Marvel Addendum: Young Avengers (overview)

[effex]

Hiya, folks! My name's _fx and I'll be driving the Marvel crack van this month - pleasure to meet you! Climb on in, buckle up, and enjoy the ride [grins].

I'll be doing recs from the Avengers, Young Avengers, and Runaways comics (hurray!) and, before I start, I thought I'd give you a bit of an introduction to the Young Avengers (you can find a fantastic look at the Avengers in cupidsbow original Marvel overview). Young Avengers is up first, Runaways will be up as soon as I finish writing it out (I, uh, may have gotten a bit carried away. And there are a *lot* of them, you know?) Runaways proved too much for my brain to handle.

'ware the spoilers, y'all.


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Young Avengers

The Basics:

The Young Avengers are a team of teenage superheroes operating our of New York - the four founding members patterned themselves after the founding members of the Avengers (Iron Lad -> Iron Man, Hulkling -> Hulk, Asgardian -> Thor, Patriot -> Captain America) with the additional members following suit (Hawkeye -> Hawkeye, Stature -> Ant Man, Speed -> Quicksilver) and then were surprised when the media took the theme and ran with it (never let reporters name you/your team, kids, it always ends up kind of lame).

Brought together by a teenage!Kang-the-conqueror to fight adult!Kang-the-conqueror (more on that in Iron Lad's section), they operated on their own for a while, in direct defiance of Captain America and Iron Man (who told them to quit putting themselves in danger and get on home, or they would tell their parents. Really. And when the Young Avengers didn't listen, Cap went around and told their parents. Captain America, he doesn't mess around), but were given permission when it became apparent (around the time the Skrulls and Kree were rumbling over who got to kidnap/enlist/kill Hulkling) that none of the teens could go back to normal lives.

The team split during the Civil War, with Stature going to the Initiative and the others joining Captain America and the resistance, and are currently doing their best to survive the mess that is the Secret Invasion (like everybody else).


The Team:


Eli Bradley | Patriot:

Angry and desperate to prove himself, Eli's not, at first, someone you'd think to put in charge of a team of superpowered teenagers. He is, though, because when the others are scared, confused, or torn, he's the one to step up, make the hard (and usually correct) decision, and keep the team moving forward. The grandson of the original Captain America but not the inheritor of the super-soldier powers (that's his uncle, Josiah), Eli lied when Iron Lad came 'round recruiting - claiming the powers as his own and hiding the lack by taking an illegal drug (MGH/mutant growth hormone) that mimicked their effects. He quit out of shame when he was (inevitably) found out, but was convinced to return by his teammates and lasted a good hour or two (literally) as an unpowered fighter before taking a bullet for Captain America and being rushed to the hospital. While there, he received a blood transfusion from his grandfather which gave him the super-soldier's powers for real. Said powers include super-strength, agility, reflexes, and all around toughness.


Kate Bishop | Hawkeye:

Strong, self-confident, and determined, Kate's from an obscenely wealthy family and provides most of the financial backing for the team (uniforms, replacement uniforms, lairs, etc). Or did, anyway, when they were on their own. A (slightly) later addition to the team, Kate met the original four when they botched staged a rescue mission at her older sister's wedding (hostage situation, perils of having that many wealthy people in one location). She saved them, saved herself, and then tracked them down and demanded to join the team just before the final showdown with Kang. Utterly unpowered, Kate's a master of martial arts, fencing and archery, driven by a desire to never again be powerless (yes, rape/assault backstory, though handled better then most) and to keep others safe, even if she never feels quite safe herself. Functions as co/secondary leader on the team, *constantly* fights with Eli with a lot of underlying attraction. Recently started up a romantic relationship with him, although she's made it clear that she has a lot of emotional issues she needs to work through.


