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Young Avengers (2005-2012) (Collected Editions) #1-7
Young Avengers by Heinberg & Cheung Omnibus
Acclaimed TV veteran Allan Heinberg and superstar artist Jim Cheung’s complete YOUNG AVENGERS collaborations — in a single Omnibus for the first time! When the original Avengers disband, costumed teens Patriot, Asgardian, Hulkling, Iron Lad, Hawkeye and Stature unite to fill the gap. Their first order of business: surviving the wrath of Kang the Conqueror! Second? Weathering the disapproval of the adult Avengers! But when their teammate Billy’s magical powers spiral out of control, the Young Avengers set out to find the one person who might help: the Scarlet Witch, who might be Billy’s mother…and whose own uncontrollable powers caused the Avengers’ dissolution! Once the young heroes find her, nothing will ever be the same!
COLLECTING: Young Avengers (2005) 1-12, Young Avengers Special (2005), Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways (2006) 1-4, Young Avengers Presents (2008) 1-6, Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers (2008) 1-3, Dark Reign: Young Avengers (2009) 1-5, Siege: Young Avengers (2010) 1, Avengers: the Children’s Crusade (2010) 1-9, Avengers: The Children’s Crusade - Young Avengers (2011) 1, Young Avengers (2005) 1 Director's Cut, material from Uncanny X-Men (1981) 526
COLLECTING: Young Avengers (2005) 1-12, Young Avengers Special (2005), Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways (2006) 1-4, Young Avengers Presents (2008) 1-6, Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers (2008) 1-3, Dark Reign: Young Avengers (2009) 1-5, Siege: Young Avengers (2010) 1, Avengers: the Children’s Crusade (2010) 1-9, Avengers: The Children’s Crusade - Young Avengers (2011) 1, Young Avengers (2005) 1 Director's Cut, material from Uncanny X-Men (1981) 526
1080 pages, Hardcover
First published March 7, 2012
21 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 28, 2023
Strong beginning and strong ending. The only part that lacks is the middle because of the crossover series that takes place during, civil war, dark reigh and the seige. The series is it´s best with Jim Cheung as the main artist in my opinion and he deliveres on every issue he´s been working on! So that is the only thing that is keeping this book from being a 5 star. I will keep this book but probably will skip reading the middle part in the future.
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February 9, 2024A very nice collection of the whole Young Avengers story. Nothing is ever as great as the original series, but as a whole this volume has a beginning, middle, and end, almost unheard of in the world of episodic storytelling.
The Original Run (#1-12, Special). Heinberg more effectively creates a new generation of Young heroes than any other Marvel writer, past or present. Here we get a group of brand-new youngsters that are shrouded in mystery, yet have clear connections to existing Avengers. We also get a plot that’s exciting, has meaningful sacrifice, and is genuinely surprising.
After introducing our heroes, Heinberg then does a great job of revealing their secrets in the last half of the book, each of which is intriguing and adds depth to the character. Overall, this book goes from strength to strength, and if it has one failure it's that Heinberg left us hanging for half-a-decade after promising to find the Scarlet Witch [5/5].
Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways. The delight in a Young Avengers & Runaways crossover is seeing how individuals of the two teams link up, because there are quite a few connections between them, and this comic does a great job of fulfilling that potential. Beyond that, it's the Civil War at its most fascist (how did anyone at Marvel ever think registration was the right side!?) and the continuation of Marvel Boy's story past his miniseries. Overall it's a dark, fraught series that links well to the Young Avengers, Runaways, Marvel Boy, and CIvil War stories alike [4+/5].
Young Avengers Presents. A motley collection of one-off stories in the wake of the Civil War. It's well-preserved in time, but the connections between the stories are a bit weaker than I'd like (particularly for Stature's two spotlights in #4 and #5). The stories vary from fine to quite good, with the latter including the first revelation that Vision is his own person (#4), a crisis for Stature (#5), and Clint messing with Kate for the first time (#6). Overall, this is likely an important part of the Young Avengers saga, one just wishes it had all been by a single author [4-/5].
Secret Invasion: Young Avengers & Runaways. A long fight sequence, deeply mired in continuity, without any real conclusion. There's some nice light shone on the skrulls on the two teams, but two one else gets much attention at all. Overall, a disappointment, especially when compared to the previous crossover [3/5].
Dark Reign. Cornell does something pretty amazing here. He introduces a new group of heroes, but with connections to past supervillains instead of to past Avengers. Then over five issues, he slowly reveals some of their secrets, all the while treating them as very real, interesting, and conflicted characters. It’s pretty much Heinberg’s model for the original Young Avengers, but with an interesting new spin.
