Young Avengers #7
Secret Identities, Part 1
In defiance of Captain America (Steve Rogers) demand that they disband, the Young Avengers — Patriot (Eli Bradley), Hulkling (Teddy Altman), Wiccan (Billy Kaplan), Stature (Cassie Lang), and Kate Bishop — have made the front page of the Daily Bugle after stopping the Shocker from robbing a bank.[1]
At New Avengers headquarters,[2] Cap complains about the how the teenaged heroes disobeyed his orders. Spider-Man (Peter Parker) on the other hand thinks it is great that the team bagged one of his old foes.[3] While Luke Cage is happy to see another Black superhero. They are also impressed to hear that the youngsters managed to kill Kang the Conqueror.[4] Cap still wants to shut them down, even though Peter points out that he was around their age when he first started as Spider-Man, and Luke’s offer to train them.[4] Steve decides that his only option is to call their parents, wondering what they must be like if their children were able to kill Kang.
At that moment, on the Upper West Side, Billy Kaplan is eating breakfast in front of the TV, watching the news coverage of the Young Avengers recent exploits. His mother, Rebecca, comes into the room and gives him grief for not eating at the kitchen table. That’s when Teddy Altman rings the doorbell. He is invited in and Teddy quickly realizes that Billy hasn’t told his parents the truth. Billy admits it and says that he didn’t want to make his mother’s mood worse than it already is. While he gets the third degree, Teddy lets slip that he hasn’t told his parents either. This is the part of the conversation that Billy’s mother and father (Jeff) overhear and asks what their son needs to tell them. Billy tries to explain to his parents by prefacing that it hard to deal with. His parents cut him off as they believe that their son is coming out to them that he is gay. Without letting Billy finish, they tell the boy that they already know and that they are proud that he has a relationship with Teddy. Rebecca hugs the two boys while Jeff shakes Teddy’s hand.
While on the Upper East, Peggy and her second husband Blake Burdick watch the coverage as well. They notice that the Young Avenger calling herself Stature looks an awful like Peggy’s daughter Cassie. Cassie is coming into the room and overhears them talk about it. Blake doesn’t think that Stature is his step-daughter, saying she can barely manage her homework let alone capture the Shocker. This angers Cassie and she begins to grow. However she shrinks really small when Blake also suggests that Cassie wouldn’t do this after what happened to her father, Ant-Man (Scott Lang), saying he wouldn’t want to put her mother through this.[6]
In the Bronx, Eli Bradley is looking through his sock drawer and is surprised to see that his sealable plastic bag is empty. He is interrupted by his relative, Faith Bradley who asks the boy what he is looking for. Eli says nothing and she questions him about how he left work early the night before. Eli won’t talk and Faith hopes the boy isn’t keeping secrets from her. She then tells him to say goodbye to her husband, Isaiah. When Eli goes to do this, Isaiah has the newspaper on his lap. He has figured out that Eli is the Patriot despite his diminished mental capacity. He is crying and has a smile on his face, telling Eli that the one-time Black Captain America is proud that his descendant is carrying on the family legacy.[8]
Meanwhile, back at Avengers Tower, Tony Stark has had a chance to look over the Vision and shares his finding with Cap and Jessica Jones.[9] He tells them that this entity is the Vision, but not their Vision who was destroyed when the Scarlet Witch went on her rampage. This version of their old friend has only been sentient since Iron Lad downloaded the original Vision’s hard drive into his neuro-kinetic armor. Basically, this new being has all the powers of the Vision with none of the experience, effectively making him almost like a kid.[10] This leads to them discussing how to handle the Vision and the Young Avengers. Jessica is no longer certain that telling their parents the truth is the right way to go about it. She points out that they know nothing about them or how they will react to the news, potentially causing great harm. Steve then suggests that they at least start with the parents they already know. He chooses to go and see Isaiah Bradley about Eli, and asks Jessica to see Peggy Burdick. Jessica refuses because she didn’t date Scott Lang for that long, nor did she ever meet Peggy.[11] Ultimately, Tony is refuses to go because Peggy frightens him.
By this time, the Young Avengers are having another group meeting. As Cassie and Kate make their way to join the others, Cassie expresses her frustration over how her parents will react when she reveals that she is a superhero now. Seeing Teddy and Billy together, Cassie envies them as they have each other. When she suggests that Kate and Eli also have a similar bond, Kate denies this, reminding Cassie how they always bicker with one another. They all find out that none of them have revealed the truth to their parents and they are all worried that Captain America might beat them to the punch. That’s when they notice Eli is running late and wonder what is taking him so long.
This is because Eli has been tailing some local drug dealers to their hideout. Once they go inside, Eli goes up to the roof and looks down through the skylight and sees their entire operation. However, the dealers knew they were being tailed and catch Eli on the roof. When the start shooting, Bradley tries to get out of harms way and ends up crashing through the skylight and falling into the warehouse below. Soon, the other Young Avengers become worried so Billy casts a spell to see if he can locate where Eli is and sees that their teammate is in serious trouble. This is because this drug operation is being run by the notorious criminal known as Mister Hyde! Furious that all his current work has been destroyed when Eli landed on it, he kills the drug dealers who sell his product before turning his attention to the intruder.
At the same Captain America arrives at the Bradley residence and is welcomed in with open arms. Jessica Jones meanwhile is the one who ends up having to Cassie’s home. When Peggy answers the door and Jessica introduces herself it convinces her that Stature is her daughter after all.
