Find me some teenagers with attitude

Young Avengers

The first Young Avengers mini-series really roped me in with  the way they set up these characters as junior versions of Avengers, but then left fielded all of them with reveals that they weren't connected to the Avenger you'd thought .

Later tellings of the group slowly pushed me away, though, as they sidelined favorite characters (Iron Lad, AKA Kid Kang) and brought in less-imaginative characters (Speed? Really?)  Since I can claim vague-itude in the Young Avengers' later outings, I'm free to refocus them to the state I loved them in. 

The YAs are at their best when they're dealing with more intimate life issues. Sure they were founded by an old Avenger enemy, and one of them is the son of the hero who went crazy and destroyed the Avengers, and another is heir to a cosmic, galactic empire, but at their heart they're kids trying to live up to the reputation of their forebears while at the same time learning that their idols aren't all they're cracked up to be.

Wiccan
I actually preferred his name when he was Asgardian, but I can live with Wiccan. His abilities as a powerful yet inexperienced magician gives the group a fun, variable power, but self-limits it so it isn't the instant win that characters like Dr. Strange can be. It was revealed that Wiccan was the "reincarnation" of one of Scarlet Witch's vanished twins, and then someone less clever came along and said "let's make the other twin a Quicksilver clone." (Speed?  Really?)  You can't talk about Wiccan without mentioning his gay relationship with teammate Hulkling. As one of the few positive portrayals of a gay relationship in comics, it has to be applauded.

Hulkling

His status and appearance as a hulking bruiser downplays his abilities as a shape-shifter. And if you're trying to be a shape-shifter, not letting everyone know you're a shape-shifter is probably key. Still, he is a super-strong character and serves as the team's muscle. He also has ties to the galactic community through his shared Skrull and Kree ancestry, making him a pretty big mover in the galactic community.





Mockingbird
When Kate Bishop first appeared wielding a number of weapons found in the basement of Avengers Mansion, I was stunned when she focused on just the bow and took the name Hawkeye.  Sure the original archer was dead (at the time), but it seemed pretty apparent that using somebody else's stuff translates to 'Mockingbird' pretty readily.  Even when the original Hawkeye returned to life, she kept the name and they both travel around together using that name jointly. 

In Make My Marvel, she's going to give the name back to Barton and, since I never resurrected Mockingbird at the end of my Secret Invasion, that name's wide open for her to use. She'll remain a talented archer, but the new name will also include a broader focus of using multiple weapons from multiple former Avengers and foes. Bow, sword, bo-staff, whatevs.

Mockingbird is also my top choice for team leader.  From panel one she's always been the most assertive and take charge.

Patriot

I missed why they wrote him out of the group, but he'll be making a triumphant return in MMM Young Avengers. Since receiving the super-soldier serum in his blood, he's been able to hold his own in any throwdown the team gets into, but he doesn't feel quite up to the legacy of Captain America. So while he's the most driven to keep the team on the right path, he's the one most likely to struggle with keeping to it.





Titania
Another name change for my relaunch, Stature has long been one of the weakest names (to me) in comicdom. I read somewhere that she originally was going to appear under the name 'Titania,' and I'm going to take up that flag. The duality of her power, growth and shrinking, plays very well with the name, which can refer both to a titanic being as well as the queen of faeries. Of all the Young Avengers, she has the most experience with super-heroing, having been around the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Heroes for Hire since she was a toddler. She brings a wealth of hero and villain knowledge to the team, which is of key use for a team which lacks the resources of major league teams like the Avengers and FF.


In the final battle of Secret Invasion, Vision got his head smashed in. I guess it wasn't truly fatal, because he was repaired enough to die later during the Children's Crusade storyline, but for my purposes it's enough for me to say that he didn't survive the invasion. For funsies, I'll say that they were able to do a partial save of his program so they still have access to some of his Avengers files, and because I'm slightly wicked, there's just enough of his personality left over to really screw with his former girlfriend, Cassie 'Titania' Lang.

While the conditions for Make My Marvel don't require me to explain where characters go when I drop them from the team, I'm going to say that Speed gets frustrated that his brother isn't doing more to find their mother, and runs off alone to find the Scarlet Witch.

When I was reading YA, they were hiding out in the basement of the destroyed Avengers Mansion. I believe they then moved into an old warehouse or printing press belonging to Hawkeye/Mockingbird's family, but I don't know anything about that. I do like the idea of the group having a hidden HQ (as opposed to public knowledge like other teams'), and if the warehouse serves that purpose, they can stay.