Marvel's History With Teen Superhero Teams, From Young Avengers to New Champions

Get a history lesson on some of Marvel's most popularity teams of teen superheroes.

By Timothy Adams - September 21, 2024 04:26 pm EDT

If its one thing comic book fans love, it's a series featuring angsty teengers. The Marvel Universe has seen several superteams come and go, but fans always seem to latch on to the ones starring teenage characters. Teams like the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four may grab the headlines, but there is a place for these "teenagers with attitudes," especially when they're learning to use their special abilities. Books like Young Avengers and New Warriors are never gone from Marvel's publishing slate for long, which goes to show how they maintain their popularity. With the announcement of New Champions, now is a good time to look back and see who helped pave the way for their arrival.

There will be some familiar names on our list of teen superhero teams, and probably some that you've forgotten as well. That's the beauty of comics; there are literally decades and decades of published works to look back on. There will be hidden jems and fan-favorites to look back on, and it's a nice reminder of how the past can inform the present and future. Will New Champions repeat the successes and mistakes of their predecessors? Only time will tell. But for now, take a look at ComicBook's list below to see who was worthy of a callout.

Power Pack

Power Pack is what happens when saving the world becomes a family affair. Created by Louise Simonson and June Brigman, the four siblings Alex, Julie, Jack, and Katie Power debuted in 1984's Power Pack #1. The foursome got their powers from an alien (Aelfyre Whitemane, aka "Whitey") that crash landed on Earth. Before Whitey passed away, he passed his unique abilities to each of the four kids, sending them off on their superhero adventures.

Power Pack was one of the first groups whose members were all underaged, making them stand out from the crowd amongst the Fantastic Four, Avengers, and X-Men. Alex, Julie, Jack, and Katie are some of the rare characters that have been allowed to age, advancing from pre-teens to teenagers to adolescents over their tenure in the Marvel Universe.

Marvel recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of Power Pack by bringing back their co-creators, Louise Simonson and June Brigman, for the five-issue Power Pack: Into the Storm.

New Mutants

After the success of the X-Men, Marvel went back to the well of exploring young mutants learning to control their powers in New Mutants. The New Mutants were formed when Professor Charles Xavier believed the X-Men had died during a battle with the alien insectoids the Brood. Not wanting to put another class of mutants in danger, Xavier agreed to tutor the New Mutants on the condition that they didn't engage in field activity.

Of course, you can take one guess how well that edict worked out. The New Mutants found themselves involved in several missions and had a number of different mentors, including Charles Xavier, Moira MacTaggert, and even Magneto. It wasn't until Cable debuted that the New Mutants evolved into the paramiliatry unit known as X-Force.

20th Century Fox adapted the New Mutants into a live-action movie that finally landed in theaters in 2020 despite several delays.

New Warriors

The New Warriors came along during a time when Marvel had backed away from young superteams. They were a surprise hit and mirrored the edginess and overall vibe of the '90s, including new characters and established heroes who were underutilized and weren't being used in other titles. Led and formed by Night Thrasher, the New Warriors wasn't afraid to tackle adult themes, such as Marvel Boy's abuse from his father that led the hero to kill him accidentally. Marvel Boy was put on trial, where he was found guilty and sent to The Vault, with his secret identity revealed to the world.

Marvel attempted several relaunches of the New Warriors, with their most controversial version causing the events that led to the Civil War event. After becoming reality stars, the New Warriors engaged in a fight with the villain Nitro, who used his explosive powers to destroy the city of Stamford, Connecticut. The government reacted by initiating the Superhero Registration Act, which was also adapted for the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War.

The latest attempt at reviving the New Warriors never made it to print after social media responded negatively to the new characters Snowflake and Safespace. The live-action New Warriors TV series also never made it off the ground.

Generation X

Generation X follows in the footsteps of New Mutants, with Banshee and Emma Frost taking a new group of young mutants under their tutelege. Generation X and New Warriors dominated the '90s, with fan-favorite X-Man Jubilee making up their ranks. Many of the characters in Generation X are still seeing pagetime to this day, with Synch and M (Monet St. Croix) playing vital roles in the X-Men's Krakoan era. The cast of Generation X featured some visually distinct mutants such as Chamber, Husk, Mondo, Penance, and Skin.

