Young Avengers #2
Sidekicks, Part 2
The so-called Young Avengers — Iron Lad, Patriot, Asgardian, and Hulkling — had just rescued hostages at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan. Those who were injured have been taken to a nearby hospital. There, Derek Bishop fumes that they could have gotten more seriously hurt thanks to this reckless group of young wannabe heroes. His daughter, Kate, doesn’t think so and annoyed by her father’s attitude decides to go outside to get some fresh air so she can stop hearing him complain. As she sits outside, she overhears some of the nurses talking about Kate’s own involvement in capturing the crooks and how she stabbed one of the hostage takers with one of Patriot’s throwing stars. This makes her smile.
That’s when she is approached by Cassie Lang who wants to ask her questions about the Young Avengers. Kate recognizes Cassie as the daughter of Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man.[1] Kate said that she saw the Young Avengers heading toward Central Park, and Cassie correctly assumes they were going to the ruins of Avengers Mansion. She tells Kate that she intends to go an meet with the Young Avengers and petition them to join the team. Kate decides to tag along as well.
There, Jessica Jones, Captain America (Steve Rogers), and Iron Man (Tony Stark) have just confronted Iron Lad, the leader of the Young Avengers. They had come to convince them to disband, only to learn that Iron Lad is actually Nathaniel Richards and he is destined to grow up and become Kang the Conqueror, one of the Avengers most notorious villains.[2] This comes as a shock to the senior heroes who are confused how Iron Lad came to this era to try and stop his future self.
Nathaniel explains that it happened one day while he was being bullied by some of his classmates. This was interrupted by Kang the Conqueror himself, who traveled into his own past to set in motion the events that lead to his younger self becoming Kang. Giving the boy his own suit of neuro-kinetic armor, he then shows the teen his future. How, as a bored adult, Nathaniel will discover the secrets of time travel and use it as a means of finding adventure. How he first started this quest by traveling to ancient Egypt where he set himself up as Pharaoh Rama-Tut.[3] This led to his returning to the future and conquering his timeline. However, Nathaniel also sees that, time and time again, Kang was defeated by the Avengers.[4]
Kang explains that defeat has no meaning to someone who can alter the course of history, which is why he came to his younger self. The older Nathaniel explains that this was the moment that one of his bullies was going to slit his throat. It was an experience he barely survived and the medical expenses bankrupted his parents. He has given the neuro-kinetic armor to his younger self so he can kill the bully who did this and then begin his path of conquest much earlier. Horrified by all of this, the youth refuses to take a life and attacks his future self. Deciding to change his own future, he gave the armor a mental command to send him into the past so he could recruit the Avengers to stop his future self. However, inexperienced with time travel, Nathaniel ended up landing in an era where the Avengers had suffered heavy losses and disbanded.[5] In this era he tried to reach out to Tony Stark, but couldn’t get close to him due to his security detail. Instead, Nathaniel tried a different avenue for help. Breaking into a Stark Industries warehouse, he found the remains of the destroyed android known as the Vision.
As Iron Lad is telling this story, his teammates Asgardian and Hulkling have gone looking for the Patriot after he stormed off earlier in the evening. They find him tackling a group of drug dealers who are selling Mutant Growth Hormone (MGH) on the streets.[6] They help him out, even though Hulkling gets stabbed. Luckily, his powers allow this injury to heal almost instantly. The convince the headstrong hero that even though Iron Lad isn’t clear on the details, they’re going to need everyone to take on Kang the Conqueror.
