Summary:
- Marvel set up Young Avengers in the MCU, with Kamala Khan as the Founder.
- The film introduces the first two Young Avengers recruits alongside Khan, with several other candidates from across MCU movies and TV shows also in consideration.
After years of speculation, Marvel has confirmed that a Young Avengers project is coming to the MCU, as revealed in The Marvels. With the Marvel timeline introducing legacy heroes and family members of original superheroes, the MCU is shifting toward new life since the end of the Infinity Saga. While established heroes continue to be big brands for the MCU, the studio knows that progress is essential for its continued success.
Since the start of Phase 4, multiple Marvel projects have introduced teenage and younger superpowered individuals. While Spider-Man remains a top-tier hero, the question of a Young Avengers movie has been intriguing. Kevin Feige himself hinted at this possibility after Cassie Lang was recast for Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, saying:
“Well, sure…so where and when we would see the evolution of that? I don’t know. And certainly – taking our cue from the comics as we always do – that’s why we wanted Cassie, a very young Cassie in this movie, to be inspired by her father. Just planting seeds.”
Now, thanks to The Marvels, those seeds are flowering. A Young Avengers team is already being set up in the MCU, with one of the most popular new heroes taking the lead.
Kamala Khan’s Leadership Role
Despite Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania producer Stephen Broussard stating in February 2023 that “There are no current plans for [a Young Avengers movie],” The Marvels ending suggests otherwise.
In the film’s final moments, Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, meets Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) to reveal her plan to bring together a group of remarkable young people.
Ms. Marvel is the Young Avengers’ answer to Nick Fury, already setting her sights on two fellow fledgling superheroes.
In Marvel Comics, the Young Avengers are founded by Iron Lad, a teenage variant of Kang, who brings together founding members Eli Bradley, Wiccan, and Hulkling.
They are soon joined by Kate Bishop, Cassie Lang, and Speed, and later by America Chavez, Kid Loki, Marvel Boy, and mutant Prodigy.
A resurrected Vision also joins the team. While not all of these characters are available in the MCU, many could be used in a Young Avengers movie.
Confirmed: All Three Young Avengers Members Revealed
Kamala Khan AKA Ms. Marvel Replaces Iron Lad
As the ultimate in-universe Avengers fan, Kamala Khan fits the role of the Young Avengers founder perfectly. In Young Avengers #1-6, the new team is dismissed as Avengers superfans and is given the Young Avengers name against their will. Establishing Ms. Marvel as the founder, rather than another Kang variant, cleverly flips the original insult.
Iman Vellani spoke to Screen Rant about a potential Young Avengers movie:
“They have perspectives that the older Avengers don’t, especially because they’ve had to deal with the repercussions, but they’re also a fan of the older Avengers. So I think they can really make this team-up something new.
I think it’ll be way more functional than the Avengers even were. I think Kamala being in charge might also set the tone in a really wonderful way. I think she’s a natural-born leader.
She is not only the glue of the Marvels but could be the glue of the younger Avengers group because she is mature and she is intelligent, and she also has all this knowledge about being superheroes and teamwork and how to do it in a way that’s ideal and works for everyone.
And she’s probably learned so much from being on the Marvels, so she can bring that into the Young Avengers. But yeah, I think they’ll definitely be a group that a lot of the younger audiences can resonate with and relate to way more. I think their opinions on social justice issues, I think their opinions on just the world in general, and what’s needed are way more important.
They feel like the group that will understand humanity and the value of human life way more than I think the older group does because they’re in it, right? They have relationships there. They’re in school, they have their friends, they have their idols and their mentors.
And I think all of those relationships will ground this group way more than we have mentors who a billionaires, and you got a guy who was frozen from the 1940s. So they’re definitely way more aware of reality.”
Kate Bishop Is The First Young Avengers Recruit
The Marvels sees Kamala Khan head to New York to seek out Kate Bishop (the MCU’s new Hawkeye after the events of Hawkeye), posing the question of a Young Avengers team.
Like Khan, Bishop is a legitimate Avengers superfan, having spent a lot of time admiring Jeremy Renner‘s original Avenger in the festive 2021 miniseries.
