Style > Substance: YOUNG AVENGERS Appreciation

[Drops Of Venus]

I wasn't a huge fan of the costume Teddy wore in that Children's Crusade special, it was a bit plain, but I did think it was on the right track. Using his own appearance instead of shapeshifting into a fake Hulk seems like a more mature direction for the character.

If he were to embrace the Mar-Vell legacy then I say give him the Ultimate Mahr-Vehl armor. It had its own shapeshifting properties that I think would mesh well with Teddy's abilities, showing an acknowledgment of his Skrull lineage. Replace the planet symbol with the Hala star.


I'd redesign it a bit with the green and black/starfield color scheme that Genis used for a while. It's a call back to to the classic Kree soldier colour scheme, but distinct enough to stand out on its own. The green is a good color to use to represent both the Kree and Skrull, and if he were to shapeshift in his trademark wings then they could match the armor. And the starfield lets him match with Billy.


Plus the whole futuristic Greek soldier design thematically fits with his space broadsword Excelsior.

OMG, YES!!! Those two designs are exactly what come to my mind when I think of a badass redesign for Teddy. They have a lot of black, but it doesn't look too plain because the colors and the details really make the design stand out.

The only thing I would really change is the helmet. I tend to dislike helmets that cover too much of the head of any hero, as I like to see their hair. So I would either replace the helmet with a more discreet headpice, or I'd give him a helmet that works similarly to the one Carol used as Captain Marvel, easily switching between on/off.

[Beetle]

OMG, YES!!! Those two designs are exactly what come to my mind when I think of a badass redesign for Teddy. They have a lot of black, but it doesn't look too plain because the colors and the details really make the design stand out.

The only thing I would really change is the helmet. I tend to dislike helmets that cover too much of the head of any hero, as I like to see their hair. So I would either replace the helmet with a more discreet headpice, or I'd give him a helmet that works similarly to the one Carol used as Captain Marvel, easily switching between on/off.

I'd be okay with altering the helmet a bit, maybe you could even figure out a way to add in some Skrull influences into the design.

As long as they don't go with Carol's hair mohawk thing in place of a fin. I still don't understand why anyone approved of that travesty

[Digifiend]

You all might want to pick up Asgardians of the Galaxy #1 - Destroyer is actually Kid Loki!
https://www.newsarama.com/41660-reda...-spoilers.html

And this week's Ant-Man and the Wasp #5 might include Cassie, considering Scott's motivation in the mini has been to get home to her.

[Drops Of Venus]

You all might want to pick up Asgardians of the Galaxy #1 - Destroyer is actually Kid Loki!
https://www.newsarama.com/41660-reda...-spoilers.html

And this week's Ant-Man and the Wasp #5 might include Cassie, considering Scott's motivation in the mini has been to get home to her.

Although I don't think this Kid Loki is the one we saw working with the Young Avengers, but the ''ghost'' that was haunting him during that time; the one who died during Journey Into Mystery. It's certainly an interesting development, anyway.

Speaking of Cassie, I gotta say I FINALLY got to watch Ant-Man And The Wasp and Cassie's role was even cuter than I expected. I'm going to be soo disappointed if they don't follow up on her desire to be a hero.

[Digifiend]

I'm pretty sure Stinger will be Avengers 4. They cast an older actress (multiyear timeskip, I assume) and with both Janet and Hope snapped away by Thanos Scott needs a new partner.

[Drops Of Venus]

So, I was reading this piece at the end of my Avengers: The Children's Crusade graphic novel, and it's an entire text featuring thoughts and fun facts about the team by Allan Heinberg. I already knew about some of those, but others were news to me. Anyway, I decided to list them and share here:

- Joe Quesada was the one who pitched the initial idea, and Allan had doubts about it first, as he didn't think Young Avengers sounded like the kind of stuff he or anyone else would buy.
- The editors gave him Brian Michael Bendis' phone number so he could talk about the concept with him.
- He wrote the characters inspired by his own unresolved life issues, which helped him relate better to them.
- He created a fancast while describing the characters to Jim Cheung to help him realize what he was thinking about each of them. Billy was Jake Gyllenhaal, Teddy was Matt Czuchry and Eli was an african-american Tom Cruise.
- Bendis was the one who asked him to create a new Hawkeye, and Kate ended up being his favorite character.
- He already knew he wanted to give Truth: Red, White And Black a continuation, so that's how Eli came to be.
- He already knew he wanted a gay couple on the team as his own personal fantasy fulfillment.
- Kate was based on his best friend from college.
- He initially wanted a shapeshifter on the team so he could play with notions of ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and then explains that Teddy was the character that was changed the most from the initial concept: because he didn't think Marvel would ok a gay relationship in the book, Teddy was first conceived as a female shapeshifter called Chimera. Billy and her would be in a relationship and then later find out she was actually a Skrull prince. Tom Brevoort was the one who decided that they should just make them a regular gay couple from the beginning, which was a game changer. Allan says he considers Tom to be the third creator of the Young Avengers because of that.
- He was surprised with the response the book got since, again, he didn't think it was the type of story people would be interested in.
- After the first volume, he had many arc plans that never came to be. One of those arcs would center around Speed and the Young Masters. There was also a Wiccan/Scarlet Witch arc, which turned out to be the The Children's Crusade event.

That last one is a real, real bummer. To think we could've gotten so many stories if only Heinberg had stuck around for longer. And it's interesting that the Young Masters concept was initially conceived by him, only to be later used in the Dark Reign mini. I guess that explains the pre-existing connection between Tommy and one of their members, as the plan was for him to be the protagonist of the story. Man, Tommy really got the short end of the stick. He could've gotten so much more than he ended up getting.

