Sidekicks, Part 1

A new team of young superheroes have emerged. Because their powers are similar to those of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the Hulk, the media has started referring to them as the “Young Avengers”. When a story about how they saved people from an apartment fire lands on the front page, Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson calls in both Kate Farrell and Jessica Jones.[1] Jameson wants them to find out who these kids are and why they have decided to take on the job of being Avengers.[2]

Jameson notes that the kid who Kat thought was imitating Captain America (Steve Rogers) is actually dressed like Bucky, Cap’s partner from World War II. Both Jameson and Jones think this is troubling given that Bucky died during the war.[3] Jessica knows Captain America personally and says he would never agree to teenagers risking their lives like this. That leads to Kate bringing up how Jessica once tried out to be an Avenger herself as the Jewel.[3] Both Farrell and Jameson come to the agreement that the best person to track these kids down and earn their trust would be Jessica. Jameson tells both women to get to work, despite Jessica’s objections to the idea.[5]

As the two women head out of the Bugle Building, they begin discussing how to get in touch with former members of the Avengers to help them track down these youths. Luckily, they don’t look hard as, once they are on the street, they are greeted by Captain America and Iron Man (Tony Stark). Incidentally enough, they wanted to talk to Jessica about the very thing she was asked to investigate. Iron Man flies her and Cap up to a nearby rooftop so they can speak in private. They also noticed the resemblance to Bucky and Cap in particular doesn’t want these kids to put themselves in harms way. He still blames himself for Bucky and for this as well. The two former Avengers ask Jones to help them track these kids down so they can put a stop to their potentially life threatening activities. Jessica points out that they are teenagers, who are notorious for not listening to their elders. Cap, on the other hand, is convinced that they will listen to him. They decide to stake out the ruins of Avengers Mansion, as that seems like the most likely place for these kids to meet.

That evening, both Kate and Jessica show up outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral where a wedding has been taken hostage. This was to rob the rich patrons of the wedding and now, the gunmen are negotiating their escape with police. Inside the church, a young woman named Kate Bishop can’t believe that the cops are negotiating with their captors. She finds it ridiculous that nobody in the wedding is doing anything as they outnumber the crooks. Overhearing her, one of the hostage takers reminds her that they are armed by pointing his gun in her face.

That’s when this group of “Young Avengers” — The armored Iron Lad, lightning casting Asgardian, super-strong Hulkling, and the Bucky inspired Patriot — come crashing in through the church’s large stained glass window. While their entrance is less than graceful, the team quickly get to work disarming the gunmen. When one of them pulls a knife and tries to stab Hulkling, Asgardian summons a bolt of lightning to incapacitate him. That’s when they notice one of the lightning strikes caused a fire and Iron Lad rushes to put it out. This distracts the young heroes long enough for some of the crooks to start fighting hand-to-hand. Watching this, Kate wants to help and notices one of the guns and one of the Patriot’s throwing stars within reach and tries to get to them. Unfortunately, the leader of the gang grabs her and puts a gun to her head.

He once again issues demands that they be allowed to leave, threatening to kill Kate if the heroes don’t comply. What he doesn’t expect is that Kate managed to grab the throwing star and she stabs him in the leg with it. This allows the young heroes to take the last of the crooks down. They then go outside where they are swarmed by a mob of people as well as the NYPD who want to take them in for questioning. This chaos allows Kat and Jessica to get close enough to talk to the youths. They learn their names and Jessica slips her phone number and asks them to call her so they can do an interview. With that, this young team of heroes fly off, awestruck that they just met the Jewel. Once they are gone, Jessica gets on the phone with her boyfriend Luke Cage so he can get in touch with Cap and Iron Man.

Just as Jessica predicted, these “Young Avengers” regroup at the ruins of Avengers Mansion. There Patriot and Iron Lad bicker with one another over how sloppy their rescue mission was. Iron Lad in particular because he tells them that they need to be in fighting shape when Kang the Conqueror finally comes to this time period. Patriot meanwhile thinks they’re going to need more than four inexperienced teens to deal with this threat. Patriot then needs to go before his grandmother notices that he is gone. Iron Lad is worried he is quitting, but Asgardian is confident he’ll be back. That’s when Hulkling and Asgardian hand Iron Lad the business card Jessica Jones gave them and tells him that she wants them to call her. Iron Lad vetoes this idea because she won’t believe them when they explain that they banded together to stop Kang. Instead, he suggests they continue their training so they are ready when the time comes.

When the other two leave, Iron Lad decides to walk around the ruins of Avengers Mansion and think. It is here that he is visited by Jessica Jones, Captain America, and Iron Man. Iron Lad is startled by their arrival and almost shoots them with an ion blast. Luckily, Cap is able to block it with his shield. They then start questioning the boy and are surprised that to discover his neuro-kinetic armor is at least decades more advanced than anything that currently exists. That’s when Iron Lad removes his helmet and tells them that he is from the 30th century where they call him Kang.[6]

Recurring Characters

Young Avengers (Iron Lad, Patriot, Asgardian, Hulkling), Captain America, Iron Man, Jessica Jones, Kate Bishop, Susan Bishop, J. Jonah Jameson, Kate Farrell

Continuity Notes

1. At the time of this story, Jessica was working at a the Daily Bugle for their superhero centric publication The Pulse. See The Pulse #1-14.

2. Also at the time of this story, the Avengers had just recently disbanded after the team was decimated by the Scarlet Witch. See Avengers #500-503/Avengers: Finale #1.

3. Yet another thing that was believed at the time of this story: That Bucky was dead. As told in Avengers #4, everyone was led to believe that Buck died in 1945 while trying to disarm a drone loaded with explosives. However, he survived and was recovered by the Russians who turned him into an assassin known as the Winter Soldier. See Captain America (vol. 5) #8-14.

4. For more of Jessica’s failed stint as a superhero, check out Alias #22-28.

5. Here, it is mentioned that Jessica is pregnant and dating Luke Cage. Both of these things happened in Alias #28. Jessica will give birth to her daughter Dani in The Pulse #14.

6. Next issue we’ll learn that Iron Lad is the younger version of Kang the Conqueror. Meeting his future self, young Nathaniel Richards decides to try and thwart his future self from conquering the Modern Age.

Topical References

• J. Jonah Jameson states that he was a boy during World War II and idolized Bucky until his alleged death in World War II. while this was possible when this comic was published in 2005, it has become increasingly impossible for Jameson to have been alive back then. This is because the Marvel Universe operates on a sliding timescale that pushes the “Modern Age” forward in time. As a result, the gulf of time between the war and the present will continue to grow larger over time. As Jameson is an ordinary person with a normal human life span, he cannot have been born back then and still be alive without drastically aging him here. One can assume that a young JJJ could still have grown up idolizing Bucky even if he was born after World War II.

• During the hostage situation at St. Patricks, Jessica quips that many of the people in attendance are wearing Armani tuxedos. This should be considered topical as this is a real world brand.

• Jessica’s cell phone is depicted as having physical buttons, which was common at the time this story was published. However, this model of phone has fallen out of common use thanks to the advent of smart phones which utilize touch screens. As such, this should be considered a topical reference.