In the overall book, the actual Young Avengers get a bit of a gloss, but when they appear they still seem true to the originals, and that’s not too much of a problem for the Dark Reign arc. The result is the best Young Avengers since Heinberg, and something that really adds to the mythos. I hope we see more of these Young Masters in the future. On a second read, I just came to appreciate this book more. [5/5]
Siege: Young Avengers. This little vignette during the Siege (after the Fall of Asgard) shows the Young Avengers under series pressure, but there's little more to it [3+/5].
X-Men #526. Heinberg's back with this little short that suggests that Magneto is going to be very interested in Wiccan and Speed! Terrific! [5/5]
The Children's Crusade. When I first read this, I was disappointed. We'd been waiting five years for Heinberg to return and tell the story that he alluded to in his original Young Avengers run. Oh, the plot itself was always good enough: everything that could be hoped for given its foreshadowing. The problem was that it doesn’t contain surprises like the original series did (other than the somewhat gratuitous deaths at the end to make it “important”). There was just so much fighting instead of cleverness and often the Young Avengers weren't even there, as Avengers, Doom, Scarlet Witch, and even the X-Men took center stage.
I also think that several of the decisions in the book left a bitter taste. XXX's death was horrible. (Fortunately, retconned down the road.) The whitewashing of all the horrible things the Scarlet Witch had done was also subpar.
But what I didn't appreciate the first time I read it was how well this bookends the whole story of the Young Avengers. That's mainly focused on the return of Iron Lad (with the look at him and the Young Avengers in the future being the best issue of the arc). Because the hunt for the Scarlet Witch wasn't the only crucial element foreshadowed in the original series. We also had the question of whether Iron Lad would become Kang. And that's wonderfully answered here (and was obviously the reason behind XXX's death, which seemed so gratuitous at the time). [4/5]
The Original Run (#1-12, Special). Heinberg more effectively creates a new generation of Young heroes than any other Marvel writer, past or present. Here we get a group of brand-new youngsters that are shrouded in mystery, yet have clear connections to existing Avengers. We also get a plot that’s exciting, has meaningful sacrifice, and is genuinely surprising.
After introducing our heroes, Heinberg then does a great job of revealing their secrets in the last half of the book, each of which is intriguing and adds depth to the character. Overall, this book goes from strength to strength, and if it has one failure it's that Heinberg left us hanging for half-a-decade after promising to find the Scarlet Witch [5/5].
Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways. The delight in a Young Avengers & Runaways crossover is seeing how individuals of the two teams link up, because there are quite a few connections between them, and this comic does a great job of fulfilling that potential. Beyond that, it's the Civil War at its most fascist (how did anyone at Marvel ever think registration was the right side!?) and the continuation of Marvel Boy's story past his miniseries. Overall it's a dark, fraught series that links well to the Young Avengers, Runaways, Marvel Boy, and CIvil War stories alike [4+/5].
Young Avengers Presents. A motley collection of one-off stories in the wake of the Civil War. It's well-preserved in time, but the connections between the stories are a bit weaker than I'd like (particularly for Stature's two spotlights in #4 and #5). The stories vary from fine to quite good, with the latter including the first revelation that Vision is his own person (#4), a crisis for Stature (#5), and Clint messing with Kate for the first time (#6). Overall, this is likely an important part of the Young Avengers saga, one just wishes it had all been by a single author [4-/5].
Secret Invasion: Young Avengers & Runaways. A long fight sequence, deeply mired in continuity, without any real conclusion. There's some nice light shone on the skrulls on the two teams, but two one else gets much attention at all. Overall, a disappointment, especially when compared to the previous crossover [3/5].
Dark Reign. Cornell does something pretty amazing here. He introduces a new group of heroes, but with connections to past supervillains instead of to past Avengers. Then over five issues, he slowly reveals some of their secrets, all the while treating them as very real, interesting, and conflicted characters. It’s pretty much Heinberg’s model for the original Young Avengers, but with an interesting new spin.
In the overall book, the actual Young Avengers get a bit of a gloss, but when they appear they still seem true to the originals, and that’s not too much of a problem for the Dark Reign arc. The result is the best Young Avengers since Heinberg, and something that really adds to the mythos. I hope we see more of these Young Masters in the future. On a second read, I just came to appreciate this book more. [5/5]
Siege: Young Avengers. This little vignette during the Siege (after the Fall of Asgard) shows the Young Avengers under series pressure, but there's little more to it [3+/5].
X-Men #526. Heinberg's back with this little short that suggests that Magneto is going to be very interested in Wiccan and Speed! Terrific! [5/5]
The Children's Crusade. When I first read this, I was disappointed. We'd been waiting five years for Heinberg to return and tell the story that he alluded to in his original Young Avengers run. Oh, the plot itself was always good enough: everything that could be hoped for given its foreshadowing. The problem was that it doesn’t contain surprises like the original series did (other than the somewhat gratuitous deaths at the end to make it “important”). There was just so much fighting instead of cleverness and often the Young Avengers weren't even there, as Avengers, Doom, Scarlet Witch, and even the X-Men took center stage.