In the comics, Bishop became the leader of the Young Avengers and could take up the same leadership position in the MCU.
After the release of Hawkeye, Steinfeld spoke about a possible return to the MCU, teasing her Young Avengers involvement:
“I mean, the question from you and I both. Yeah, I’m certainly chomping at the bit. It’s been a minute since I’ve… It’s always so funny, because I feel like a few months can go by and I feel like I’ve been doing nothing, you know what I mean?
I’m like, ‘It’s been so long since…’ It’s been a while since ‘Dickinson’ ended and since ‘Hawkeye’ came out, but I am so ready to get back at it.
I am itching to be on set again with people that do what I do, and love what we do, and I have such a sense of belonging when I’m on set, and a sense of home, and I just love it. And it has been a while. So, I am very much chomping up a bit.”
Cassie Lang Is Next On The Young Avengers Roll-Call
While Kathryn Newton‘s Cassie Lang doesn’t appear in The Marvels, Kamala reveals that she knows of her existence thanks to SABRE’s intelligence.
That intel mirrors the database of heroes Vision put together in the comics that formed the list of potential candidates for the original Young Avengers.
Her mention suggests that Kamala Khan will be heading to San Francisco to recruit Stature, another member of the original comics team.
Newton was recently asked about her potential involvement in a Young Avengers project, and responded enthusiastically:
“I did! I heard through the Quantum Realm birdies. I heard that there was a cool tag, and I was pretty excited to see that and hear that. In the Marvel universe, you hope for that. You hope to be. My whole thing is that I grew up watching Iron Man, and I feel like I grew with that character.
So my hope for Cassie Lang has always been to grow with my audience, be it the people who are my age and saw [Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania], or the people who are just starting to watch Marvel movies at a young age. I saw one when I was a little young, but I still love those movies.
So if I get an opportunity to continue the story, then that would be so cool to be a part of a generation that’s growing up with a film. It’s such a big part of my life. But they don’t really tell you.
They tell you an overall, but I don’t take anything for granted. I am just trying to get through the day. Let’s finish one movie and then let’s continue. But I would very much also jump at the opportunity to work with Marvel Studios again.”
Potential Additions to the Young Avengers Roster
Several young heroes already in the MCU could be on Ms. Marvel’s hit list. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness star Xochitl Gomez, who played multiversal-powered America Chavez, spoke to ComicBook about a possible Young Avengers movie in the wake of The Marvel’s release:
“It would be pretty awesome to have a pretty young, diverse cast altogether. Just the thought of that is pretty awesome. Just knowing that we all support one another. And I saw Kathryn [Newton], she came to [Dancing With the Stars]. It’s just one of those things that it would be nice to have a fun moment altogether.”
Ironheart replacing Iron Lad is a spiritual replacement for Iron Man, and Eli Bradley may be the grandson of Isiah Bradley’s super-soldier from The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, but for the most part, the team fits together. Skaar and Hulking are both Hulk legacy characters and while Kid Loki chose to stay in the Void at the end of Loki season 1, there’s no saying he can’t return.
Other potential recruits include Toussaint, T’Challa’s son; Love, Thor’s daughter; Tony Stark‘s protege Harley Keener; Axl Heimdallson, Heimdall’s son; and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3’s Phyla. There’s also a multiversal Spider-Man to consider, but Miles Morales is probably a bigger fish than the Young Avengers team set-up could accommodate.
Next Appearance of the MCU’s Young Avengers: When and Where?
With a Young Avengers team officially forming, the question is when audiences can expect to see these heroes come together. Marvel Studios has movies announced through 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars, so it may seem there’s no room for the Young Avengers until Phase 7 or later.
However, Marvel has held a few release dates in 2026 and 2027 for the MCU without confirmed projects, one of which could be a Young Avengers movie.
Given Kamala and Kate made their MCU debuts on the small screen, it’s possible the Young Avengers will get a series treatment, though this seems less likely. Disney CEO Bob Iger recently announced that the MCU would be limited to 2-3 movies and 2 TV shows per year moving forward
With Agatha, Ironheart, Daredevil: Born Again, Wonder Man, and Vision Quest all seemingly in the queue first, a Young Avengers series wouldn’t have time to release for a few years.
