Young Avengers #3
Sidekicks, Part 3
While investigating the so-called Young Avengers, Jessica Jones, Captain America (Steve Rogers), and Iron Man (Tony Stark) have confronted their leader, Iron Lad, at the ruins of Avengers Mansion.[1] They have just learned that Iron Lad is a young Nathaniel Richards, who has traveled back in time to recruit a team to stop his future self, Kang the Conqueror. He was just explaining how he arrived after the team disbanded and so he sought out the data stored in the remains of the Vision for some reason.[2] That’s when his story is interrupted by an earthquake, signaling that Kang has started his latest attack on the present day.
Rushing outside, they discover that this was not Kang, but Cassie Lang, the daughter of the late Ant-Man (Scott Lang).[3] She had come with Kate Bishop to petition the Young Avengers for membership. Confronted by the rest of the team — Patriot, Hulkling, and Asgardian — she got upset when they refused her and suddenly grew to giant size. The strain on her body was such that she suddenly collapsed on the ground. The adults rush to her age and Captain America wakes Cassie up and calms her enough that she can return to her normal size. With her clothes in tatters, Cap takes her inside the ruined mansion to get changed.
While she does so, Cap and the others get to question the Young Avengers and are formally introduced. They also meet Kate, whom the team saved from a hostage situation at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.[4] Kate accuses Iron Lad for having a “no girls” policy for his team. However, Nathaniel insists that isn’t the case because Cassie’s name wasn’t in Avengers Failsafe Program that the Vision had in his memory. This is new to Captain America and Iron Man and so Iron Lad explains: The Vision had gathered intel on young people who had significant ties to the Avengers or their history in the event that the team was ever destroyed or disbanded. Upon hearing this, Hulkling and Asgardian admit that they don’t know what their connections are and hope that Cap and Iron Man might shed some light on it. When asked for their secret identities, Patriot protests this. However, everyone else feel they can trust Captain America with the secret. The Patriot at least gets Cap to ask Kate to wait outside. However, before she leaves the room, Bishop tells the Patriot that he should be more like Captain America.
They all sit down and tell the Captain America and Jessica who they are and what little they know about the origins of their powers. Asgardian’s real name is Billy Kaplan who is the son of cardiologists (Jeff) and psychologist (Rebecca) and has two brothers. He can do more than summon lightning but has no idea why or how. The same can be said about Hulkling, aka Teddy Altman, who doesn’t think his shape-shifting powers were the result of gamma radiation like the actual Hulk. When it comes to the Patriot (Eli Bradley) the hot-headed youth reveals that his animosity toward Captain America because he is the descendant of the “real” Captain America, Isiah Bradley the black Captain America.[5]
In another room, Cassie is changing into her father’s old costume and explaining to Iron Man that she had been secretly using her father’s Pym Particles for years. However, until now she had never grown to giant size. She also looks for her father’s Ant-Man helmet, but Tony explains that he stored it with all the other tech at the mansion. She wants it back, saying her father’s death was an accident. However, Stark reveals to her that he was actually killed by one of their own, the Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff) and that it is too dangerous for Cassie to follow in his footsteps.[6] As Tony tells this tragedy, the Patriot explains how his powers came from the blood transfusion he needed after being injured in a fight.[7]
With all of these explanations out of the way, Captain America is about to tell the kids that he will be shutting them down. However, the Young Avengers refuse to abide by this and things start to get tense. That’s when one of Kang’s Growing Men comes barging into the ruined mansion looking for his master.[8] Ignoring Captain America’s warnings that fighting the stimuloid will make it grow larger, Hulkling punches it in the face with enough force to knock the Growing Man to the ground. That’s when it does something unexpected: Instead of growing larger, it suddenly breaks up into multiple smaller versions of itself. Iron Man then orders everyone to subdue their tiny foes. It becomes clear that they have come from Iron Lad, prompting him to order Asgardian to use his other powers to temporarily stun the artificial beings. This stops the mini Growing Men long enough for Iron Lad to remove his helmet and reveal that he is their master.
In response, the Growing Men start beaming energy into the sky, a signal to the one who sent them. With Kang on the way, Captain America and Iron Man seem to finally accept the Young Avengers are going to be a thing. In reality, under the pretense that they are going to start training, Steve and Tony lock the youths up in a chamber to contain them. The then rejoin Jessica upstairs and begin looking up info on the children’s parents so they can call them. They aren’t entirely sure if Iron Lad’s story about being a younger version of Kang is true. However, the tale is proven correctly when Kang finally arrives!