Meanwhile, Cassie and Kate have arrived at the gates of Avengers Mansion. There, Cassie tries to use the access code she used to use when she lived there but it doesn’t work.[7] Impatient, Katie scales the gate instead and then asks Cassie if she needs a boost to get over. Once on the other side, the two young women end up in the spot where Cassie’s dad died when Jack of Hearts exploded.[8] She sheds a tear and then explains to Katie that she has come to recover her father’s Ant-Man gear and carry on her father’s legacy on the Young Avengers. That’s when they are found by the returning Hulkling, Asgardian, and Patriot. They want to know what the two women are doing on Avengers property. That’s when Cassie introduces herself and both she and Kate say they want to join the Young Avengers.[9] The Patriot scoffs at this idea, saying that the two women don’t have any superpowers and therefore a potential liability. When he tries to put his hands on Cassie, she uses her self-defense training to toss him into a nearby bush. Then, as she angrily chastises them for dismissing her, everyone is shocked to watch her grow to giant size. Cassie herself is also surprised by this sudden transformation!
Recurring Characters
Young Avengers (Iron Lad, Patriot, Asgardian, Hulkling), Cassy Lang, Kate Bishop, Captain America, Iron Man, Jessica Jones, Kang, Derek Bishop
Continuity Notes
When she is identified as the daughter of Ant-Man, Cassie responds by saying she used to be. This is because, at the time of this story, Ant-Man was believed to have been killed during the Scarlet Witch’s attack on the Avengers (which led to them disbanding) in Avengers #500-503/Avengers: Finale #1. In reality, he was pulled forward in time by Cassie herself in the near future, as seen in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #5.
Kang comes from a future timeline where he has conquered the 40th century. He has since used his time travel abilities to try and conquer the Modern Age and is usually thwarted by the Avengers. For a Cole’s Notes version of Kang’s origin see Avengers #8. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 #1, Kang actually comes from the future of an alternate reality. It has been designated Reality-6311.
Kang’s time as Rama-Tut was first seen in Fantastic Four #19. After he was defeated by the Fantastic Four he fled back in time and after a brief stop in the present day (circa Fantastic Four Annual #2), he overshot his return to the future and ended up in the timeline where he became Kang. What’s unsaid here (and revealed in Avengers #269) this path was directed by Immortus, the future version of Kang himself.
Indeed, Kang has fought the Avengers and lost. Depicted in this montage of defeats are three specific instances. They are:
His first clash with the Avengers, told in Avengers #8 (naturally).
His battle with the Avengers during the Citizen Kang story line which took place in Captain America Annual #11, Thor Annual #17, Fantastic Four Annual #25, and Avengers Annual #21.
Lastly, we saw a more recent defeat during the Kang Dynasty story line which took place in Avengers (vol. 3) #41-54.
In the aforementioned Avengers #500-503. Here we see the deaths of both Jack of Hearts and the Vision, which happened in that storyline as well. However, their deaths will be undone as well. For Jack, his body is reconstituted by Project PEGASUS in Marvel Zombies Supreme #2. While the Vision is eventually rebuilt by Tony Stark in Avengers (vol. 4) #19.
MGH, as explained in Alias #16-21 is a drug that uses the DNA of superhumans (usually mutants, hence the name) that temporarily allow the users to gain powers of their own. The reason why the Patriot is singling out MGH dealers, as we’ll discover in Young Avengers #8, is because he is secretly using the drug to gain powers of his own.
Cassie states here that she used to stay at Avengers Mansion once a month until her mother got full custody of her. Per Marvel Premiere #47, Scott Lang and Peggy Rae were divorced after Scott was busted for robbery. He reformed and became Ant-Man and had shared custody of their daughter Cassie for years. This was until Peggy married Blake Burdick and got sole custody in Avengers (vol. 3) #62.
Cassie mentions how everyone thought Jack of Hearts was dead before the day he showed up at Avengers Mansion and “killed” her father. Prior to Avengers Disassembled, Jack of Hearts sacrificed his life while saving Cassie from a child abductor named Charles Cooley in Avengers (vol. 3) #76. It is believed that the Scarlet Witch reanimated his corpse when she launched her attack on her teammates.
Here, Cassie states that she is going to be 15 years old. In her first appearance in Marvel Premiere #47, she was stated as being 9 years old. Per the Sliding Timescale, roughly six years have passed since that time, as such the state age is correct.
