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 |
Young Avengers is a comic book published by Marvel Comics, as part of Marvel Next. Written by Allan Heinberg, who is best known for writing several episodes of The O.C., it follows the events of Avengers Disassembled. It is the story of a group of young superheroes, each of whom pattern themselves after a member of the 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. The newspapers call the young heroes "super-powered fanboys", and coin the name "Young Avengers" for the group, a name that the team dislikes.
In a rare example of restraint, the exact premise of the series was kept hidden by Marvel; this immediately led to much fan speculation and many statements from the company allaying fears that this would merely be a copy of DC Comics' Teen Titans, particularly after the recent successful revival of that series.
Team members
Team Founders
The Vision's contingency plan for reforming the Avengers in an emergency hints that each of the four original team members has a significant tie to an existing Avengers member or the team's history:
- Iron Lad (patterned on Iron Man) is a teenage version of Kang the Conqueror, armed with a bio-metal suit that responds to mental commands.
- Patriot (patterned on Captain America) is Elijah Bradley, grandson of Isaiah Bradley, the first (and African-American) Captain America.
- Wiccan (formerly Asgardian) (patterned on Thor) is Billy Kaplan. He has the ability to use magic, giving him his Thor-like powers of flight and lightning generation.
- Hulkling (patterned on the Hulk) is Teddy Altman. He has shapeshifting abilities, and enhanced strength. Both he and Wiccan have no knowledge of any connection to former Avengers members.
Early Recruits
The following team members were not part of the Vision's contingency plan for reforming the Avengers:
- Stature (patterned on Ant-Man/Giant-Man) is Cassie Lang, daughter of the late Ant-Man.
- Knightress (patterned on Hawkeye/Mockingbird) is Kate Bishop, a civilian forcibly introduced to the Young Avengers in an early heroic action.
- The Vision Iron Lad uploaded Vision's "operating system" into his armour to execute the android's contigency plan. After Iron Lad was forced to leave the team, he activated the Vision's OS, causing the armour to turn into a new version of the Vision - albeit one with none of the memories or life experience of his predecessor.
Recurring characters
Recurring characters include Jessica Jones, Katherine "Kat" Farrell, Captain America, Iron Man, and Kang the Conqueror. Luke Cage and Spider-Man.
Storylines
Sidekicks (issues #1-6)
This storyline introduces the team, and focuses mostly on the attempts of reporters (Jones and Farrell of The Daily Bugle) and heroes (Captain America and Iron Man) to find out more about these mysterious new heroes. The story is set in the time between the end of Avengers Disassembled and the beginning of New Avengers.
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After the team's first adventure stopping Kang the Conqueror, Captain America and Iron Man take away their gear and refuse to train the team without the parents' consent. If they were ever to put their uniforms on again, then they would do everything they could to shut them down for good. Cassie Lang and Kate Bishop still want to be Young Avengers, thinking the worst Captain America and Iron Man can is tell their parents. Kate takes the team to an abandoned warehouse named Bishop Publishing, which becomes the team's lair. She has new uniforms made for them. Patriot knows that Cap and Iron Man won't be happy.
"They're not going to approve, but since when has that ever stopped us?"
Secret Identities (issues #7-8)
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The secret is out when Captain America and Jessica Jones confront the Young Avengers' parents about their children's double lives. Meanwhile, the unsuspecting kids find themselves on the front lines of a savage drug war against one of the Marvel Universe's most powerful, chemically-enhanced antagonists. Even if they survive, who's going to save them from their parents?
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Captain America, Luke Cage and Spider-Man are all hanging out at Stark Tower, the New Avengers headquarters. There's a picture on the front page of the Bugle showing the Young Avengers (in their new costumes) busting the Shocker. Captain America's going to have to talk to their parents but he's going to need back-up.
Billy and Teddy are discussing having to tell their parents about their superpowers and Billy's parents overhear. They assume what he was going to tell them is that he is gay (which he is, though he had not been planning to tell them). They tell him they've always known and still love him and are proud of him. Cassie overhears her step-father talking to her mother, who suspects that Stature is Cassie. He tells her there's no way Cassie would become a super-hero, she'd never put her mother through that. Eli's grandmother comes into his room and tells him to talk to his Grandfather before he leaves. He goes downstairs and his grandfather is looking at the picture of Patriot in the Bugle and crying tears of joy.
Tony Stark examines the Vision, with Captain America and Jessica Jones present, and determines he's not the Vision they knew - while he has all the physical and emotional capabilities of their Vision, he has none of the experience so he is basically a kid. Captain America decides it's time to talk to the Young Avengers' parents. He goes to see Patriot's Grandparents and Jessica is going to see Cassie's Mother.
Kate and Cassie meet up with Teddy and Billy in the Meat Packing District, Eli is late. He's checking out a laboratory. He's shot at and falls through the skylight. The others locate him thanks to Billy using a locating spell. He's fallen into the hands of Mr. Hyde. The Young Avengers show up just in time to save Eli from a beating but Patriot's bleeding? What happened to his powers? He runs away. Wiccan follows him. We hear Patriot yell from inside a room. Wiccan busts down the door and we see Patriot removing a syringe from his arm.
Issue 8
As Patriot shoots up with MGH, Wiccan is confused as to why he would be adding to his powers and then realizes, "Oh my God. You don't have powers. Do you?" Captain America goes to see Eli's grandmother who reveals that Eli was never in a fight, never recieved a blood transfusion and has no super-powers. Meanwhile, Jessica Jones talks to Cassie's mother, who's thrown to realize Cassie is a hero and wonders how this will effect her heart condition. She begs Jessica not to tell her husband about Cassie.
The team battles with Mr. Hyde, Patriot attacking, in full costume and seeming to have bulked up. He actually attempts to shoot up in the middle of the fight but instead injects Hyde with a huge dose of MGH, which overwhelms his system and knocks him out. The Avengers arrive as an enraged Patriot refuses to stand down so Wiccan uses magic to knock him out.
Eli awakens at Avengers Tower, meeting the newly built Vision. He meets the rest of the two teams and confesses the truth: Iron Lad wasn't looking for Eli, he was looking for his uncle, Josiah, who did had super-powers but had disappeared. Seeing this opportunity, Patriot lied to Iron Lad and said he was the super-soldier. He reveals that his belt contains numerous MGH pills that he pops to keep up the powers. Tearing up, he tells Captain America to "save the speech....Because I quit."