There is no confirmation and very little hinting towards a future Young Avengers team in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But I nonetheless love the idea of taking all of the existing young and young-ish characters in the MCU and putting them together on a team. Obviously I figured Spider-Man would spearhead the team, but that’s probably out of the question (for now).

So just for kicks and giggles, here are the younger characters currently and soon-to-be in the MCU that I think would make a great Young Avengers squad!

Shuri

Is she wearing a lab raincoat?

Movie Shuri was quite different from comic book Shuri when she debuted in Black Panther (though the comics have since changed that), and she was a really cool and fun character in that film. Shuri definitely needs to interact more with characters who aren’t in the immediate Black Panther circle. Look at how much fun she had schooling Bruce Banner in Avengers: Infinity War. I think Shuri and Peter would be great in a room together, but Shuri having any friends outside of her brother would be awesome!

Cassie Lang

Few screenshots available

It remains a crime against humanity than the 5-year time jump in Avengers: Endgame cost actor Abby Ryder Fortson her job as Cassie Lang in the Ant-Man films. She was often the best part of those movies! But the silver lining is that the 5-year jump aged Cassie up to the extent that she can probably now rub shoulders with other teenage and young adult superheroes. Actor Emma Fuhrmann, who played Cassie in Endgame, is hopefully just as good as Fortson and can carry on the family shrinking business. Cassie Lang in the comics has been all manner of size-changing superhero, and that should be a no-brainer for continuing the Ant-Man franchise in the movies.

Harley Keener

They could recreate the movie Boyhood in the MCU

We were all surprised when some random, gangly white boy stood in the crowd at Tony Stark’s funeral, but there he was: the wise-cracking kid from Iron Man 3. It sucks that he went to a mentor’s funeral, but Harley Keener got to rub elbows with superheroes, secret agents and aliens! This random kid got to meet aliens! But why go to the trouble of tracking down actor Ty Simpkins and bringing him back for a single Easter Egg shot if you’re not going to give him more work in the future? I imagine Marvel would love to bring Riri Williams into the MCU to carry on Iron Man’s legacy, but you’ve got Harley Keener right there waiting to suit up!

Kate Bishop

Archery will always be cool

Now we’re getting into the more speculative part of this list, since Kate Bishop has yet to be cast. She was, however, announced to be the focus of an upcoming Hawkeye TV show and that counts for me! I don’t know what Kate will be like on the show, but if she’s anything like comic book Kate Bishop, she will be awesome!

Kamala Khan

I need to see this show

Just like Kate Bishop, Ms. Marvel has only been announced as getting a TV show in the near future. We don’t have any casting. But she’ll be young and she’ll be awesome, so of course she’s gotta be used in the movie Young Avengers!

Am I forgetting anybody? Obviously comic characters like Hulkling, Wiccan and America Chavez would be perfect for this team, but I’m only using characters who are already connected to the MCU. I think this is a nifty group! Making it even better, it would draw characters from both the movies and the upcoming TV shows, so it would cast an even wider net of synergy than the original Avengers film. Granted, such a movie is at least three years out, and some of these actors will be in their 20s by then…but I think it could still work! Nobody said “Young” Avengers needed to be teenagers.

And hopefully Marvel and Sony will have ironed out their Spider-Man plans and Peter Parker can join the team. I am thoroughly disappointed that we’ve yet to get a Peter/Shuri scene anywhere yet.

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