How Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness Could Set Up the Young Avengers

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to grow there's no limit to the number of characters that fans are eager for the franchise to introduce or stories for it to tell, but there's one yet-to-be-introduced team that has steadily introduced its roster over recent films and series. That team, of course, is the Young Avengers. 

While nothing concrete has ever been announced about a Young Avengers project, Marvel has been bringing its heroes into the fold one at a time. Hawkeye gave us Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), WandaVision introduced Tommy and Billy — the heroes Speed and Wiccan respectively), Loki's first season introduced Kid Loki, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier introduced Elijah Bradley, and we still have Kamala Khan coming in Ms. Marvel, a new Cassie Lang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will give us America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez). With the various characters already in place (or well on their way to being in place), the MCU is in a prime spot to assemble the next generation of Avengers — and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness presents a perfect opportunity to do it.

There are a few aspects of the new movie that could lead to the introduction of the Young Avengers. One of the most direct and perhaps most hoped-for is the restoration of Billy (Julian Hilliard) and Tommy (Jett Klyne). As Marvel fans recall, Wanda's (Elizabeth Olsen) twins were seemingly erased from existence at the end of WandaVision when Wanda ended the hex that had created her false reality in Westview. However, in a post-credits scene, while studying magic in seclusion, Wanda heard her boys call for her, presumably from somewhere in the multiverse, suggesting that they are alive out there, somewhere. We've already seen the twins appear in trailers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and while we don't yet fully know the context, the film's outcome could very well bring both boys into things on a more permanent basis.

And it's that sort of bringing of characters back — or at least into the "main" universe from potentially elsewhere in the Multiverse — that also speaks to how the film could really set into motion a full Young Avengers team beyond just introducing characters. In comics, the Young Avengers came together as a sort of reformation of the Avengers team after the 2004-2005 "Avengers Disassembled" storyline. when an armor-wearing Nathaniel Richards came from the future fleeing his future self, Kang the Conqueror. After his arrival at an abandoned Avengers Mansion, he ended up accessing Vision's A.I. and thus, the Avengers Fail-Safe Program which allowed him to form a team with Eli Bradley, Billy Kaplan, Teddy Altman, Cassie Lang, and Kate Bishop to take on threats and prepare for Kang's arrival. With most of those characters already part of the MCU heading into Multiverse of Madness and Kang on his way in Ant-Man 3, it wouldn't be a huge stretch for the film to bring the characters together as a team — even if only in a post-credits scene.

The film could also create a bit of a different set up for the formation of a Young Avengers. Something of a theme through Phase Four of the MCU is that the Avengers as we knew them don't really exist anymore. Iron Man is dead, Captain America is gone, and that mantle has been passed on, Hawkeye saw the rise of a new archer, etc. That certainly leaves open a need for a heroic team and it's difficult to imagine any resolution to Multiverse of Madness that would see all threats entirely managed. Perhaps it's not the threat of Kang or the arrival of Nathaniel Richards that prompts things as is the case in comics. Instead, with the film introducing America Chavez, maybe it's America who ends up putting things together to deal with the fallout of this film's threat. It would open the door for the recruitment of additional heroes like Cassie Lang and Kate Bishop as well provide an opportunity for characters like Kamala Khan to be brought in later as well. After all, Ms. Marvel is set to debut on Disney+ just a month after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opens in theaters.

However, it ends up working out, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a film that is definitely primed to not only change the MCU in terms of introducing new realities, new characters, and more but provides the best opportunity yet to set the stage for the next generation of heroes and the threats that they will face as the universe expands.

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