MCU’s Young Avengers Are Facing a Problem No One Wants To Talk About

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The Marvel Cinematic Universe excelled at building up to the first Avengers movie, carefully introducing each hero over several phases. Now, they’re trying to do the same thing with a new team: the Young Avengers. They’ve established the key characters, like Kate Bishop and Kamala Khan, but the same strategy that worked so well before – a gradual introduction – is now a problem. The actors are aging, making it difficult to convincingly portray a team of “Young” Avengers.

Marvel Studios is known for taking its time with projects, but this is now causing the actors playing young heroes to look too old for the roles. If Marvel doesn’t quickly introduce the ‘Young Avengers’ team, it risks a noticeable and embarrassing plot problem – something even the popular show Stranger Things had trouble with.

The MCU’s Growing Young Avengers Problem

Following the end of the Infinity Saga, Marvel has been gradually introducing the characters who are expected to become the Young Avengers. These introductions have happened bit by bit in both movies and Disney+ shows, beginning with WandaVision in 2021 and continuing with The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in 2023.

The current roster includes:

  • Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop/Hawkeye (age 28): The sharp-shooting successor to Clint Barton, introduced in Hawkeye
  • Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (age 23): The superfan turned hero, who debuted in her own series and became a key part of The Marvels.
  • Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang/Stature (age 28): Scott Lang’s daughter, who grew into a capable hero after the Blip and appeared in Quantumania
  • Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez/Miss America (age 19): The interdimensional traveler with the power to punch star-shaped portals, introduced in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
  • Joe Locke and Ruaridh Mollica as Billy & Tommy Maximoff/Wiccan & Speed (ages 22 and 26, respectively): The magically-created sons of the Scarlet Witch, who were last seen as young boys in WandaVision and Multiverse of Madness
  • Dominique Thorne as Ironheart/Riri Williams (Age 27): MIT tech genius capable of building her own Iron Man suit, and after her Ironheart series, even has some knowledge of the mystic arts
  • Wil Deusner as Skaar (Age 22): Hulk’s son that he had on the planet Sakaar sometime before the events of Thor Ragnarok

Look, I love seeing new heroes and teams get introduced – each reveal is always a big deal. But when you step back and look at the bigger picture, the studio’s long-term plan is starting to feel a little worrying. By the end of 2025, some of the core characters we’ve been following are going to be nearing their third decade of stories, and that feels like a significant turning point.

Hailee Steinfeld, Kathryn Newton, and Dominique Thorne are all in their late twenties. While they’re still young, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to believe they’re playing characters who are supposed to be in their early twenties or even teenage years – especially as the movie they’re appearing in gets delayed. This is particularly noticeable for characters like Cassie Lang, who was much younger before the events of ‘Blip’.

Considering the current Marvel schedule and how long it takes to make a show or movie, a Young Avengers project or the Champions series might not come out until around 2028. By then, Hailee Steinfeld and Thuso Mbedu would both be 31 years old.

Because the character Skaar, played by Wil Deusner, is created entirely using computer-generated imagery (CGI), Deusner can potentially play the younger Hulk for as long as the role requires.

The idea of a new, younger generation of heroes replacing the old guard feels weak when the ‘new’ heroes are actually older than Black Widow was in her first appearance in Iron Man 2. Scarlett Johansson was only 25 playing a seasoned character, and for a team built around the concept of youth, time is quickly becoming their biggest obstacle.

How Soon Can Marvel Unite the Young Avengers?

It now seems less likely that the Young Avengers will get their own movie, and more likely they’ll be gradually introduced into the current Avengers films as the story unfolds.

It’s now more probable that the Young Avengers will first appear as a team while helping to resolve the MCU’s biggest current storyline, rather than getting their own movie or series right away. Originally, they were planned to debut in what was going to be called Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Michael Waldron, who created the Loki series, even mentioned a discarded plan where the Young Avengers would beat a less powerful version of Kang in that film, only to discover he wasn’t a major threat.

After Jonathan Majors was fired, the upcoming Avengers movie was renamed Avengers: Doomsday. The film is expected to focus on Doctor Doom as the main villain, and Marvel might use the team of young heroes to help fight him. While the Young Avengers could appear in Avengers: Doomsday, they’re more likely to have a bigger part in the next Avengers film, Avengers: Secret Wars.

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2025-11-04 01:05