‘The Marvels’ Is Teasing the Team-Up We’ve Been Waiting For
When Kevin Feige announced the (now uncertain) slate of upcoming Marvel movies and series at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, one hotly anticipated project was missing from the lineup. Now, it may finally be happening—and the final scene of The Marvels is the proof.
Major spoilers for The Marvels ahead!
Here’s how The Marvels sets up one of the coolest team-ups in Marvel comics: the Young Avengers.
Kamala is putting together a team
In the last scene of The Marvels, the archer Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) comes home to find Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) waiting in her apartment. Kamala tells Kate that she’s putting together a team of “kid superheroes,” and Kate, despite being 23, is apparently eligible.
If you’ve been tracking the debuts of newer, younger superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was the moment you’ve probably been waiting for. The MCU has introduced a slew of young superheroes over the course of phases 4 and 5, including America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Kid Loki in Loki, Kate Bishop in Hawkeye, Bruce Banner’s son Skaar in She-Hulk, Cassie Lang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Riri Williams in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Kamala herself in Ms. Marvel. We’ve even been introduced to a couple of child superheroes, like Thor’s adopted daughter Love in Thor: Love and Thunder, and Phyla-Vell in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. There’s no shortage of MCU kids and young adults with formidable abilities.
That means a film adaptation of The Young Avengers is all but inevitable at this point, especially now that Kamala is recruiting youngsters for the cause. So who exactly are the Young Avengers? What could happen in an MCU adaptation? Let’s revisit the comics, and then speculate!
Who are the Young Avengers, and why are they awesome?
Simply put, the Young Avengers are exactly what they sound like: a team of teens and young adults who come together to take on challenges that adults can’t.
The Young Avengers have had a couple of different lineups over the years. The first iteration of the team, as seen in volume 1 of the collected comics, consists of Kate Bishop (a.k.a. Hawkeye), Hulkling, Wiccan, Speed, Patriot, Iron Lad, Vision, and Cassie Lang (a.k.a. Stature). In volume 2, Kate, Wiccan, and Hulkling stay on the team, and they’re joined by America Chavez, Prodigy, Noh-Varr, and Kid Loki.
If you haven’t read the comics and that last paragraph is just a big pile of meaningless superhero names, don’t worry. All you have to know is that the Young Avengers kick serious ass while having a lot of fun. Volume 2, written by Kieron Gillen and drawn by Jamie McKelvie (the duo behind the acclaimed The Wicked + The Divine), is especially good, following the team as they try to take out a transdimensional monster known as Mother.
So what might the Young Avengers line-up look like in the MCU?
The MCU’s Young Avengers: some possibilities
The MCU already has enough characters for a mashup of the two teams from the comics. In theory, an MCU Young Avengers lineup could include Kamala, Kate, America, Cassie, Skaar, Riri, and Kid Loki. Plus, Billy Kaplan, a.k.a. Wiccan, might be making his debut in Agatha: Darkhold Diaries.
Plus, let’s not forget that in the MCU, Peter Parker is still well within the Young Avengers age range, so although he isn’t part of the team in the comics, he’d be a natural addition in the MCU. As for Love and Phyla-Vell, both of whom are very young and currently in space? That might be more of a long shot, but you never know.
When could The Young Avengers come out? That’s hard to say. If it’s happening, it probably won’t be for awhile, since the project hasn’t even been announced. On the other hand, the actors could age out of these roles relatively quickly, so time is a factor. When Phase 6 was announced, it had plenty of empty slots, so conceivably, a Young Avengers project could come out in 2026 or so.
Let’s just hope that whatever that project is, it does justice to the comics.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
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