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Background
FOUNDING MEMBERS: Asgardian (Billy Kaplan), Hulkling (Teddy Altman), Iron Lad
(Nathaniel Richards), Patriot (Eli Bradley)
CURRENT MEMBERS: Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Hulkling (Teddy Altman), Patriot (Eli
Bradley), Speed (Thomas Shepherd), Vision, Wiccan (Billy Kaplan)
FORMER MEMBERS: Iron Lad (Nathaniel Richards), Stature (Cassie Lang)
HISTORY:
In the year 3016, technology ruled the alternate world known as Other-
Earth. 16-year-old robotics student Nathaniel Richards was rescued from a
fatal attack by his future self, the time-traveler known as Kang the
Conqueror. Kang gave Nathaniel a suit of psychokinetic armor that responded to
his thoughts and gave him a glimpse of his future as Kang. Horrified by Kang's
deeds, Nathaniel rejected Kang's help and used the armor to escape to modern
day Earth to enlist the help of the Avengers to defeat Kang.
Unfortunately, not too long ago after the Scarlet Witch's breakdown,
the Avengers had disbanded and the mansion was in ruins when Nathaniel, now
calling himself Iron Lad, found it. A glitch in his armor prevented him from
traveling any further back in time and failed attempts to contact individual
Avengers prompted him to take his own actions. He broke into Star Industries
where he uploaded the CPU of the destroyed Vision, where he discovered a
failsafe program designed to locate super-powered youths with some significance
to the Avengers or Avengers history to become the next generation of heroes if
needed.
Three of these young Avengers were located in the New York area: Eli
Bradley, grandson of Isaiah Bradley who was the sole surviving guinea pig of
the early stages of the Super-Soldier program to follow after the first Captain
America (Steve Rogers); Billy Kaplan, a boy mage with the ability to project
waves of energy; and Teddy Altman, able to turn into a massive green powerhouse
with a healing factor. Becoming Patriot, Asgardian and Hulkling respectively,
Iron Lad led the quartet on several missions to train them for battle with
Kang.
Upon learning about the team, Captain America and Iron Man set out to
stop them before they got hurt. Meanwhile, the team was beginning to grow as
Cassie Lang, daughter of fallen avenger Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, decided to try
and continue with her father's heroic legacy. She had been stealing Pym
particles her father utilized for years in the hopes of gaining powers, and
eventually discovered that she eventually could increase her own size. Her
desire to join the Young Avengers was shared by a woman who assisted them in
stopping gunmen at her sister's wedding, Kate Bishop who also sought to join
them with her weaponry and athletic skills.
By the time they found the team at Avengers Mansion, they were already being
confronted by Cap and Iron Man, as well as Jessica Jones. That's when Kang
chose to come for Iron Lad. A battle ensued, and Iron Lad had used Kate's
sword to kill Kang. However, ramifications befell the time stream, including
the Avengers being dead. The only way to restore time was to go back in time
and reluctantly become Kang. His armor, which he removed to prevent Kang from
tracking him, had become a new body for the Vision through the CPU Iron Lad had
downloaded earlier.
The older heroes forbade the younger ones from ever putting on their
costumes again, or else they would do everything in their power to stop them.
The team reluctantly agreed, but soon found themselves changing their minds
quickly. Each one had their own reasons for becoming Young Avengers in the
first place, and even with Iron Lad gone they had a need to be heroes. Kate
supplied them with a new headquarters, an abandoned warehouse belonging to her
family, and with new costumes so that they could keep their promise and never
wear their old costumes again. Thus, the Young Avengers reassembled.
The events of Civil War had plagued the team. Refusing to register, the Young
Avengers were captured by Capekillers until Captain America and the Falcon
Rescued them. They joined the Secret Avengers and fought against registration
proudly. In a battle with the Registration Strikeforce, Goliath was killed by
a clone of Thor and the Secret Avengers were forced to retreat, leaving Wiccan
behind to be captured. Stature took Goliath's death hard and defected to the
pro-side. The others remained with Cap's team, excluding Hulkling who had been
embedded in the pro-side disguised as Hank Pym.
Thanks To:
Some of the above information is extracted from the various
versions of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe and the more recent
Marvel Encyclopaedias.
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