THE YOUNG AVENGERS:
-Coming out around the same time as
Runaways, but predating the Young Hero books that followed it (including
The Initiative,
Young Allies and
Avengers Academy),
The Young Avengers debuted in 2004, filling the gap between
Avengers: Disassembled and Bendis revamping that series- the kids on the book were all meant to look like "Legacy Heroes", with a few sharing the names of their predecessors or having names inspired by them- Asgardian (Thor/Scarlet Witch), Iron Lad (Iron Man; but actually the teen self of Kang the Conqueror), Patriot (Captain America), "Hawkeye II" Kate Bishop (Hawkeye), Vision III (Vision II), Hulkling (Hulk), Speed (Quicksilver), and Stature (Ant-Man/The Wasp). It was created by a writer I've never heard of, Allan Heinberg (best known for TV credits in writing & production, working on
The Gilmore Girls,
Sex and the City, and other things) and Jim Cheung, who had a somewhat unique style that was both detailed and cartoonish. I've personally never read their actual main appearances, so this will mostly be Wiki-built- I've read many of their side-appearances, though.
The team is told to give it up by Captain America & Iron Man, but rebel and keep going, because, well... it's a Teen Hero book. They NEVER do what adults say. Various things come about- Stature has an adversarial relationship with her mother & stepfather (her dad was currently dead), Patriot is abusing Mutant Growth Hormone to mimic having super-powers, and Asgardian & Hulkling have an obvious enough romantic entanglement that fans immediately picked up on it, despite the writer initially wanting it to be subtle. In this case, Heinberg was planning on Asgardian flirting with a female shapeshifter who would later reveal "herself" as male, but editor Tom Brevoort was like "That's too complicated; why not just make them gay?". Heinberg, who had assumed this would have been kiboshed and so suggested it, was like "Oh, well that was my original idea".
Hulkling turns out to be the Half-Skrull son of Captain Mar-Vell, Eli gains real powers thanks to a blood transfusion from his grandfather, and the kids join up with Cap in
Civil War, and mostly avoid Registration, but Stature signs up with Iron Man's Initiative. She & Vision III form a relationship as he becomes his own person, and the two Hawkeyes finally meet when Clint Barton returns to life. They appear in minor roles in many major Marvel Crossovers, as the book is largely unconnected from other things- Norman Osborn forms a "Young Avengers" out of a team of total goofs who later call themselves the Young Masters, the YA kids fight on the sight of good in
Siege (I was quite annoyed that the triumphant return of CAPTAIN AMERICA featured him teaming up with these D-Listers instead of the major Avengers, to be honest), and more.
Many moons ago, I made the assertion about Hulkling that "largely his entire character revolves around him being in a relationship with Wiccan". Literally every comic I've ever read featuring the Young Avengers (even where they only make a cameo) makes mention of this relationship, with one of the two making sure to mention "my boyfriend" within a couple panels. To the point of obnoxiousness. Batgirl III, who'd actually read their book, insisted this was only the case in their guest appearances, as less-capable or less-familiar writers kind of just latched onto side traits, as they weren't any more obnoxious than any number of Marvel couplings in various books (like Cyclops & the White Queen, who were an item at the time). I also found them funny because this was when it became mandatory for EVERY Teen Hero book to feature at least one gay member. Of course, it makes sense that gay heroes are increasing in number (as publically-outed celebrities are on the rise, as well as public acceptance of homosexuality), but it's kinda funny that the necessity of it only being NEW characters being gay means that it's all TEEN HEROES coming out of the closet, as each new teen book has at least one or two gay kids. Ya gotta wonder what they put in the water in New York these days, if the only gay heroes are the kids.
Avengers- The Children's Crusade:
Heinberg's run
Young Avengers culminated with
The Children's Crusade, a huge-ass mini-series that ran from 2010-12. Here, Asgardian (now called Wiccan) and Speed discover that they are actually the children of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch, somehow returned to actual life (the initial twins were revealed to be slivers of Mephisto himself). Magneto meets his grandchildren, Quicksilver tries to kill him, and then the Avengers all show up and Everybody Fights while an amnesiac Wanda Maximoff prepares to marry Doctor Doom. The Young Avengers go through time thanks to Iron Lad, and resurrect Scott Lang (Stature's father) and return Wanda's memories, and she finally undoes M-Day and returns powers to mutants everywhere. Doom manipulates things to grab Wanda's powers for himself, offering to solve all the problems of the X-Men & Avengers, and return their deceased loved ones to life, but all the heroes reject his offer, given he's DOCTOR DOOM. Wiccan & Wanda finally team up to defeat Doom, who reveals that he was behind Wanda going insane in
Disassembled and
House of M, and the cause of all her troubles. In the final moments, he kills an enraged Stature.
The Young Avengers are broken by Stature's death, even as Wanda & Wiccan share a tear-filled reunion as mother & son. When Iron Lad tries to save Stature by bringing her into the timestream, Vision III reacts poorly and there's a fight- Vision is killed. The team splits up and Wanda runs off to find herself, sending Wiccan into depression, but a proposal from Hulkling and their first kiss caps off Heinberg's run, as the team is inducted as full-fledged Avengers.
But Actually...:
-Instead of actually being Avengers, the team is rebooted into a new book in 2013, done by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie. Here, they're made up of Wiccan, Hulkling, Hawkeye II, Kid Loki, Marvel Boy (Noh-Varr) & the new Miss America. Soon, they are rejoined by Speed, and Prodigy of the Young X-Men enters as well. Kate hooks up with Noh-Varr & Prodigy comes out as bisexual and crushes on Hulkling, while Wiccan discovers that he is one of a million characters destined to be "Potentially the Most Powerful Hero Ever". Kid Loki naturally wants this power for himself, but comes to enjoy being with his teammates and regrets them splitting up in the end- he departs after betraying them, but Wiccan uses his "Demiurge" powers to stop an evil alien parasite. The book ends with issue #15, the creators wanting to move on.
Subsequently:
-The Young Avengers have largely broken up since then. Wiccan & Hulkling were on
The New Avengers for such a short period of time I suspected Al Ewing had been forced to use the characters, as the arc had nothing to do with the rest of the series (it was about Kree/Skrull hybrids trying to get Hulkling to be their king), and they left the team to be together right away. Kate Bishop became a major character in Matt Fraction's beloved
Hawkeye run. Speed & Patriot disappeared into Comics Limbo. Vision III is still dead, and Iron Lad became Kang. Later characters Prodigy & Noh-Varr also vanished, and Miss America became one of many minority characters to get a minor push by Marvel. The characters have been rumored for a "Disney+" series, but who knows?
) were because all 7 had their powers increased?
