The Young Avengers have been a team fans have been waiting for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to introduce for four years now, though nothing has come of it. Created by writer Allan Heinberg and artist Jim Cheung, the Young Avengers debuted in their own comic, Young Avengers #1, in April 2005. The basic premise is that it is a group of young adolescent heroes who come together to form a team, with members connected to the Avengers. The roster has changed over the years, but the team has remained a fixture in Marvel Comics for twenty years now.
Across the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, various members of the Young Avengers roster (and some other teenage heroes not affiliated with the team) have been introduced, seemingly with the goal of having them crossover. Avengers: Doomsday co-writer Michael Waldron even revealed an original idea to have the team first assemble in the scrapped Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. With no word on if/when the Young Avengers will finally unite, here is every member of the team introduced in the MCU.
10
Cassie Lang (‘Ant-Man,’ ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp,’ ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’)
Even though the Young Avengers have largely been set up in the Multiverse Saga, the first member of the team to join the MCU was all the way back during Phase 2 of the Infinity Saga with Cassie Lang, daughter of Scott Lang/Ant-Man. Played by Abby Ryder Fortson in Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp, Avengers: Endgame‘s five-year time-jump saw an older Cassie Lang played by Emma Fuhrmann, with Kathryn Newton stepping into the role in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania saw Cassie Lang begin her development into her growth as a superhero, giving her a costume that resembled her Stinger persona in the comics but using her classic codename, Stature. She helped her dad defeat Kang the Conqueror in the Quantum Realm. A founding member of the Young Avengers in the comics, Cassie Lang was alluded to joining the MCU team at the end of The Marvels when Ms. Marvel referenced Ant-Man having a daughter.
9
Wiccan (‘WandaVision,’ ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,’ ‘Agatha All Along’)
WandaVision introduced audiences to two key members of the Young Avengers with Billy and Tommy Maximoff. A variant of Billy Maximoff, with Julian Hilliard reprising his role from WandaVision, appears in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Agatha All Along revealed that the soul of the child Wanda created in the hex latched onto the soul of a William Kaplan, a young boy who died in a car crash. Billy Maximoff, later donning the superhero name Wiccan, is played by Joe Locke in Agatha All Along and is established as being a powerful spellcaster just like his mother, Wanda Maximoff.
WandaVision, featuring both Wiccan and his brother Speed, kicked off a slew of MCU titles in 2021 that featured members of the Young Avengers in either cameos or major roles. Though WandaVision was not intended to be the start of the Multiverse Saga or the first title in Phase Four, the COVID-19 pandemic slotted it into that spot, and by extension, the idea of the Young Avengers assembling in the background became a key feature for this era of the franchise.
8
Speed (‘WandaVision,’ ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,’ ‘VisionQuest’)
Alongside Billy Maximoff was his twin brother, Tommy Maximoff, who appears in both WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, played by Jett Klyne. In the comics, Tommy Maximoff goes by the moniker Speed. Tommy Maximoff has powers similar to those of his uncle, Quicksilver, allowing him to move at super speed.
In the comics, Speed joins the Young Avengers later, after he is tracked down by Wiccan. A similar plot to Wiccan looking for his long-lost brother was teased in Agatha All Along, and will continue in VisionQuest, where Speed will be played by Ruaridh Mollica. Mollica and Locke, who plays his twin brother Wiccan in the MCU, also previously played romantic interests in the play Clarkston, continuing the MCU’s strange tradition of casting actors to play a couple to later play Maximoff siblings.
7
Patriot (‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’)
Eli Bradley, aka Patriot, had a small cameo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, played by Elijah Richardson. Like his comic book counterpart, he is the grandson of Isaiah Bradley. In the comics, Patriot claims to have inherited his grandfather’s super soldier serum strength after a blood transfusion, but Eli Bradley actually gets his powers from an experimental street drug called Mutant Growth Hormone (MGH). This storyline is not hinted at in the MCU, leaving many to wonder how he would factor into whatever the plans were for the Young Avengers.
Eli Bradley did not don the signature Patriot costume in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but his inclusion in the series that aired weeks after WandaVision introduced Billy and Tommy Maximoff led many to believe he would be set up as a key Young Avenger. However, from the debut of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in 2021 to the release of Captain America: Brave New World in 2025, much changed behind the scenes of the MCU. Eli Bradley was originally set to appear in Captain America: Brave New World, but was cut from the script due to the number of characters and storylines.
6
Kid Loki (‘Loki’)
Kid Loki was not part of the initial Young Avengers team, but instead Young Avengers Vol. 2, which started in 2013. A child version of Thor’s adopted brother/archenemy, Kid Loki was part of Marvel Comics effort to reintroduce Loki as more of an anti-hero figure, given the character’s newfound popularity thanks to the MCU. Kid Loki was played by Jack Veal in episodes four and five of Loki.
