Young Avengers

Young Avengers
Cover to Young Avengers Special #1. Art by Jim Cheung.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Young Avengers #1 (April, 2005)
Created by	Allan Heinberg Jim Cheung
In-story information
Base(s)	An abandoned warehouse which formerly housed Bishop Publishing
Member(s)	Hawkeye Hulkling Patriot Speed Stature Vision Wiccan
Roster
See: Young Avengers Members

Young Avengers is an American comic book published by Marvel Comics. Written by Allan Heinberg, best known for writing several episodes of the television program The O.C., it follows the events of the "Avengers Disassembled" storyline. The series follows the story of a group of young superheroes, each of whom patterns himself or herself after a member of previous Avengers. The four founding members of the team were gathered together as a result of the Vision's plan for the reformation of the Avengers in the event the team disbanded. In the series, newspapers refer to the young heroes as "super-powered fanboys" and label them the "Young Avengers," a name the team members initially disliked but which stuck nonetheless.

Marvel's 1940 forerunner, Timely Comics, had an unrelated character, Young Avenger, who debuted in USA Comics #1 (Aug. 1941).

Team members

Founders

The Vision's contingency plan for reforming the Avengers in an emergency hints that each of the four original team members brought together by Iron Lad has a significant tie to an existing Avengers member or the team's history:

• Hulkling (resembling the Hulk) is Teddy Altman. He is a shape-shifter who also possesses enhanced strength and healing. He is the son of Kree hero Captain Mar-Vell and the Skrull princess Anelle; he is thus a Kree-Skrull hybrid. Teddy is openly gay and is in a relationship with Wiccan.
• Iron Lad (resembling Iron Man) is a teenage version of Kang the Conqueror, armed with a bio-metal suit given to him by Kang the Conqueror (of the future) that responds to mental commands.
• Patriot Originally mistaken for a Captain America-inspired character it is revealed that he is Elijah "Eli" Bradley, grandson of Isaiah Bradley. His original costume resembled that of Bucky Barnes. At first he resented Steve Rogers because of what happened to his grandfather. Eli is said to have gotten his grandfather's powers after a fight where he got stabbed and after losing blood his grandfather gave him a blood transfusion.
• Wiccan (formerly Asgardian; patterned after the Scarlet Witch and Thor) is Billy Kaplan, who may be the son of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision. Billy uses magic for various effects, such as casting spells for flight, lightning generation, and locating people. Thomas Shepherd (Speed) may be his twin brother, and the reincarnation of the twins that the Scarlet Witch lost. Billy is openly gay and in a relationship with Hulkling.

Other members

• Hawkeye (a combination of the original Hawkeye/Mockingbird/Swordsman), whose real name is Kate Bishop, is a civilian who forcibly introduced herself into the Young Avengers, saving them from a botched rescue. While Kate has no inherent powers, she is competent with a bow and arrow as well as a sword. She later adopted the codename Hawkeye with the blessing of Captain America, who bestowed to her the original Hawkeye's bow and arrows as a gift.

• Speed (patterned after Quicksilver) is Thomas Shepherd, a boy the team rescued from imprisonment. He may be the son of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision, and thus the twin brother of Wiccan. Though he was part of the Vision's contingency plan, he was not an original team member. He is a speedster that can also speed to accelerate atomic matter as well as destabilize it.

• Stature (patterned after Ant-Man/Giant-Man) is Cassie Lang, daughter of the late Scott Lang. She has the power to change size at will. She kissed Iron Lad and is suspected to like him

• The Vision (a combination of Iron Lad and the original Vision) is the original Vision's operating system animating Iron Lad's futuristic armor. Iron Lad uploaded Vision's "operating system" into his armor to execute the android's contingency plan. After Iron Lad was forced to leave the team, he activated the software, causing his armor to become a new version of the Vision — albeit one with none of the memories or life experience of his predecessor.

Recurring characters

• Katherine "Kat" Farrell
• Kang the Conqueror
• Jessica Jones
• The New Avengers

Storylines

Season One

In "Sidekicks" (issues #1-#6), reporters Jessica Jones (former Avenger known as Jewel) and Kat Farrell of The Daily Bugle and heroes Captain America and Iron Man investigate a new group of teenage heroes. The story is set in the time between the "Avengers Disassembled" storyline and the beginning of New Avengers. The team defeats Kang the Conqueror, still Captain America and Iron Man take away their gear and refuse to train the team without their parents' consent. Despite the heroes' warnings, the team continues with a new headquarters, new costumes, and new names.

