The Marvels’ end scene teases Young Avengers — here’s what it means

The Marvel Cinematic Universe wants a brand new staff. The Avengers don’t appear to be coming again, or at the very least not in any of the configurations wherein they have been as soon as identified, what with all of the demise and retirement. There could also be films known as “Avengers” on the calendar — Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars — however who may step into the sneakers of the Avengers in these post-Endgame days?

The Marvels takes one massive step towards answering that query in its ultimate scene. A pre-credits credit scene, if you’ll.

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for The Marvels.]

Photograph: Laura Radford/Marvel Studios

Earlier than The Marvels cuts to credit, it mounts a cheeky reframing of 2008’s Iron Man’s ballsiest scene. Kate Bishop (Hawkeye, that’s, final seen in Hawkeye) arrives house to her darkish condominium solely to discover a determine sitting within the shadows. However this time, it’s not Nick Fury; it’s Kamala Khan.

Ms. Marvel offers her the identical pitch Tony Stark acquired all these years in the past about “placing collectively a staff,” however, naturally, her enthusiasm bubbles out over her try at Nick Fury-like gravitas. What are they going to name this staff manufactured from second-generation superheroes? Kamala by no means says a reputation, however in case you herald some Marvel Comics context, there’s actually just one reply.

The MCU is organising its Younger Avengers

Picture: Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie/Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics has a number of teenage superhero groups, from the New Mutants (or, you possibly can argue, the unique 5 X-Males) to the Champions. However there’s just one with the total Avengers branding: the Younger Avengers. The group was created by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung in 2005, as a staff of younger superheroes who every had a connection to a basic Avenger. Patriot, Iron Lad, Hulkling, and Asgardian (he’d change his title later) based the group, with Stinger and Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) becoming a member of quickly after.

A second incarnation of the staff launched in 2013 (seen above) — from the artistic pair of Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, who would go on to create the blockbuster The Depraved + The Divine — that includes a smattering of outdated characters and a number of other new ones, like Child Loki, America Chavez, and Asgardian’s brother, Velocity.

Are any of those characters within the MCU?

A whole lot of them, truly! Except for Kamala and Kate, we’ve acquired: Cassie Lang/Stinger, seen in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania; America Chavez from Physician Unusual within the Multiverse of Insanity; and Eli Bradley/Patriot from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Current phases of the MCU have additionally laid at the very least the groundwork for characters just like the Scarlet Witch’s youngsters, Billy Kaplan/Demiurge (previously Asgardian) and Tommy Shepherd/Velocity in WandaVision and Multiverse of Insanity.

The Kree/Skrull battle is so clearly established at this level that it wouldn’t take plenty of world-building to get Teddy Logan, aka Hulkling, aka the long-lost half-Skrull, half-Kree inheritor to the throne, onto the brand new MCU staff. Similar for Child Loki, a teenage model of Loki of unsure origin, or for Iron Lad, a younger and harmless incarnation of Kang the Conqueror.

After which there’s a complete bevy of juvenile superheroes who’ve by no means been related to the Younger Avengers within the comics, however which have not too long ago appeared within the MCU, like Shuri/Black Panther; Riri Williams/Ironheart; Skaar, the Hulk’s son; and Sprite from The Eternals.

Oh, and there’s Peter Parker, I suppose. Positive, he will be on a staff, particularly now that he has no mates.

When will we see a Younger Avengers film?

Picture: Marvel Studios

That’s the 5-billion-dollar query. With Disney’s newest replace to its launch schedule, the one MCU-connected film on the schedule in 2024 is the third Deadpool film. Marvel Studios as a complete is reportedly dialing again on its schedule considerably, following a string of poorly acquired releases. The earliest we’d see this staff come collectively is perhaps 2026, the yr that Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is slated to premiere. And that’s if the corporate doesn’t resolve to make even larger modifications to its plans.

Fifteen years in the past, with Iron Man’s “Avengers Initiative” credit scene, Marvel Studios pointed on the bleachers, after which slammed the Avengers baseball out of the park. However despite the fact that the Younger Avengers writing has been on the wall for some time now, the MCU’s fashionable batting common has taken a severe hit. Now that the Younger Avengers are nearly as much as the plate, we’ll quickly discover out in the event that they’re a house run, or only a fly ball.