The Marvel Cinematic Universe needs a new team. The Avengers don’t seem to be returning, or at least not in any of the configurations they were once known in, what with all the death and retirement. There may be movies called “Avengers” on the calendar. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars – but who could step into the Avengers’ shoes in these later times?game over days?
the wonders takes a big step toward answering that question in its final scene. A pre-credits scene, if you will.
[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for The Marvels.]
Photo: Laura Radford/Marvel Studios
Before the wonders Cuts to credits, mounts a shameless rethink of 2008. Iron ManThe most daring scene. Kate Bishop (Hawkeye, i.e. last seen in Hawk Eye) arrives at his dark apartment only to find a figure sitting in the shadows. But this time it’s not Nick Fury; It’s Kamala Khan.
Ms. Marvel gives him the same speech Tony Stark gave all those years ago about “forming a team,” but naturally, her enthusiasm bubbles over his attempt at Nick Fury-like gravitas. What are you going to call this team made up of second generation superheroes? Kamala never says a name, but if you bring in the context of Marvel Comics, there’s really only one answer.
The MCU is preparing its Young Avengers
Image: Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie/Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics has several teen superhero teams, from the New Mutants (or, you could say, the original five X-Men) to the Champions. But there is only one with the full Avengers brand: the Young Avengers. The group was created by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung in 2005, as a team of young superheroes, each of whom had a connection to a classic Avenger. Patriot, Iron Lad, Hulkling, and Asgardian (he would later change his name) founded the group, and Stinger and Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) joined soon after.
A second incarnation of the team launched in 2013 (seen above), from the creative pairing of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, who would go on to create the blockbuster. The evil + the divine – features some old characters and several new ones, like Kid Loki, America Chavez, and Asgardian’s brother Speed.
Are any of these characters in the MCU?
A lot of them, actually! Aside from Kamala and Kate, we have: Cassie Lang/Stinger, seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania; America Chavez Doctor Strange in the multiverse of madness; and Eli Bradley/Patriot The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Recent phases of the MCU have also at least laid the groundwork for characters like Scarlet Witch’s sons, Billy Kaplan/Demiurge (formerly Asgardian) and Tommy Shepherd/Speed in WandaVision and Multiverse of madness.
The Kree/Skrull conflict is so clearly established at this point that it wouldn’t take much world-building for Teddy Logan, aka Hulkling, aka the long-lost half-Skrull, half-Kree heir to the throne, to come to the throne. . The new MCU team. The same goes for Kid Loki, a teenage version of Loki of uncertain origin, or Iron Lad, a young and innocent incarnation of Kang the Conqueror.
And then there’s a whole group of teenage superheroes who have never been associated with the Young Avengers in the comics, but have recently appeared in the MCU, like Shuri/Black Panther; Riri Williams/Ironheart; Skaar, the son of Hulk; and Sprite of The eternal.
Oh, and there’s Peter Parker. I guess. Sure, he can be on a team, especially now that he doesn’t have any friends.
When will we see a Young Avengers movie?
Image: Marvel Studios
That’s the $5 billion question. With Disney’s latest update to its release schedule, the only MCU-connected movie on the 2024 schedule is the third Deadpool movie. Marvel Studios as a whole is reportedly scaling back its schedule a bit, following a series of poorly received releases. The earliest we would see this team come together could be 2026, the year in which Avengers: The Kang Dynasty Its premiere is scheduled. And that’s if the company doesn’t decide to make even bigger changes to its plans.
Fifteen years ago, with Iron ManIn the credits scene of “Avengers Initiative,” Marvel Studios pointed to the stands and then tossed the Avengers baseball out of the park. But even though the writing on Young Avengers has been on the wall for a while, the MCU’s modern batting average has taken a serious hit. Now that the Young Avengers have almost reached the plate, we’ll soon find out if it’s a home run or just a fly ball.
