Is Marvel Preparing Us for the Young Avengers?

If you are a Marvel Cinematic Universe fan, there is a little bit of waiting that is happening right now. While we certainly know that there are movies coming down the line tied to characters we know, like the forthcoming Dr. Strange multiverse movies, and movies that will introduce new characters, like Shang-Chi and the Eternals, there are still questions about the Avengers.

What happens to them? Well, the heads of the MCU have been generously and slowly setting up one very real possibility: the Young Avengers.

In the 616 Marvel comic book world, the Young Avengers was a 2005 series by writer Allan Heinburg and artist Jim Cheung. Heinberg at the time was leading the teen television drama The O.C. and was given a chance to make a teenage hero book.

So, using characters and inspiration from all over, he and Cheung created the junior version of the Avengers, at a time when the main squad had sort of been sidelined/disbanded. And many of those characters either do or will soon exist in the MCU.

Stature

First up, Scott Lang aka Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie was prevalent in both of his movies. But she was too young to take on the roll of Stature, using her dad’s same size changing powers.

However, if you recall, with the time gap where Scott was disappeared in Avengers: Endgame, Cassie is now a teenager and would be around the right age to slot into the Young Avengers.

[See: Is Scott Lang Marvel’s best dad?]

Wiccan and Speed

Next, Wanda and Vision’s twins, Bille and Tommy and their powers come straight from the comics. While we don’t meet them in the comics until they are older, it won’t stun me to see a multiverse version of these two characters to survive and become the Young Avengers Wiccan and Speed.

Kate Bishop

Another of the original Young Avengers that we haven’t met yet but that we will soon is Kate Bishop aka Hawkeye.

In Marvel 616, Kate takes on the Hawkeye mantle during a time when Clint is dead but later when he returns, (and after the Young Avengers have started), she becomes his partner.

Much of the television series seems like it will be based on that run of comics. And, also, Kate’s background ties in somewhat with the Taskmaster, who was recently shown as the villain of the Black Widow movie. 

Patriot

A less obvious set-up took place in the recent Falcon and the Winter Soldier series. When the main leads visited Isaiah Bradley, they also met his grandson, who becomes a Captain America-like character on the Young Avengers named Patriot. 

But There’s More

But, in addition to the original Young Avengers in the comics, Marvel has since added teenage characters in the comics and the movies that could take on roles in a Younger Avengers in the MCU. Here are some speculative Young Avengers to come:

• Kid Loki. The variant Kid Loki that we saw in the Loki show could very easily be coming to the Young Avengers team. His strange perspective from a different universe could be comic gold for a teenage group.
• The White Widow. I think she would have to be the leader but Natasha’s sister is kind of looking for a home right now. While the added clip at the end of Black Widow seems to put her on the opposite side of Clint (and thus Kate), we know things can change.
• Spider-Man. This one is assuming Sony and Disney figure out making money together is better than ruining a character apart. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker as the Young Avenger with the most experience would be fantastic!
• Ms. Marvel. Created since the series was started, there is no doubt that Ms. Marvel would be a Young Avenger if they started the book now. The wildly popular female hero is set to make her appearance soon in her own series but also seems to be playing a part in the upcoming Captain Marvel sequel.
• Ironheart is a great Tony Stark like character, only she is a young woman from the streets of Chicago. Her MCU show is set to come out and casting has already been done. She seems like an obvious choice to be an MCU Young Avenger.
• Nova. We have seen the set-up of Nova since the Guardians of the Galaxy. In most of the Nova’s origin stories, a young teenager gets called into duty and we could totally see a new Nova being another teenage guy or girl learning how to use the Nova power while meshing with his Earthbound team as well.
• Harley Keener. Who? Remember the technology inclined young prodigy that Tony Stark befriended in Iron Man 3? That is Harley. And the MCU thought enough about him to make sure that he was present in the funeral shots of Tony. What role could he play on a new Young Avengers?
• Morgan Stark. Okay, yes, she is way too young right now to be a superhero. But what about a sassy overpowered brainiac who runs the team from the base? Think about DC’s Oracle but with a much younger person. It is likely a reach but I’d sure love to see it. Even if it was just for a short bit.

And, it should be noted, part of the Young Avengers origin story is closely tied to Kang, the character we saw (or at least a variant of) at the end of Loki’s season 1. And, their origin also is tied into the return of the Vision, which is something that we could and should anticipate at some point. All of which makes me think it is even more likely that we will soon get to hear a “Young Avengers….Assemble!” cry!