Young Avengers Appreciation 2022

[Aeon]

I’d love to see more YA from the Avengers Failsafe Program.

[Sutekh]

I’d love to see more YA from the Avengers Failsafe Program.

I like how the initial team had a bit of creative bait-and-switch about them. Asgardian appears to be a Thor legacy, but is a Scarlet Witch legacy. Hulkling looks like a Hulk, but is related to Captain Mar-Vell. Kate is an heiress with an adventuresome streak, like Janet, not at all an ex-con carney like Hawkeye. The 'Iron Man legacy' is a Kang! Cassie was the most genuine as a legacy of Pym, but she was also a pre-existing character.

I'd find it amusing if any followup characters from the Failsafe program had a similar theme. A patriotic hero like Captain America who's actually half-Eternal like Sersi. A mystic like Dr. Druid, who is Atlantean like Namor. Just mix and match the origins and the powersets. An archer whose mother was Skadi, making her a quarter Asgardian and a quarter frost giant! (So, an archer who can grow to twelve feet tall and life as much as Spider-Man! Since archers never have super-powers, that could be a surprise!)

[ComicNoobie]

I like how the initial team had a bit of creative bait-and-switch about them. Asgardian appears to be a Thor legacy, but is a Scarlet Witch legacy. Hulkling looks like a Hulk, but is related to Captain Mar-Vell. Kate is an heiress with an adventuresome streak, like Janet, not at all an ex-con carney like Hawkeye. The 'Iron Man legacy' is a Kang! Cassie was the most genuine as a legacy of Pym, but she was also a pre-existing character.

I'd find it amusing if any followup characters from the Failsafe program had a similar theme. A patriotic hero like Captain America who's actually half-Eternal like Sersi. A mystic like Dr. Druid, who is Atlantean like Namor. Just mix and match the origins and the powersets. An archer whose mother was Skadi, making her a quarter Asgardian and a quarter frost giant! (So, an archer who can grow to twelve feet tall and life as much as Spider-Man! Since archers never have super-powers, that could be a surprise!)

This is what I loved about the legacy of the Young Avengers. Those bait and switches. I also would love to see a potential followup to the YA Failsafe just to see who would be selected and what powers and legacy they would have. Though I imagine many options became part of the Champions by now.

[Drops Of Venus]

I feel like a Young Avengers book would sell really well right now. It's weird that there isn't one.

I mean, we technically just got a new book. The success of a Marvel Unlimited webcomic is probably not measured in ''sales'' like a traditional comic book, but I hope they got enough new subscribers/views out of it to justify more YA stories, hopefully digital AND in print now.

I’d love to see more YA from the Avengers Failsafe Program.

It would be cool, but I fear that concept died alongside Jonas. He was the one with access to the Program, but Marvel hasn't given a **** about him in years.

[Aeon]

I am probably one of the very few people who doesn’t like the (Young) Champions.
Probably because I never liked that over-enthusiastic, over-used fan-girl leader.

[Digifiend]

This is what I loved about the legacy of the Young Avengers. Those bait and switches. I also would love to see a potential followup to the YA Failsafe just to see who would be selected and what powers and legacy they would have. Though I imagine many options became part of the Champions by now.

Yeah, it's entirely possible that most of the Failsafe heroes were not yet active. Hence why Nate could only get Eli, Billy, and Teddy.

[Drops Of Venus]

Yeah, it's entirely possible that most of the Failsafe heroes were not yet active. Hence why Nate could only get Eli, Billy, and Teddy.

It's possible some of them never even turned out to be heroes at all. I mean, just like not every mutant necessarily wants to be an X-Man, I think it would make sense if not every kid in the Avengers Failsafe Program wanted to be a hero. I like the idea that some of them just want to have normal lives, even if the YA try to recruit them.

Another interesting concept is.... what if some people on the Program turned out to be villains? Tommy definitely had the potential to become one if the Young Avengers hadn't rescued him when they did. He got a chance to start over, but what if not everyone there got one? That could be a good pitch for a new YA arc.

[Digifiend]

True. There must be others like Cloud 9 (from Avengers The Initiative), who originally just wanted to have fun, but thanks to the Superhuman Registration Act ended up trained as a sniper at Camp Hammond. When that law was repealed she ripped up her registration card in glee, and pretty much vanished except for a cameo at the end of Bendis's Iron Man run (as part of a plot abandoned due to him suddenly leaving Ironheart behind to take over Superman - IIRC, Riri and Miles had both been invited to some new young heroes training project that also involved Reptil and Striker from Avengers Academy)... until another similar law came in. Of course, she wasn't pleased about being Outlawed again, and by now she'd registered as a Champions Reinforcement Roster member (as mentioned in Zub's Champions #1), and she actually showed up in Eve Ewing's Champions #1. It seems it took her a long time to actually decide to fight.

[ComicNoobie]

So recently I have started to read some classic stories with the Young Avengers in them to see how they fared in the story. I'm starting off with the original 2006 Civil War story. The Young Avengers appeared quite a bit in the main story's art panels, even if they don't always do a whole lot as the grownups politic around them. One thing that makes me a bit sad is how little Tommy/Speed appeared in it. In most if not all their appearances, Speed is usually absent. Not counting the Runaway teamup of course. Even in group shots that have SHIELD arresting the Young Avengers, poor Speed isn't there. I guess he was too fast and ran away before they arrested him.

