson, Dan Finnerty, Tony Milch, Kenneth Spears, Ed Warschilka, Milton Krear