By this time, the Young Avengers have suited up and crash Mister Hyde’s warehouse to save Eli. When Wiccan gets a closer look at their friend and sees how banged up he is, Billy wonders what happened to his powers. Angry that his friends have shown up, Eli breaks away from the others and runs into a nearby room. Worried for his friend’s well being, Wiccan follows after him and discovers that Eli locked the door behind him. Using his magic to blast the doors open, Billy is shocked to see Eli about to shoot himself up with drugs.[12]
Recurring Characters
Young Avengers (Patriot, Hulkling, Wiccan, Stature, Kate Bishop, Vision), New Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage), Mister Hyde, Jessica Jones, Rebecca Kaplan, Jeff Kaplan, Peggy Rae, Blake Burdick, Isaiah Bradley, Faith Bradley, Shocker
Continuity Notes
The Young Avengers were formed by Iron Lad who formed the team to stop his future self, Kang the Conquror as seen in Young Avengers #1-6. At the time, the Avengers had disbanded following the events of Avengers #500-503/Avengers Finale #1. At the end of the battle, Cap ordered the Young Avengers to disband.
This story follows the formation of the New Avengers team, which Captain America and Iron Man put together in New Avengers #1-6.
The Shocker is one of Spider-Man’s lesser foes. The wall-crawler first fought him back in Amazing Spider-Man #46.
Kang was seemingly slain in Young Avengers #5. However, this happened while history was in flux due to Iron Lad’s presence in the past. When Iron Lad returned to his proper point in history, the timeline restored to its proper order. We’ll see Kang alive and well again in Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #19.
Per Civil War #2, Peter Parker was 15 years old when he first became Spider-Man way back in Amazing Fantasy #15.
Per Marvel Premiere #47, Scott Lang and his former wife Peggy had been divorced for years and shared joint custody of their daughter. However, after Peggy married Blake in Avengers (vol. 3) #62, they got full custody of the girl out of fear for her safety due to the fact that Lang was a member of the Avengers. These concerns proved warranted when Scott was one of the first Avengers seemingly killed during the Scarlet Witch’s rampage in Avengers #500. In reality, Scott was pulled forward in time by the future Young Allies, as we’ll see in Avengers :The Children’s Crusade #6.’
The empty baggie in Eli’s shock drawer is a clue that he is using Mutant Growth Hormone, a powerful drug derived from superhuman DNA that temporarily gives power to those who use it. See Young Avengers #8 for that startling story.
Isaiah Bradley was given a derivative of the Super Soldier Serum and was briefly a Captain America during World War II. The process was imperfect and led to his mental decline as he got older, see Truth: Red, White, and Black #1-7. How the elder Bradleys can still be alive during in the Modern Age is unexplained. See below for more.
Jessica is visibly pregnant here. She discovered that she was carrying a child in Alias #28 and the father is Luke Cage. She will give birth to her daughter Dani in The Pulse #14.
The original Vision was destroyed in Avengers #500. When Iron Lad came into the past, he downloaded the Vision’s database to find his team of Young Avengers, as seen in Young Avengers #1-3. This later caused his armor to become a new sentient being that identifies itself as the Vision in issue #5 of this series. The original Vision will eventually be repaired in Avengers (vol. 4) #19.
Yeah Jessica Jones briefly from Alias #15 through 28. Jessica broke it off when she discovered that she was pregnant.
Eli shooting up is paying homage to the iconic cover of Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85.
Topical References
Kate Bishop is depicted as having a “flip” style cell phone with a visible antenna to pick up reception. These type of phones were quite common when this comic was originally published in 2005. However, they have since fallen out of common use thanks to the creation of smart phones and are on their way to obsolescence. Their depiction here should be considered topical.
How Can Isaiah and Faith Bradley Still be Alive?
Isaiah and Faith Bradley were alive during World War II and depicted as being in the prime of their lives in 1942 in the Truth limited series. Here, they are identified as Eli’s grandparents. While it was possible for the couple to still be alive in the Modern Age when this comic was first published in 2005, it becomes increasingly impossible due to the Sliding Timescale. This is because the Modern Age is pushed forward in time, widening the gulf of years between World War II and the start of the Modern Age. At this time, it has become increasingly impossible for individuals with ordinary human life spans that were alive during World War II to still be around in the present without some kind of intervention. Time of this writing (May, 2024), Marvel has not provided an official explanation as to how they Isaiah and Faith could still be alive.
On the one hand, one could assume that the serum that Isaiah was given could have extended his life span beyond a natural limit, this still doesn’t explain how Faith could still be alive. There is a possible explanation. Many of Nick Fury’s Howling Commandos lived longer lives thanks to blood transfusions from Fury himself thanks to the infinity formula he started receiving after the war, starting in Marvel Spotlight #31 (as identified in various profiles for the Howlers in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition). Assuming that Isaiah’s aging had been slowed by his serum in his blood, one could assume that Faith someone came into contact with Isaiah’s bodily fluids. Yes, I implied she could have got it from fucking. Hey if Mary Jane in Spider-Man: Reign could contact cancer from Spider-Jizz, then how is this not equally possible?
The next problem is how they could be the grandparents of Eli. As I pointed out in the indexfor issue #3, Eli identifies his mother as Sarah Gail Bradley. Per the Truth mini-series, Sarah Gail was born in 1942, prior to Isaiah being injected with the Super Soldier Serum. As yet, there is no explanation for how Sarah Gail could still be alive at the time I write this (May, 2024). In lieu of an official explanation, it is my view that Eli is descended from Isaiah and his status will change as the Sliding Timescale pushes the Modern Age forward. One could assume then that his mother is not the Sarah Gail born in 1942, but someone named after her.
