The MCU hasn’t officially announced a Young Avengers project yet, but how many heroes could realistically be on the team?
With the MCU seemingly getting bigger every single day, audiences have long speculated that some of the original Avengers that have been around since the beginning might be close to calling it quits. After all, we as fans might want to see the beloved characters time after time, but actors and actresses are real people and understandably want to move on to other things.
So, with beloved heroes like Iron Man, Steve Rogers, and Black Widow meeting their end (as well as rumors that more will follow in the upcoming Phase 5 & 6) many believe that the MCU will soon allow some of the younger heroes to take over. It certainly doesn’t seem to be a coincidence that so many young characters have been introduced throughout Phase 4 and a Young Avengers movie (while not confirmed) does seem imminent. So, with that in mind, how many of these adolescent universe savers could be a part of the newest MCU super-team?
Peter Parker/Spiderman
Before we get around to some of the newer heroes, it needs to be remembered that the Young Avengers will need a leader – and there’s no better fit than Peter Parker. Spiderman might have returned to being a friendly neighborhood web-slinger at the end of No Way Home, but MCU fans can guess that that storyline won’t last long. Peter Parker is one of the strongest/smartest heroes in all of Marvel lore and Tom Holland’s rendition of the character has been beloved since day one. Since Spiderman will be a tad older than the rest of the coming heroes, yet is still considered on the young side, it makes perfect sense that he would take be the one to take over.
Black Panther/Shuri or T’Challa
This one actually gets a bit tricky. Shuri took over the role of Black Panther in Wakanda Forever but audiences know that the end-credit scene revealed that T’Challa had a son (also named T’Challa). Now, Shuri has grown up a bit but is still considered on the young-side compared to most other MCU heroes and she would be another perfect fit to lead the super-team alongside Spiderman. That said, the reveal of T’Challa’s son makes things a bit murky since it isn’t yet known whether the boy will eventually take up the mantle of Black Panther like his father.
Billy & Tommy Maximoff
Wanda and Vision’s children might be fake in our universe, but it was revealed in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness that Billy and Tommy exist in every other universe out there. So, with the multiverse becoming more and more tangled throughout the MCU, it isn’t unlikely to assume that a version of Billy and Tommy will ultimately end up in the Earth 838 universe (the main timeline that MCU fans have come to know). If that did end up happening, the two super-children would undoubtedly be valuable assets to the team.
America Chavez
Speaking of the multiverse, one character who would absolutely be a part of the Young Avengers is the universe-hopping hero America Chavez. Introduced in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, America’s powers are God-tier and proved to be quite powerful as she was able to use her abilities to take down the Scarlet Witch, a feat that Thanos himself struggled to do. Not only that but it was revealed at the end of the movie that America was training to become a sorceress as well. Put those powers together, and you get one super-strong adolescent hero.
Kate Bishop
Kate might be one of the newer characters in the MCU but she’s actually still older than most of the other heroes in this list. That said, Kate Bishop’s introduction in the Hawkeye series was hysterical and captivating and assured viewers that she’ll be around for a long time. Keeping in mind that Hawkeye is one of the first six Avengers, it isn’t outrageous to think that Kate will officially be taking over the mantle sometime in the near future. And when that happens, her experience with an actual Avenger combined with her age might put her in contention to be one of leaders of the Young Avengers.
Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan
This one’s a no-brainer. Not only did Kamala already star in her own series on Disney+, but the character is going to be one of the main heroes in the upcoming movie The Marvels that will be airing later this year. The plot of the movie has been said to revolve around Kamala, Captain Marvel, and Monica Rambeau – meaning that as long as Kamala makes it out of the movie alive, she’ll be a perfect candidate for the Young Avengers, and her fangirl status of the original Avengers certainly wouldn’t hurt her chances.
Ironheart
Riri Williams might have gotten her MCU introduction in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but her character wasn’t given as much screen-time as audiences were hoping for. Thankfully she’ll assuredly be getting the bulk of screen-time in her upcoming Disney+ show and the super-genius engineer who is set to become the next “Iron Man” of the MCU will unquestionably be a major part of the next set of Marvel heroes to take over the big screen – meaning it’s only logical that she’ll be a member of the Young Avengers.
Cassie Lang
The only child of Ant-Man has appeared in both the prior Ant-Man movies as well as a brief cameo appearance in Avengers: Endgame when Scott realizes his daughter has aged five years. In all those outings, Cassie never appeared to have any super abilities herself. However, audiences have known for quite some time that Cassie will be playing an integral part in the upcoming Ant-Man: Quantumania and it’s been rumored that she may be taking over the Ant-Man role if Scott ends up being taken out by Kang. If she survives the upcoming movie, it’s a safe bet that she’ll make the Young Avengers squad.
Honorable Mentions/Wild Cards/Long Shots
Skaar – The son of Hulk was given a literal 3-second cameo at the end of the She-Hulk series when Bruce returned from an undisclosed trip to a faraway planet. Now, as the son of Hulk, it makes perfect sense that Skaar would be a member of the Young Avengers – that said, his appearance out of nowhere was a complete shock to audiences and fans will arguably have to get a little bit more information/background on the character before they’d be comfy with him just jumping in with the more established characters.
Elijah Bradley/Patriot – one of the potential Young Avengers that fans could have forgotten about (since he technically hasn’t become a hero in the MCU yet) is the grandson of super-soldier Isaiah Bradley, both of whom made their debut in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier back in 2021. However, fans of the Marvel comics know that Elijah eventually gets his grandfather’s super-powers through a blood transfusion and assumes the role of Patriot, one of the original members of the Young Avengers in the comics. If Elijah’s character does eventually obtain powers in the MCU, then it’ll be a safe bet for him to make the team.
Love – another child of an original Avenger, Love is the adopted daughter of Thor whom Gorr wished back to life at the end of Thor: Love and Thunder. Again, as the daughter of Thor, Love would be a perfect addition to the team. However, the character was played by Chris Hemsworth’s actual real-life daughter and he has insisted that it was a “one-and-done” deal for her. That being said, there’s no reason Love couldn’t be recast in order to include the character in future installments (just like they did with Cassie Lang).
Kid Loki – the child variant of Loki that appeared in the Loki series in 2021 would unquestionably make the cut for the Young Avengers if we were just talking about his age. But the character was thrown in with a bunch of other Loki variants and we weren’t given much backstory on him – other than the fact that he killed his version of Thor. It would be messy enough to write a plot line that included brining Kid Loki into the main timeline, but the rest of the Young Avengers might not want him around if this version of Loki was actually willing to kill his brother… just saying.
Laura Kinney/X-23 – yes, it’s the absolute longest shot out of any of these characters, but there have been longer shots made in the MCU and this isn’t an impossibility. The MCU has already begun incorporating Fox-owned characters (X-Men, Fantastic 4, etc) into the universe and Deadpool 3 is rumored to be bringing Hugh Jackman back as Wolverine despite him dying at the end of Logan. So, if the MCU is going to incorporate one character from that movie, why not bring in another? The actress who played Laura is still only 18 and would fit seamlessly into the Young Avengers squad and audiences would go absolutely nuts to see her again.