In "Secret Identities" (issues #7-#8), the Young Avengers must decide how much to tell their parents after the members decide to continue acting publicly. None of their parents find out. During a fight with Mr. Hyde in Young Avengers #8, Wiccan discovers Eli abusing MGH a drug that gives people powers for short periods of time in order to appear to have superpowers. Eli confesses that he deceived the Vision who meant to recruit his missing uncle Josiah in order to join the team. Overwhelmed with emotion, he quits the team.

In Young Avengers Special #1, Jessica Jones interviews the Young Avengers about their pasts at the insistence of Kat Farrell. Cassie Lang had a troubled home life, especially after her father died. She and her mother constantly fought and she hated her mom's new boyfriend. Had the Young Avengers not formed, Cassie planned to join the Runaways. Teddy Altman abused his shapeshifting powers to hang out with a more popular kid. He realized that he had gone too far when his "friend" tried to force him to steal artifacts from the destroyed Avengers Mansion. Billy Kaplan had a problem with being accepted. He met the Scarlet Witch, who explained that being different isn't bad. Kate Bishop was attacked in a park. Eli Bradley took the Mutant Growth Hormone because he felt powerless against some thugs and wanted to prove that his grandfather truly was the black Captain America.

In "Family Matters" (issues #9-#12), K'Lrt the Super-Skrull tries to take Teddy to the Skrull homeworld. K'Lrt reveals that Mrs. Altman is not Teddy's mother and kills her. In the aftermath, K'Lrt kidnaps Teddy. The Vision offers to locate more "Young Avengers" using his prior incarnation's contingency plan. The Young Avengers break Thomas Shepherd out of a superhuman prison and recruit him. Tommy can move at superhuman speed and accelerate matter, destabilizing it enough to cause an explosion. The Super-Skrull tells Teddy of his true origin as the son of the Kree hero Captain Marvel and the Skrull princess Anelle. He then claims that Tommy and Billy are the Scarlet Witch and Vision's lost twin sons. Billy believes him but Tommy does not. Kree and Skrull combat forces arrive and fight each other and the Young Avengers until Teddy, realizing his importance to both sides, calls for a ceasefire. The Avengers intervene and a Kree warrior fires at Captain America. Patriot intervenes and is gravely wounded. Hulkling and K'Lrt end the fighting by secretly shapeshifting into each other's forms. Captain America and K'Lrt, disguised as Hulkling, broker a shared custody between the races.

At a hospital, Eli's grandfather donates his blood to Eli. Captain America again tells the Young Avengers to stop what they're doing. Kate blames their trouble on the Avengers for not training them. The Young Avengers repair the statues of fallen Avengers at Avengers Mansion. Eli now has superpowers as a result of the blood transfusion. Kate receives Hawkeye's bow and quiver from Captain America, and she takes the mantle of Hawkeye. Tommy arrives in costume and calls himself Speed.

Civil War

See also: Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways

In Civil War #2, the members of Young Avengers are captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. for not complying with the registration act. Captain America and the Falcon help them escape. Once in Captain America's secret base, the Young Avengers join the resistance movement called Secret Avengers. In issue #3, the team follows Captain America into a trap set by Iron Man. Wiccan, along with Cloak, is knocked out via tranquilizers while the rest of the Young Avengers joins the fight against Iron Man and the pro-registration heroes. Stature leaves the resistance after Goliath is killed by a clone of Thor and the Secret Avengers are forced to retreat from battle leaving Wiccan behind. However, shortly afterwards Stature registers and begins superhero training. The remainder of the team remained with Captain America. Stature is seen alongside Iron Man and the rest of the "pro-reg" group during the final battle between registered and rebel heroes.

With the surrender of Captain America, the rest of the Young Avengers are granted amnesty in exchange for registration. All the members except Hawkeye and Patriot registered, and began training at Camp Hammond. In the last issue of the Fallen Son crossover, when the funeral of Captain America takes place at Washington D.C., all of the Young Avengers are seen, wearing their Super Hero outfits, and are even mentioned by name by the Falcon, while delivering the ceremonial speech. This suggests another amnesty was offered to Hawkeye and Patriot (and maybe Speed as well, although he was never accounted for during the story), who had stayed in the resistance after the end of the Civil War, alongside the New Avengers.