[Drops Of Venus]

So recently I have started to read some classic stories with the Young Avengers in them to see how they fared in the story. I'm starting off with the original 2006 Civil War story. The Young Avengers appeared quite a bit in the main story's art panels, even if they don't always do a whole lot as the grownups politic around them. One thing that makes me a bit sad is how little Tommy/Speed appeared in it. In most if not all their appearances, Speed is usually absent. Not counting the Runaway teamup of course. Even in group shots that have SHIELD arresting the Young Avengers, poor Speed isn't there. I guess he was too fast and ran away before they arrested him.

It's kinda crazy to think the Young Avengers had such key roles in the main Civil War plot. Wiccan by helping Cap's side to teleport away after the Young Avengers get arrested, and then Hulkling infiltrating Iron Man's side disguised as Hank Pym. I miss the times when Marvel actually tried to include them in events and they would always be getting a mini out of it.

As for Speed; Civil War happened not so long after the end of Heinberg's run, and Tommy was only introduced at the end of it, so I think it's possible he wasn't really associated with the team as much as the other members at the time, which could explain why he was absent from the group shots in the main book. Maybe the main event even started being scripted before he made his debut, so it could've also been a way to avoid spoilers.

[ComicNoobie]

It's kinda crazy to think the Young Avengers had such key roles in the main Civil War plot. Wiccan by helping Cap's side to teleport away after the Young Avengers get arrested, and then Hulkling infiltrating Iron Man's side disguised as Hank Pym. I miss the times when Marvel actually tried to include them in events and they would always be getting a mini out of it.

As for Speed; Civil War happened not so long after the end of Heinberg's run, and Tommy was only introduced at the end of it, so I think it's possible he wasn't really associated with the team as much as the other members at the time, which could explain why he was absent from the group shots in the main book. Maybe the main event even started being scripted before he made his debut, so it could've also been a way to avoid spoilers.

I agree. It also makes sense they had spotlight since they were the first to get arrested by the Pro-registration. Let's be real, Iron Man and SHIELD were probably always gonna go for the young heroes first after what happened with the New Warriors. The Young Avengers probably had targets on their backs even before the law passed.

But yeah, it was so cool to see them get panel time in the main comic. Patriot felt like a real leader, even when standing with veterans like Luke Cage, Cap and Spider-Man. I loved the use of Hulkling to get into the vaults and free the heroes. They even got a lot of panel time in the first fight with Iron Man's team. Stature fighting Atlas, Hulkling fighting Thing. Even Patriot fought Spider-Man, he got beat but hey Spider-Man has beaten like everyone, no shame in losing to him.

One thing that always caught my interest in Civil War was when Cassie switched sides. It was interesting because I don't believe she switched sides because she believed in Iron Man's cause. She did it because she was scared of their power. She almost died at the hands of that Thor Clone and she witnessed him kill Bill Foster, another size changer like herself. I think that spooked her, then she tries to justify her actions to Jonas in the Vision chapter of YA Presents. She couldn't have truly believed in Iron Man's cause because Stark was using villains to help hunt down heroes and she states she wants to fight villains, not heroes and cops. And yet she was fighting alongside villains in that final battle. I read it as her being afraid of Iron Man's side. I really liked when Nighthawk backed Cassie up when they left, claiming that Steve was just a "scared old man afraid of the future" when they were the ones afraid, joining Stark's side out of fear not belief. I know Cassie switching sides wasn't too popular but it was realistic for her young age to be scared into it.

Civil War wasn't my favorite Marvel event but one thing it did good was give spotlight to the Young Avengers.

[scourge]

It's kinda crazy to think the Young Avengers had such key roles in the main Civil War plot.

Heck, if not for that painfully bad way they forced Cap to give up...the Anti-Registration side would have won the war specifically because of Teddy and Jonas. Teddy freeing their side and outnumbering Iron Man's, and Jonas disabling Stark's armor entirely.

The Young Avengers probably had targets on their backs even before the law passed.

They did indeed. Stark even namedropped them as reasons for being Pro-registration.

[Magmaster12]

It was good that Cassie joined the pro registration side since it emphasized how she is someone training for the role for a long time. I still take issue with the fact that no one else on the team even considered joining her out of friendship. In my opinion she has terrible chemistry with the rest of the team because of this, it's no wonder she is completely absent from the Secret Invasion tie in.

[Frontier]

I remember when Cassie jumped into the Initiative during Civil War and tried to kill Taskmaster for insulting her dad.

[Fokken]

Hey YA Fan-Family! If you enjoyed:
*Drag Brunch with Loki
*Lords of Empyre: Emperor Hulkling
*Last Annihilation: Wiccan & Hulkling
*Young Avengers: Paradox Lost (the recent Marvel Unlimited Exclusive 6 part mini)

Please take a moment to email Marvel your praises: mheroes@marvel.com

@-ing Marvel on twitter / social media is ineffective because those alerts go to the marketing team, which -- is not going to bother alerting the editorial folks with actual sway over what books, stories and ideas get the green light. And definitely not which creatives are sought after.

If emailing isn't your thing, but you want to show support, then definitely send some love to @meakooopa (writer Anthony Oliveira) and @MightyBrundstad (editor Sarah Brundstad) on TWITTER (for those who have accounts) and let them know how much you enjoyed this recent installment. The folks who work so hard to craft these amazing stories for us deserve the serotonin boost and hopefully that will also motivate additional future stories.

For anyone that follows me on twitter (@cpfokken), I'm gonna post a digitally colored (thx to the talented (@Mihai_Rotatri_ ) version of my Paradox Lost inspired Young Avengers splash tribute on Monday and if anyone has a kind word for that, I'd love for Mihai to receive all the praise because they did an incredible job.

Here's hoping we get more YA content soon, somewhere, somehow, until they finally reunite and Demiurge willing, they can address the Krisfoff of it all!