Teddy Altman | Hulkling:

A sweet, mellow, peaceful kind of guy, Teddy's also the team's powerhouse - he's a shapeshifter *and* has super-strength, a powerful combination. Growing up in a fairly normal single parent house hold (his mom was a relater and into new age self-help books) he was pretty sure, when his powers manifested, that he was your average, run of the mill mutant. This lasted until the Super Skrull showed up, determined to take him home to assume his rightful place as savior of the Skrull race. Half Skrull and half Kree (the son of Princess Anelle and Captain Marvel), he was sent into hiding on earth (the Skrulls think he's their savior/emperor and also maybe want him dead, the Kree want him conscripted into their army or also dead) as an infant, his 'mother' actually a Skrull warrior charged with his care. She died defending him from the Super Skrull (which sucks, since they both essentially wanted the same thing), leaving Teddy pretty traumatized over the whole mom-not-mom dead/aliens invading/secret destiny/not human thing. Fortunately, he's got his boyfriend, Billy, there to be supportive.

That's right, folks, Young Avengers has a canon gay teenage superpowered couple. They are *adorable.*



Billy Kaplan | Wiccan (formerly Asgardian)

A bit of a spazz, a little dorky, a lot geeky and all heart, Billy is Teddy's boyfriend, Tommy's sort-of twin, and the team's magic user. He's also maybe a mutant - it's complicated. The oldest son of two Jewish doctors (his mom's a psychologist, dad's a cardiologist), Billy's had a good (if overly analyzed) home life and a *lousy* school life - being geeky and obviously queer can do that to a kid. Just pre-series, after a particularly bad beating, he headed to Central Park to lick his wounds in the shadow of the Avenger's Mansion (pre-badness and thus still occupied) where he met the Scarlet Witch (his favorite Avenger, bonus) who gave him a pep talk and healed his bruises. This may or may not have been a trigger - Wanda's advise does little for his self-confidence but, upon finding one of his bullies hurting another kid, Billy flips out, generates a lightening blast, and sends the guy crashing into a row of lockers (which, apparently, he gets away with - there's no 'so you might be a mutant' talk with his school counselor and his parents don't find out about his powers until later). Billy's power is reality manipulation - he can do some things (flight, lightening bolts, force fields) at will, while everyother things require verbal spellcasting (basically a repeated mantra - "iwanthimtosleepiwanthimtosleep" - a technique gleaned from Teddy's mom's self-help books).

Some of you, particularly if you follow X-Men or Avengers canon, might find this suspiciously familiar. Even more so when you learn that Billy's sort-of twin, Tommy, is a white-haired speedster. That's right - in a truly spectacular display of comics!plot wtf-ery, Billy and Tommy are the Scarlet Witch's twin sons (see the third paragraph down) reborn. And Magneto's grandsons (context!). They haven't been reabsorbed into Mephisto, as audiences were originally told, but instead reincarnated into two separate families 16ish years in the past. While retaining their powers and identical twin-ness (yeah, I don't know either). Billy's dealing pretty well with it (the Super Skrull spilled the beans, presumably so Billy and Teddy could have existential angst together), all things considered (he loves his current family, who've been pretty good with the whole gay/dating an alien/superhero thing), but has made a couple unsuccessful attempts to figure out what the hell is going on.

Made the switch from codename: Asgardian (az-guard-ian) to codename: Wiccan after Kate helpfully pointed out the field day the press, upon learning his relationship with Teddy, would have with it. Also symbolically realigns him from Thor to the Scarlet Witch, or some such.


Tommy Shepherd | Speed

The latest addition to the Young Avengers, Tommy is angry, snarky, rebellious, flirtatious, and good with children. A speedster (a fast one, 'run to Genosha and around it several dozen times in under five minutes' fast) and Billy's sort-of twin, Tommy was recruited to the team during the Teddy/Skrull/Kree showdown (they needed someone who could make things go boom and Tommy can vibrate molecules until they do just that). And by 'recruited,' I mean 'broken out of a high security prison where they were conducting illegal experiments on the superpowered.' See, where Billy electroshocked a bully and maybe some lockers upon discovering his powers (and got away with it), Tommy blew up his school (and did not). Not much more is known about it (or his parents, or life before prison), but we can be fairly sure he didn't actually kill anybody, what with the Avengers letting him run around free. He's handling his sort-of twin-ship with Billy well - mostly by settling into the role of annoying younger brother and gleefully ignoring the rest of it.


