Why The Young Avengers Could Save The MCU!

Part of the fun of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has always been the joy of seeing the comics you loved adapted for the big screen. While I’ve read my fair share of Spider-Man and X-Men, it was The Young Avengers (especially the run by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie) that made me fall in love with comic books. Now that I can understand the euphoria of seeing the comics you love lifted from their 2-dimensional pages into a sprawling cinematic world, I couldn’t be more excited to watch how the MCU adapts The Young Avengers on screen. That being said, being a die-hard fan makes the adaptation process exponentially more scary. So here’s why I’m excited to watch my favorite comic book hit the big screen – and all the ways I hope they do it right!

The Young Avengers are a group of teenagers hoping to use the powers and tools at their disposal to help people in the way they’ve seen The Avengers do their whole lives. In typical rebellious teen fashion, they also fight back against the stricter nature of the older team and push to play by their own rules. The original team includes Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye, Hulking, Iron Lad, Wiccan, Patriot, and Stature. From this original team alone, every character except Hulkling has been introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Patriot, aka Eli Bradley, appeared in "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" (played by Elijah Richardson); Stature, aka Cassie Lang, appeared in Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (played by Kathryn Newton); Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye appeared as a main character in the "Hawkeye" TV series (played by Hailee Steinfeld); Iron Lad is an alternate version of Kang the Conqueror, also from Quantumania; and Wiccan (who is none other than Wanda Maximoff’s son Billy) was featured in "Agatha All Along" (played by Joe Locke). In the comics, the team evolves and replaces Stature and Patriot with Noh-Varr, America Chavez (featured on-screen in Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness as played by Xochitl Gomez), Speed (Wiccan’s twin brother), Prodigy, and a tween version of Loki (shown in a variety of projects throughout the MCU, his younger self making a cameo in an episode of Season 1 of "Loki"). 

As each character pops up throughout the MCU and others such as Ms. Marvel (played by Iman Vellani) are added to the list of young heroes, the coming together of the team itself feels imminent and inevitable. The Young Avengers has always been a team that felt like a new beginning and a return to the scrappiness and found-family bonding that make superhero stories so moving. This would also be a smart play because it would bring in a young audience that has either enjoyed this comics or would more easily see themselves reflected in these characters. On that note, the Young Avengers are considerably more diverse than any main MCU superhero team so far. America is Latina and a lesbian, Patriot and Prodigy are both Black men, and Hulking and Wiccan are in a loving queer relationship for the entirety of the comics run. The MCU has struggled with representing minorities, particularly when it comes to LGBTQ+ characters, despite them being common in the comics and making up a significant portion of the film’s audience. The Young Avengers are a group of friends who are bonded by the love they have for each other, and there are themes throughout the series about acceptance and community as well as being explicitly about battling homophobia. The integration of representation and diversity is effortless and meaningful -- two things that the MCU needs now more than ever.

The comics themselves are extraordinary, from the witty writing to the stunning art, but it's the true essence of these characters and their stories that could help bring this franchise back to life by offering something fresh, exciting, and different. I only hope that when these scattered cameo characters are brought together, they are able to be exactly who they are and that the Marvel Cinematic Universe resists apologizing for portraying something powerful with an individual artistic voice. If that’s what you’re looking for from the superhero genre, I would suggest that you not only get excited for what’s to come in the MCU, but do yourself a favor and pick up issue #1 of The Young Avengers from your local comic book store!