In She-Hulk #21 it was revealed that the Hulking and Wiccan that joined the Initiative were actually a pair of interdimensional travelers known as "Alphas" whereas the actual Hulkling and Wiccan were shocked at the discovery that they had registered (the canonicity of this story, which was largely humorous, is unclear). Hawkeye, Patriot, and Wiccan, remain unregistered.

Young Avengers Presents

At the Mondo Marvel panel at the Baltimore Comic-Con on Saturday, Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort announced that a new Young Avengers miniseries will launch in January, titled Young Avengers Presents. The issues of the miniseries will all be written by different writers, and will each focus on the various characters of the team.

The creative teams for the five of the six issues are as follows:

• Young Avengers Presents #1: Patriot (due in stores January 23rd 2008)
  • written by Ed Brubaker
  • pencils by Paco Medina
  • cover by Jim Cheung

• Young Avengers Presents #2: Hulkling (due in stores February 27th 2008)
  • written by Brian Reed
  • pencils by Harvey Talibao
  • cover by Jim Cheung

• Young Avengers Presents #3: Wiccan/Speed (due in stores March 26th 2008)
  • written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
  • pencils by Alina Urusov
  • cover by Jim Cheung

• Young Avengers Presents #4: Vision
  • written by Paul Cornell
  • pencils by Mark Brooks
  • cover by Jim Cheung

• Young Avengers Presents #6: Hawkeye
  • written by Matt Fraction
  • pencils by Alan Davis
  • cover by Jim Cheung

Series Plot Summary

The first issue of the series centres around Patriot and his attempts to reconcile his status as a patriotic symbol of American nationalism with the country's dark history. After presenting a report on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and being roundly heckled by his jingoistic classmates, Eli returns to his home in the Bronx to discover that Bucky had visited his grandfather Isaiah Bradley. Hoping to talk to Captain America's former sidekick, Patriot and Hawkeye, with the assistance of a portal spell from Wiccan, track him down to an A.I.M. base. After aiding the older superhero against the A.I.M. MODOCs (Military Organisms Designed Only for Combat), Patriot follows him to Steve Roger's old apartment and shares his concerns about standing for a country that he's beginning to lose faith in. Bucky explains to Eli that America is an idea used for good or ill, but one with value to it and something worth defending against all threat, inspiring the younger hero once more.

"Season Two"

Allan Heinberg has said that he plans to introduce a young Masters of Evil in the second "season", among other new antagonists, but does not plan to introduce any new Young Avengers at this time. The "season" will be broken up into three four-issue arcs. Heinberg has said that the teenage Kang will show up, but he will not be Iron Lad anymore. He will be part of a love triangle with Vision and Cassie. He also stated in another interview that his plans for the new 'season' involved characters Speed and Wiccan searching for Wanda Maximoff, stating "If everything goes according to plan, Wanda will indeed return to Young Avengers early in Season Two, when Billy and Tommy embark on a search for the true source of their powers."

Young Avengers was plagued by delays in 2005 and 2006 and its third arc was cut by two issues, ending early in June 2006. Heinberg announced at the 2007 Bristol Comic Con that when the series returns, he will be mainly plotting the series with a co-writer taking on most of the writing load. He also said that Jim Cheung will return as the artist. During a panel during Wizard World Philadelphia 2007, Tom Brevoort stated that the series was not canceled, but was continuing to wait for the availability of Heinberg and Cheung. New material is forthcoming, sometime in 2008.

Bibliography

• Young Avengers #1-12 (April 2005 - June 2006)
• Young Avengers Special #1 (December 2005)
• Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways #1-4 (July 2006 - October 2006)
• Winter Soldier: Winter Kills (December 2006)
• Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America: Avengers (April 2007)
• Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America: Captain America (May 2007)
• Young Avengers Season 2 (tentative) #1- (start date not yet scheduled)

Title	Material collected	ISBN
Volume 1: Sidekicks	Young Avengers #1-6	ISBN 0-7851-2018-1
Volume 2: Family Matters Premiere HC	Young Avengers #7-12, Young Avengers Special	ISBN 0-7851-2021-1
Volume 2: Family Matters TPB	Young Avengers #7-12, Young Avengers Special	ISBN 0-7851-1754-7
Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways	Civil War: Young Avengers/Runaways #1-4	ISBN 0-7851-2317-2