Recurring Characters
Young Avengers (Iron Lad, Patriot, Hulkling, Asgardian), Cassie Lang, Kate Bishop, Captain America, Iron Man, Jessica Jones, Growing Man, Kang
Continuity Notes
Avengers Mansion was heavily damaged by an insane Scarlet Witch in an act that led to the Avengers being disbanded at the time of this story. See Avengers #500-503/Avengers Finale #1.
The Vision was destroyed by the Scarlet Witch in Avengers #500. He will eventually be rebuilt by Tony Stark in Avengers (vol. 4) #19. We heard part of Nathan’s story last issue.
Cassie’s father was believed to have been killed in Avengers #500 as well. However, he was actually pulled forward in time by the future Young Avengers as we will see in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #5.
Kate and her family were held hostage during a wedding, as we saw in Young Avengers #1.
With respect to each of the Young Avengers ties to the original team, only Patriot’s is revealed here. But let’s break it down:
It will later be revealed that Asgardian is the reincarnation of one of the Scarlet Witch’s deceased children. The Scarlet Witch used magic to impregnate herself in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3 and gave birth to twins named Billy and Tommy in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #12. The twins were seemingly erased from existence when they were used to restore the fragmented soul of Mephisto in Avengers West Coast #52. Billy comes to this conclusion in Young Avengers #10, but the Scarlet Witch doesn’t confirm it until Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #6.
Teddy Altman is actually Kree/Skrull hybrid and the son of Skrull Princess Anelle and the Kree Captain Mar-Vell. They had a brief affair during the Kree/Skrull War circa Avengers #89-97. As will be revealed in Young Avengers #9-12, Teddy was secreted to Earth after his birth to protect him from the Skrull Empire.
Isaiah Bradley was an African-American soldier who was exposed to a derivative and imperfect version of the Super Soldier Serum as told in Truth: Red, White & Black #1-7. While mostly forgotten, he had become something of a symbol in the Black community of the Marvel Universe. The assertion that Isiah was the first Captain America is incorrect, as he got his powers in 1942, 2 years after Steve became Captain America in Captain America Comics #1. Eli’s relation to Isaiah is complicated, see below.
He also mentions that Hawkeye was killed during this attack. As we saw in Avengers #502. Clint’s death will be reversed by Wanda herself following House of M #1-8, as we’ll see in New Avengers #26.
Eli’s story about the blood transfusion turns out to be a lie. As revealed in Young Avengers #8, Bradley gets his strength from the drug known as Mutant Growth Hormone.
Asgardian mentions how the Growing Man has previously fought Thor, the Avengers, and the Thunderbolts. These clashes happened in Thor #140, Avengers #69 (nice), and Thunderbolts #5 respectively.
Topical References
Jessica Jones is depicted with a cell phone that has a visible antenna on the top receive signals. This style of phone was common when this comic was originally published in 2005. However, this type of technology has since fallen out of common use and is on its way to obsolescence. As such, its depiction here should be considered topical.
Eli’s Relation to Isaiah
This story states that Eli Bradley is the grandson of Isaiah Bradley, who was alive during World War II, and somehow still alive in the modern age. Per the Truth #2 limited series, Isaiah’s only daughter Sarah Gail was born in 1942. This was before he was injected with a derivative Super Soldier Serum which made him sterile. Sarah is identified as Eli’s mother in the Patriot profile in All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #8. That said, due to the Sliding Timescale constantly pushes the Modern Age of the Marvel Universe forward in time, expanding the gulf of time between 1942 and the Modern Age. As such, it becomes increasingly impossible for Sarah to still be alive in the present. Ignoring that, she would have long aged out of fertility to have a teenaged grandson in the Modern Age either.
To date, Marvel has yet to offer an official explanation for this paradox. Given how they dealt with issues like this in the past, I think it is safe to assume that Eli will eventually become a direct descendent of Isaiah in a more general way as opposed to specifically being his grandson. One could go a step farther and say that his mother was named Sarah as well to honor the Sarah Gail Bradley who was born in 1942. For now, my index refers to him as descended from Isaiah until an official explanation comes out. That way I don’t have to go back and change dozens of pages. Pretty neat, huh?