Since its beginning, teenagers have played an integral part in Marvel’s superhero community. The company’s mascot, Spider-Man, started as a simple high schooler bitten by a radioactive spider. Additionally, many of Marvel Comics’ greatest superhero teams are made up of adolescent heroes who’re learning to control their powers while dealing with all the drama that life as a teenager and high schooler can offer. These youthful heroes offer characters that younger audiences can better relate to, which has helped them become incredibly successful. With next-generation superhero teams like these protecting the world, the Marvel Universe has a bright future ahead.
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What Marvel Comics lacks in straightforward sidekicks, it more than makes up for with independent teenage superheroes who, upon developing their powers, decide to help others. Of course, these teen heroes often aren’t independent for long and end up teaming up with other superheroes their age to become partners in crimefighting. These teams constantly have to balance high school drama with saving the world.
7) New Warriors
During the 1990s, Marvel created the superhero team the New Warriors, who quickly became some of the decade’s defining heroes. Led by the street-level crimefighter Night Thrasher, the rest of the New Warriors’ original roster included Nova, Marvel Boy, Firestar, Speedball, and Namorita. The first Marvel teenage superhero team that wasn’t led by an adult supervisor was the New Warriors. They first assembled to defeat the villain Terrax. The New Warriors tackled all manner of serious topics and were incredibly popular. Yet, the team’s name was forever tarnished when an incarnation of the New Warriors became reality stars and accidentally caused the massacre in Stamford, Connecticut, that led to the Superhero Registration Act and the Civil War event. Since then, several new versions of the New Warriors have tried to save the team’s legacy. Even if their popularity has wavered, the original New Warriors were an incredible superhero team who need to make a heroic comeback.
6) Generation X
The X-Men have had countless offshoot teams over the years, and one of the most underrated is Generation X. Instead of being trained by Professor X at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, these next-generation mutants were taught by Banshee and Emma Frost. With Jubilee as the only returning X-Man from the original roster, the rest of Generation X were all-new and bizarre mutants. Husk can shed her skin to reveal a new substance underneath; Chamber’s ever-burning psionic powers destroyed his jaw and chest; Penance has razor-sharp claws; M possesses potent super-strength and telekinetic abilities; Synch can replicate other people’s powers; and Skin has elastic skin. This team of young heroes represents the stranger members of mutantkind who must face eternal, external hatred for their powers and appearances. While the original Generation X members have since grown up, a new era of teen heroes has surfaced to carry on their legacy and fight for mutant rights.
5) Runaways
The Runaways may be the children of supervillains, but they have dedicated their lives to not following in their footsteps. The lives of teenagers Alex Wilder, Gertrude Yorkes, Chase Stein, Karolina Dean, Molly Hayes, and Nico Minoru changed forever when they discovered that their parents were members of the super-powered crime ring known as the Pride. To defeat their parents, the teens unlocked their latent powers, equipped themselves with advanced gadgets, and got their hands on a genetically engineered raptor named Old Lace. Alex is a child prodigy, Gertrude has a mental bond with Old Lace, Chase possesses high-tech gauntlets, Karolina is an energy-manipulating alien, Molly is a super-strong mutant, and Nico is a sorceress. Even after Alex was revealed as a traitor, the rest of the Runaways became a fire-forged found family who help others make up for their parents’ sins. Together, the Runaways are some of the premier protectors of Los Angeles.
4) New Mutants
When the X-Men were believed to be gone, Professor X took the opportunity to fill his school with the next generation of mutant superheroes. The New Mutants originally consisted of five young heroes: the high-flying Cannonball, the telepathic Karma, the feral Wolfsbane, the illusion-casting Dawnstar, and the solar-powered Sunspot. Over the years, the New Mutants’ roster has changed dramatically, including other iconic teenage mutants like Magic, Cipher, Magma, Boom-Boom, and Warlock. Although the New Mutants started as mere trainees, they quickly became skilled fighters and some of the strongest students ever enrolled in Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. The New Mutants have defeated all manner of evil mutants and demons. Many of the original team members went on to join the X-Men, X-Factor, and the Avengers. However, when a new group of young mutants known as the Outliers met the X-Men, Marvel took the opportunity to rebrand the teen heroes as the next generation of New Mutants.
3) Young Avengers
After the Avengers were disbanded following a brutal attack by the Scarlet Witch, their successors rose to continue the fight for justice. Iron Lad, a younger version of Kang the Conqueror who wanted to avoid a villainous future, first assembled the Young Avengers. For this mission, he gathered many heroes who quickly became iconic. Patriot is the grandson of the forgotten Captain America, Isaiah Bradley; Hulkling is the Kree/Skrull hybrid son of Captain Mar-Vell; and Wiccan is the reincarnated son of the Scarlet Witch. Soon after, other fan-favorite heroes debuted as members of the Young Avengers, including Kate Bishop Hawkeye, Stature, and Speed. The second incarnation of the Young Avengers would bolster other powerful teen heroes like Miss America, Marvel Boy, Prodigy, and Kid Loki. As the first next-generation version of the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, the Young Avengers broke ground, with many of their members among the most prominent LGBTQ+ characters in Marvel Comics.
2) Champions
After the disaster that was Civil War II, it’s unsurprising that some young superheroes would become disillusioned with their elders. To regain the public’s trust in heroes while forging their own path, Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales Spider-Man, Sam Alexander Nova, Amadeus Cho Hulk, Viv Vision, and a time-displaced Cyclops joined forces as the Champions. Instead of focusing on giant world-ending events, the Champions spend their time helping the little guy through street-level crimefighting and political activism regarding environmentalism, refugees, and bigotry. Always fighting for the people, the Champions are beacons of hope for the future, inspiring others to be their own heroes. Over time, the Champions became an alliance of practically every non-X-Men teenage superhero in Marvel Comics, including Ironheart, Patriot, Dust, Joaquín Torres Falcon, Power Man, and Nadia Van Dyne Wasp. The Champions have become Marvel’s premier teenage superhero team, and with their upbeat, groundbreaking stories, they’re bound to remain so for the foreseeable future.
1) Original X-Men
Professor X created his School for Gifted Youngsters so that young mutants would have the space needed to explore their newfound gifts while learning to protect themselves from a world that would hate them. Naturally, the original X-Men were Professor X’s first students. What many people don’t realize today is that the founding X-Men of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, and Iceman were all teenagers when they made their debut. Not only that, but the X-Men were the very first teenage superhero team to have their own comic book title. When they weren’t studying, the X-Men were battling the forces of Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Over time, the founding X-Men went from students to teachers as they grew up to defend all of mutantkind. While their teenage years are long since gone, the original five teen X-Men forever changed the course of the Marvel Universe with their fight for mutant rights in the face of overwhelming odds.
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Image Courtesy of DC Comics
