#lauri-ell

There’s been lots of talk over the last few years about who’s definitely not a Young Avenger, but team line ups always change and I’m curious, which characters would y'all like to see join the team if and when we get a v3? (To be crystal clear, I’m talking specifically comic characters, NOT mcu)

Here’s some of the characters I’d like to see and some reasons why

Ramona and Johnny Watts

These two are the most obvious choices for new YA members. They’re dating America and Kate respectively, and both have superpowers, so it’d be odd if they weren’t there. Them joining a new team would also help them become more well known established characters and reduce their chances of getting forgotten in comic book limbo, and overall I think they’d mesh well with everyone else.

(This post has been sitting in my drafts since before Kate’s mini released. I hate the spoilers I’ve heard so I will be electing to ignore their existence)

Laura (+Gabby) Kinney
I loved their team up with Kate and I want more of them interacting. There’s also no way in hell Laura isn’t queer, canon just hasn’t realized it yet. Young Avengers is Marvel’s queerest title/property/group, and if being associated with them can’t get her out of the closet, then nothing can. It’s been strongly implied that Gabby’s a lesbian and like Laura a Young Avengers series might be enough for Marvel to let her out of the closest, but due to her age it’d be weird for Gabby to be there without Laura. I also think both of their personalities would mesh better with the rest of the team if it’s both of them as a unit instead of just one of them.

(I think Laura also knows David? I’ve never read X-Men so idk for sure if that’s true, but at the very least she probably knows of him because of Krakoa and Daken. Either way, I think there’s enough canon connections to current YA members to explain how she could get involved in whatever the plot of v3 might be)

Viv Vision
Yes she’s a Champion and younger than them. But I think as long as it’s only one younger character who has the vibe of like, a younger sibling hanging out with their older sibling and their cool friends then it can work. And I desperately want more of Viv interacting with her half-brothers. If v3 has ANY level of Maximoff/Vision family drama, I want Viv to be there too. A Young Avengers series could also give Viv more space to explore her sexuality. The Champions series have given her the space to come out which is great, but more exploration is always welcome.

Nadia Van Dyne
Mostly the same reasons as Viv, except it makes even more sense for Nadia to be actively seeking to build relationships with her new found (distant) family members. One of her major themes is that she grew up with no family and is now building her own found family, so I’d love more content of her bonding with Billy, Tommy, Teddy, and Cassie, and adding them and their extended circles of family and friends to her own ever growing circle.

And again, a Young Avengers series could finally give her the space to express her asexuality and aromantism on page since it’s still only Word of God canon. I want to hear her say “I’m aroace” in! canon!!! Give me my aspec rep Marvel!!!!!! Give it to me!!!!!!!!!!

I also want more acknowledgement of David as one of the smartest people in the universe, and I think giving him a canonical connection to G.I.R.L. has a lot of fun potential. He would be a perfect mentor figure slash friend for them to bounce ideas off of and work through problems with. I think it’d be fun if he got to collaborate with them in the background of some nebulous future event making the deus ex machina tech that saves the day like characters like Tony Stark and Reed Richards get to do today

Lauri-Ell
Okay this is almost entirely because I’m in love with her and her biceps and her sweetheart personality and I want any excuse to see more of her. Billy and Teddy currently feel so tied to the Kree/Skrull Alliance and to space as a whole that if they’re main team members in v3 then I think there’s a good chance v3 will also deal with space stuff, and Lauri-Ell is one of the only alien characters I know of who I think could mesh well with the team. And I want to see her kiss a woman

Xavin
It’s been so long since Xavin and Teddy have interacted, and I think it’d be cool to see what their dynamic is like now that Teddy is the emperor of the Kree/Skrull Alliance. And Xavin needs to be rescued from comic book limbo, it’s been too long since the last time we saw them. It’s a shame to leave Kris Anka’s amazing redesign of them languishing in comic book limbo

(I also think, in the hands of a good author, Teddy and Xavin interacting has a lot of really cool potential for discussing how differently gender works in different cultures, and exploring how gender in Skrull societies might look and opperate differently from human societies. I don’t actually expect Marvel to do anything this cool in canon, but maybe them interacting in canon or planting a few seeds like this might prompt fan work to play with the concept)

Lauri-Ell mentions Teddy after she, Carol, and Rhodey defeat and contain a sludge monster that’s been living under a Kree lab and eating DNA samples it stored

From Captain Marvel (2019) #31

Closeups of the Young Avengers in Empyre: Aftermath Avengers (2020) #1

Closeups from the cover and variant covers

Part 2 of Empyre: Aftermath Avengers (2020) #1, an epilogue to the Empyre event

part 1    part 2    part 3  Young Avengers closeups