Cassie Lang | Stature

The youngest team member (she's 'almost' fifteen at the start of the series), Cassie's the daughter of the second Ant-Man and, growing up, spent a lot of time with the Avengers. This, in addition to her mother barring her from seeing her father after gaining full custody (after the divorce, that is, citing her ex's lifestyle as 'too dangerous') and the death of her father during the afore-mentioned badness, instilled in her a deep-seated desire to be a superhero herself. She snuck her father's Ant-Man chemical... things for years, which finally took effect when the original four Young Avengers refused her and Kate's membership to their boy's club team. Cassie can grow and shrink in size, a power that's tied to her emotions and not entirely under her control. Fell in love with Iron Lad (during the hour+ she knew him) and is working to separate that from what she feels for Vision.


Jonas | The Vision

The Vision 3.0 is a robot with a past (created by Ultron, married to Wanda, etc, etc) - in his current version he's the combined result of Iron Lad's future!armor, Iron Lad's imprinted personality, and the original Vision's programming and database (but not his memories). He's in love with Cassie, a holdover from Iron Lad, and is struggling to establish himself as a unique individual. After the Civil War he travels the world in disguise in an attempt to find himself, eventually returning and adopting the name 'Jonas.' Jonas/Vision comes with all sorts of nifty future!robot abilities, courtesy of Iron Lad's neuro-kinetic armor, including strength, density manipulation, flight, radiation beams, holograms, shapeshifting, technological interfacing, and time travel.


Nathaniel Richards (later known as Kang the Conqueror) | Iron Lad

The teenage version of Kang the Conqueror, Nate met his future self (who wanted to show him what he'd become and maybe get a head start on some of those unproductive teen years) and, horrified, fled back in time to beg the assistance of the only people who had ever defeated Kang - the Avengers. Unfortunately, he arrived in the wake of the team's dissolution, the Avengers all dead or scattered. Undeterred, he uncovered the remains of The Vision 2.0, downloaded the base programming and databases into his future!armor, and used it to track down Billy, Teddy, and Eli (Vision was apparently keeping track of individuals that could replace the Avengers if needed - the fact that Billy and Tommy were on this list is a bonus layer of wtf). Nate managed to kill his future-self in their final showdown, but his refusal to become Kang created a hole in space/time on an epic scale and he eventually agreed to have his memories wiped and be sent back to his own time (but not before falling in love with Cassie - this is important, as rumor has it he'll eventually be back for fun love triangle shenanigans).


The Ships (as far as I know):

Billy/Teddy
Billy/Teddy/Tommy
Eli/Kate
Eli/Kate/Tommy
Tommy/Kate
Tommy/Eli
Cassie/Vision


The Fandom:

Resources:

- Young Avengers @ Wikipedia
- Young Avengers @ the Official Marval wiki.
- “You’ll Accept Us”: The Younger, Other Avengers. @ Girls Read Comics

Communities:

- youngavengers
- ya_slash


Have links/information/pictures/changes/corrections? Drop me a comment and let me know - the more information the better [pets information].

Comments

[dirty-diana.livejournal.com]

Rock on! I was far too lazy to do this, which is just as well since yours was better than anything I would have produced. *looks forward to the recs*

[effex]

Hurray! I'm glad it reads well, I've spent *way* more time with it then I originally intended (ha!), but it's such happy work. Hurray! for awesome comic books.

[goes off to post first rec]

[twigged.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this!

[elspethdixon.livejournal.com]

While there, he received a blood transfusion from his grandfather which gave him the super-soldier's powers for real.

They've effectively retconned the drugs/steroids thing back out? (or at least made it go away?) Oh, thank god.

[effex]

Oh yeah, not reconned, but it went away - he realized the error of his ways, quit the team (to focus on school), got talked into rejoining (only you can lead us!) and took a bullet for Cap a couple hours later. Cap was going to do the transfusion himself, but Eli's grandpa totally beat him to it. SUch good times, so glad to see it go.