With Kid Loki being the third MCU Phase 4 project in a row following WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, 2021 certainly seemed like Marvel Studios was quickly building towards the Young Avengers. Kid Loki’s role as potentially part of the team remained questionable, given that he was last seen in the Void and has not been seen since 2021. Then, in 2024, Jack Veal posted a series of videos on TikTok saying he was left unhoused after claiming he had been in a physically and emotionally abusive household. Veal later released a video saying he had gotten hold of social services.
5
Kate Bishop (‘Hawkeye’)
Whereas the other Young Avengers at this point were supporting characters or minor roles, Kate Bishop, in the Disney+ series Hawkeye, was the first Young Avenger to get a starring role. Played by Academy Award-nominee Hailee Steinfeld, Kate Bishop is the daughter of wealthy businesswoman Elenor Bishop. Kate’s father died during the Battle of New York, and on that same day, she witnessed Hawkeye performing heroic acts and was inspired to become an archer. Kate Bishop finally teams up with her idol, Clint Barton, in a Christmas-themed adventure that has them cross paths with Maya Lopez and even Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin.
Hawkeye ends with Kate Bishop at the Barton family home for Christmas, with the intention for the Hawkeye mantle to be hers. She is later seen at the end of The Marvels being recruited by Ms. Marvel for what is obviously meant to be the Young Avengers. A variant of Kate Bishop also works alongside Ms. Marvel and Riri Williams/Ironheart in a Young Avengers-like team in Marvel Zombies. Hailee Steinfeld has expressed interest in reprising her role in the MCU’s future, and given her star power and her character’s likability, she potentially could be one of the leads of a Young Avengers title.
4
America Chavez (‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’)
Like Kid Loki, America Chavez joined the Young Avengers in the team’s second comic series, launched in 2013. Xochitl Gomez played America Chavez in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The film establishes her as a young woman with the power to travel the multiverse, though no variant of her exists in any reality. She is targeted by the Scarlet Witch, who seeks to use her power to travel the Multiverse and unite her with versions of her children she created in Westview.
After being assisted by Doctor Strange, America Chavez was last seen training with the sorcerers at Kamar-Taj. She was originally going to appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but due to COVID-19 release schedule changes that shifted Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to a later release, she was written out of the film. America Chavez has not been seen since 2022, but star Xochitl Gomez hinted she might be in Avengers: Doomsday.
3
Skaar (‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’)
The strangest addition, and one where I’m not quite sure if they are intended to be a Young Avenger, is Skaar. Introduced at the end of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and played by Wil Deusner, Skaar is the biological son of Bruce Banner/The Hulk from his time on Sakaar in Thor: Ragnarok. Little is known about Skaar, and he has not been seen or referenced in the MCU since 2022. In the comics, Skaar is not part of the Young Avengers or even the similarly themed teen superhero team, the Champions. Yet some rumors suggest that Skaar might be used as a composite character with the Young Avenger Hulkling, who in the comics was a founding member of the Young Avengers.
In the comics, Hulkling was the illegitimate son of Kree hero Mar-Vell (Captain Marvel) and Skrull princess Annelle, and is seen as a hero to unite the two warring factions. While the MCU could still use that origin, even with Mar-Vell being gender-swapped and played by Annette Bening, many suspect Hulkling and Skaar might be composited into one character, since Skaar gives the Young Avengers a direct tie to the Hulk. The key aspect of Hulkling’s characterization that fans would want to see carried over to Skaar would be his romance with Billy Maximoff/Wiccan.
2
Ms. Marvel (‘Ms. Marvel,’ ‘The Marvels’)
Even though Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel was not a Young Avenger in the comics, she is seemingly the founding member of the team in the MCU and will be the leader, as teased in the post-credit scene of The Marvels. This certainly indicates the MCU’s Young Avengers will be an amalgamation of that team and the Champions, a teenage superhero group Ms. Marvel was part of. Excellently played by Iman Vellani, Ms. Marvel debuted in her titular Disney+ series before starring in 2023’s The Marvels.
Ms. Marvel is the hero of Jersey City, a young Pakistani-American teenager who wields a Quantum band that unlocked a latent dormant mutant ability. Ms. Marvel is a fan-favorite character, and though she is not confirmed for Avengers: Doomsday, many are hoping she appears. A variant of Ms. Marvel was the lead in Marvel Zombies, where she was part of a Young Avengers-like team with Kate Bishop and the next member on the list.
1
Ironheart (‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,’ ‘Ironheart’)
Riri Williams/Ironheart, played by Dominque Thorne, made her MCU debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. A genius inventor, Riri Williams created her own Iron Man-like suit. Following Wakanda Forever, she starred as the lead in her own Disney+ series, which debuted in June 2025. Variants of Riri Williams have also appeared in What If…? and Marvel Zombies.
Riri Williams is relatively new to comics, making her debut in May 2016. She is not an official member of the Young Avengers in the comics, but is an ally to the team and, like Ms. Marvel, was part of the Champions. Riri Williams’s inclusion in the Young Avengers-like team in Marvel Zombies certainly suggests she is part of Marvel Studios’s plans for the team when they unite in the MCU Sacred Timeline. Yet her series’ massive Mephisto-connected cliffhanger certainly raises some questions about how her story can now factor into the Young Avengers.
