Photos from Marvel Comics
When Marvel Studios revealed their Phase 4 slate at the San Diego Comic-Con in July, it left an Avengers-movie-shaped hole in the hearts of many MCU fans. Phase 4 is definitely setting up its new slate of heroes, bringing emphasis to a movie multi-dimensional and cosmic realm. While Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige hasn’t officially announced an Avengers film for Phase 5 and beyond, it’s safe to say that there will eventually be one. He might even catch us off-guard and announce a Young Avengers project any day now!
The Young Avengers is a group of young superheroes who more or less take on the roles of the original Avengers in their own group. They have their own adventures and even have their own tragedies. With the stage set for Phase 4 after Avengers: Endgame and, to an extent, Spider-Man: Far From Home, a Young Avengers project could definitely be in the horizon.
So, who are the Young Avengers and how can the MCU sneak them into their canon?
P.S. For the sake of this article, I’m only going to focus on the early Young Avengers line-up. While the team does grow eventually, I’m guessing the MCU would focus on a small group at first!
Katherine ‘Kate’ Bishop, aka Hawkeye
Kate is a rich socialite from New York who gets herself entangled with the Young Avengers early into their antics. She doesn’t have any superpowers, much like Clint Barton, but she’s well trained in combat and is one of the best archers in the world. In fact, in the comics, Kate breaks into the Avengers facility to steal Clint’s bow and arrows. She gets caught by Captain America but then he hands them over to her anyway and gave her the monicker of Hawkeye.
Kate becomes more fleshed out as a character in Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye series which shows her life living as Hawkeye alongside Clint. Hawkeye is one of the series Marvel is working on and, based on the teaser, we could assume that Kate is going to be the first official Young Avenger introduced to the MCU.
Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Lang, aka Stature
Cassie Lang was introduced to us in the first Ant-Man movie. She’s Scott Lang’s daughter and, in the comics, she follows her father’s footsteps and seeks out the Young Avengers after Scott’s death. In the movies (at the moment, anyway) Scott is pretty much alive, however, but it would still make sense for her to eventually get herself entangled with the Pym particles that would make it possible for her to grow in size (hence, Stature).
If you could remember, Cassie was one of the people who survived from The Snap. This means she aged up for five years, making her the perfect age to become a Young Avenger. And, if they’re waiting for Kate Bishop to get the ball rolling, she’d be in a better position to become Stature after the world has been restored.
There’s no news about a third Ant-Man movie happening so far, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they start getting Cassie involved with Scott’s Ant-Man shenanigans.
Nathaniel Richards, aka Iron Lad
Remember that unknown child during Tony Stark’s funeral? Remember how we all collectively thought that he was just some random kid? But, apparently, he was the boy who helped Tony in Iron Man 3. Well, since discovering this bit of information, the internet has been theorizing that the kid, Harley, is actually going to turn into Iron Lad. This origin story greatly deviates from Iron Lad’s comic canon.
Nathaniel Richards is a boy who comes from the future after learning that he becomes the villain, Kang the Conquerer. He goes back to his past to activate the Avengers fail-safe protocol and basically assembles the Young Avengers. Nathaniel, like Tony Stark, doesn’t have any powers and instead relies on his suit that was modeled after Iron Man’s. He eventually returns to the future though. Since the MCU likes twisting comic canon so that it could work for their movies, I wouldn’t be surprised if Harley does become Iron Lad as a sort of tribute to Iron Man.
Thomas ‘Tommy’ Sheppard and William ‘Billy’ Kaplan,
aka Speed and Wiccan
Tommy and Billy are the reincarnated versions of Scarlet Witch’s sons. In the comics, Wanda Maximoff is a lot older than Wanda in the movies but this really wouldn’t matter if we take into account that her children were born out of magic and were given Mephisto’s life essence as souls. Mephisto is basically Marvel’s version of the devil. When Mephisto re-absorbed this life essence, the twins ceased to exist. However, years later, Tommy and Billy appeared as reincarnations of Wanda’s sons.
Billy mostly inherited his ‘mother’s’ magic while Tommy inherited his ‘uncle’s’ superspeed. Since Pietro sadly perished in Avengers: Age of Ultron, the MCU has been lacking a speedster on their team. With Wanda and Vision having their own series and Wanda also being involved in the horror-infused Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, who knows what could come out of it? Maybe children!
Elijah ‘Eli’ Bradley, aka Patriot
Did you know that the original Captain America was a black man named Isaiah Bradley? Well, in the comics at least. His grandson, Eli, tries to follow in his footsteps and takes supplements to get Captain America-like abilities until, eventually, a blood transfusion makes the powers permanent.
Eli’s introduction to the MCU could be very difficult or very easy if you think about it. If they follow Eli’s comic canon, it’d be easy. If they make up a whole new story about who he is, then it would be less so. Either way, Eli could definitely show up sometime after Phase 4, especially with the Falcon and the Winter Soldier series. Not only is Steve Rogers not Captain America anymore, but Sam Wilson is picking up the infamous shield. From there, Eli could potentially be inspired to find his own way in the world and become the Patriot.
Theodore “Teddy” Altman, aka Hulkling
Teddy is a son of Captain Mar-Vell and a Skrull princess. He’s practically an alien prince! Despite being his namesake, he doesn’t inherit his powers from the Hulk but he does shapeshift and he has super strength. With the introduction of the Skrull people in Captain Marvel, it won’t be too difficult to introduce Teddy into the MCU. They don’t even have to change the fact that Mar-vell gets involved with a Skrull.
With the possibility of Captain Marvel 2 coming up during the MCU’s Phase 5, we could see more of the Skrulls in action. Eventually, we might even see Teddy!
The Young Avengers’ team eventually expands with the addition of America Chavez (Miss America), David Alleyne (Prodigy), Noh-Varr (Marvel Boy), and Young Loki. If I had any say in any of this, I’d love to see a Young Avengers series to get a better feel of the characters and the bond they would form. However, it’s all up in the air until Marvel does something. The Hawkeye series is going to come out in 2021; that’s two years away! So maybe, by then, we’d have more information about the Young Avengers in the MCU.
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Which one of the Young Avengers are you most excited to see in the MCU?