The team came together when the techno-organic alien race known as the Phalanx tried to assimilate all young mutants. And in what has become a trend, Generation X made its way to TV sets as a standalone movie on Fox.

Young Avengers

The Young Avengers debuted following the events of "Avengers: Disassembled," with the Avengers left broken and disbanded. The Young Avengers stepped up to fill the void left by Earth's Mightiest Heroes, with their roster comprised of new characters who appeared to be taking on the mantles of the Avengers' core: Iron Lad as Iron Man, Asgardian / Wiccan as Thor, Hulkling as Hulk, Patriot as Captain America, Kate Bishop as Hawkeye, Stature as Giant-Man, and Speed as Quicksilver. Vision wound up being a mentor for the team during their early days.

The roster of Young Avengers would eventually evolve to include Kid Loki, America Chavez, Prodigy of the X-Men, and Marvel Boy. Two of its members, Wiccan and Hulkling, finally got married after the events of Empyre. The MCU appears to be on the cusp of officially introducing the Young Avengers after setting up and introducing many of its characters.

Runaways

Runaways took the unorthodox strategy of debuting a group of all-new characters, and it worked! The Runaways are a group of teenagers that all learn that their powers are powerful supervillains. They wind up rebelling against the grown-ups and then striking out on their own. The series struck that right balance between compelling storytelling and eye-catching art in large part due to its creators, Brian Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. One of the more shocking moments from Runaways was when their leader, Alex Wilder, betrayed the team and became a villain.

The Runaways would have several adventures in the Marvel Universe, teaming up with their contemporaries like the Young Avengers during Secret Invasion. Marvel Television adapted Runaways into a live-action series that streamed on Hulu. It lasted three seasons before being canceled.

Avengers Academy

Part of the fallout of the superhero Civil War was the formation of Avengers Academy. The 50 State Initiative was in full swing, with each state having its own team of heroes to represent them and protect them from threats. The Avengers opened Avengers Academy to oversee the training of the next generation of heroes, but as readers learned in the first issue, some of the students were also being observed for the possibility that they could go on to become villains. Heroes like Ant-Man and Hawkwye would come and provide lessons to the students, similar to the X-Men and the Xavier Institute.

The downfall of Avengers Academy came in Avengers Arena, a miniseries akin to The Hunger Games where the Avengers Academy student body were kidnapped and taken to one of Arcade's death games. They were forced to fight and kill each other for survival.

Champions

Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), and Nova (Sam Alexander) made waves when they were recruited to stand alongside Earth's Mightiest Heroes in All-New, All-Different Avengers. When the trio started having disagreements with the elder statesmen like Iron Man, they left the Avengers and formed a new team of Champions alongside the time-displaced, younger Cyclops, Vision's daughter Viv, and Brawn (Amadeus Cho).

The Champions fought for the little guy, taking on missions that didn't involve planetary threats like civil rights. However, similar to the Avengers, the Champions did some heavy recruiting, with their roster ballooning to include almost every teen hero in the Marvel Universe.

Strange Academy

The mystical side of the Marvel Universe got into the student life business with Strange Academy. Doctor Strange opened the doors of Strange Academy in New Orleans following the relaunch of his solo series. The series introduced a cast of new magic users, including Doyle Dormammu, the son of Doctor Strange villain Dormammu. Strange Academy helps its students to learn to use their mystical abilities, and its staff includes heroes like Doctor Voodoo, Scarlet Witch, Magik, and Agatha Harkness.

Strange Academy is still open to this day, but it remains to be seen how Doctor Strange losing the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme to Doctor Doom will impact its students.

New Champions

And now, we end with New Champions, the latest series from Marvel to introduce readers to a fresh face of teen heroes. As we've seen with the likes of New Warriors, Runaways, and the former Champions, New Champions includes characters that could grow up to be either heroes or villains, and readers will be along for the journey to see which side they end up turning to.

New Champions borrows from Young Avengers by having its cast mirror established Marvel heroes as far as costumes and codenames. The first issue of New Champions goes on sale January 8, 2025.