[Digifiend]

Weird that Bendis requested Kate's creation - did he ever write her?

[Michael Watkins]

No wonder she has such a lackluster origin. Bendis. Ten bucks it was to impress some family friend named 'Kate' and he gave no thought to how she would fit.

[mreddie]

Cassie finally popped in ANATW #5 and...only appeared in one panel, no meeting up with Nadia, no Stinger, nothing.

Sigh...

No wonder she has such a lackluster origin. Bendis. Ten bucks it was to impress some family friend named 'Kate' and he gave no thought to how she would fit.

Yeah, she just appears does she? Even her one shot didn't matter much, thank goodness she's gotten her rep increased ten fold since then.

[Beetle]

No wonder she has such a lackluster origin. Bendis. Ten bucks it was to impress some family friend named 'Kate' and he gave no thought to how she would fit.

It does make me question why he decided to name Mile Morales' Hydra girlfriend "Kate Bishop"

Cassie finally popped in ANATW #5 and...only appeared in one panel, no meeting up with Nadia, no Stinger, nothing.

I wasn't expecting Cassie to show up in costume, but more than a single panel would have been nice.

[Digifiend]

It's really annoying that the girls didn't meet. There was that computer promo comic that showed them as practically BFFs, and in actual continuity they're still strangers? That needs to change.

It does make me question why he decided to name Mile Morales' Hydra girlfriend "Kate Bishop"

Yeah, she didn't even do archery like her 616 counterpart. Might as well be a completely different character. In fact, had she been called something else, that storyline might not have needed to be aborted with the universe swap. Can you imagine if she came over to 616, and got involved in Secret Empire? Would've been a good tie-in story for Miles (who didn't have one, his involvement was confined to Champions and the Uprising one-shot).

[Magmaster12]

That last one is a real, real bummer. To think we could've gotten so many stories if only Heinberg had stuck around for longer. And it's interesting that the Young Masters concept was initially conceived by him, only to be later used in the Dark Reign mini. I guess that explains the pre-existing connection between Tommy and one of their members, as the plan was for him to be the protagonist of the story. Man, Tommy really got the short end of the stick. He could've gotten so much more than he ended up getting.

This is why part me still wants a Young Avengers cartoon in vain of Young Justice over a movie, there are so many stories that can be told with the characters that haven't yet because the team got screwed over.

Also the fact that it was Quesada that came up with the idea furthers my theory he only had them created to be fill in character.

[Sutekh]

Yeah, she [Kate] just appears does she? Even her one shot didn't matter much, thank goodness she's gotten her rep increased ten fold since then.

I found it amusing that Kate was one of the 'bait-and-switch legacy' sort of characters. The dude who dressed like Thor and called himself 'Asgardian' was a Scarlet Witch legacy. The one who called himself 'Hulkling' was a Captain Mar-Vell legacy. 'Iron Lad' was friggin' Kang! And the one in purple with a bow, calling herself Hawkeye? Pretty darn far from the ex-carnival archer, ex-crook Clint Barton, more like the thrillseeking debutante who horned her way into the superhero community through sheer moxie Janet van Dyne.

That was always one of my favorite elements of the Young Avengers, that so many of them were *hugely* more than 'teen legacy of adult Avenger.' Except for Cassie (a pre-existing character, whose kind of a legacy of a legacy), they each threw a curveball at any expectations of who they are expected to be. Even Kate, who has the same lack of powers and bow-schtick as Clint, is a vastly different person, and that makes her both fun to see in action, even for someone who grew up with Clint (since she's not repeating his beats), and also makes it possible to team them up, since she's nothing at all like a younger clone or copy of him, but very much her own person, with very different life experiences and attitude.

[Drops Of Venus]

Weird that Bendis requested Kate's creation - did he ever write her?

Allan only said he was asked for a new Hawkeye; not sure if the request was specifically for Kate. But I think Bendis likes her, as he seemed to be a fan of Kelly Thompson's Hawkeye. And he wrote her briefly on Civil War II. I don't remember if there was anything before.

No wonder she has such a lackluster origin. Bendis. Ten bucks it was to impress some family friend named 'Kate' and he gave no thought to how she would fit.

Again, I'm not sure if Bendis had any say in Kate's creation. For all we know, he just wanted a Hawkeye legacy and Allan was the one who came up with the rest. I'm inclined to believe that was the case, as he also said Kate was based on a friend of his. Sounds like he was the one who knew a ''Kate'' IRL.

Cassie finally popped in ANATW #5 and...only appeared in one panel, no meeting up with Nadia, no Stinger, nothing.

Sigh...

Totally not surprised.

This is why part me still wants a Young Avengers cartoon in vain of Young Justice over a movie, there are so many stories that can be told with the characters that haven't yet because the team got screwed over.

Yep, YA has a lot of potential as an animated series. Disney, unfortunately, doesn't seem to take their Marvel Animation department very seriously. Hopefully that will change with the upcoming Disney Play; that would be a perfect platform for quality Marvel animations.

Or, you know, just give us a freaking new book already. lol

[Digifiend]

Of course, if they did do a teen team cartoon, you can bet your bottom dollar it'll be called Champions and use the majority of that team's current roster (everyone except Nadia, because Hope is an adult in the Avengers cartoon, like in the movies).

Of course there is Marvel Rising, which has one Champion and one Young Avenger among it's cast (Kamala and America respectively).