I also think that several of the decisions in the book left a bitter taste. XXX's death was horrible. (Fortunately, retconned down the road.) The whitewashing of all the horrible things the Scarlet Witch had done was also subpar.
But what I didn't appreciate the first time I read it was how well this bookends the whole story of the Young Avengers. That's mainly focused on the return of Iron Lad (with the look at him and the Young Avengers in the future being the best issue of the arc). Because the hunt for the Scarlet Witch wasn't the only crucial element foreshadowed in the original series. We also had the question of whether Iron Lad would become Kang. And that's wonderfully answered here (and was obviously the reason behind XXX's death, which seemed so gratuitous at the time). [4/5]
February 28, 2023
I grew up in the early 2000's with a lot of comics but for some reason Young Avengers wasn't on my list. I was more of a Runaway's fan (Though they are in here!) But now that I got this Omnibus I can only say I wish I read them sooner.
Basically a bunch of teenagers get together to form a team consisting of Hulking, Wiccan, Iron Lad (For awhile) Kate Bishop, Patriot, Vision, Stature (Cassie Lang) and other members coming in and out. But this team is formed because the avengers have been kind of a mess lately. This takes place right before civil war, and the first 12 issue arc is great. It features stories revolving around characters like Iron Lad, Hulking, and Patriot that make you right away feel connected to the cast.
We then get a lot of crossovers. Mostly Runaways and Young Avengers bumping heads at first and then becoming friends. It's pretty fun crossovers, but they are mostly event tie ins, and I'm not the biggest hater of events, but these def feel more event focused then character focus, which is a bit of a letdown. Still, the civil war, secret invasion, and siege crossovers are solid enough to be readable.
Then we get the children's crusade to end the Omnibus. This is Wiccan and his brother Billy trying to find their mother who happens to be scarlet witch. It's a long story but somehow it works. However, they eventually find out Dr. Doom has their mother and things won't be so simple. This 9 issue mini-event basically features everyone from the X-Men, to Avengers, to Young Avengers, and more. It's highly entertaining, so many moving pieces, yet it all works really well.
The Omnibus in general works really well. The opening 12 issues, and the final 9 issues are worth the price of admission alone. But the stuff in the middle, while obviously not AS strong as those, still hold up. It's those 21 issues that REALLY shine and help make this a must buy for fans of team books or great character pieces.
A 4 out of 5.
Basically a bunch of teenagers get together to form a team consisting of Hulking, Wiccan, Iron Lad (For awhile) Kate Bishop, Patriot, Vision, Stature (Cassie Lang) and other members coming in and out. But this team is formed because the avengers have been kind of a mess lately. This takes place right before civil war, and the first 12 issue arc is great. It features stories revolving around characters like Iron Lad, Hulking, and Patriot that make you right away feel connected to the cast.
We then get a lot of crossovers. Mostly Runaways and Young Avengers bumping heads at first and then becoming friends. It's pretty fun crossovers, but they are mostly event tie ins, and I'm not the biggest hater of events, but these def feel more event focused then character focus, which is a bit of a letdown. Still, the civil war, secret invasion, and siege crossovers are solid enough to be readable.
Then we get the children's crusade to end the Omnibus. This is Wiccan and his brother Billy trying to find their mother who happens to be scarlet witch. It's a long story but somehow it works. However, they eventually find out Dr. Doom has their mother and things won't be so simple. This 9 issue mini-event basically features everyone from the X-Men, to Avengers, to Young Avengers, and more. It's highly entertaining, so many moving pieces, yet it all works really well.
The Omnibus in general works really well. The opening 12 issues, and the final 9 issues are worth the price of admission alone. But the stuff in the middle, while obviously not AS strong as those, still hold up. It's those 21 issues that REALLY shine and help make this a must buy for fans of team books or great character pieces.
A 4 out of 5.
August 14, 2024
Actual rating: 3.5
This is my first foray into Marvel Comics, and I have to say, I'm a little bit disappointed. In this collection I only really liked the Children's Crusade storyline and a few of the issues with Runaways crossovers, but the rest simply fell flat for me. Many of the stories were just downright dull, with big action scenes not feeling like they've really been earned. Still, I was so engrossed with the Children's Crusade that I'm definitely willing to give Marvel Comics another shot in the future. I'm open to taking suggestions for another omnibus to check out if anyone has any.
This is my first foray into Marvel Comics, and I have to say, I'm a little bit disappointed. In this collection I only really liked the Children's Crusade storyline and a few of the issues with Runaways crossovers, but the rest simply fell flat for me. Many of the stories were just downright dull, with big action scenes not feeling like they've really been earned. Still, I was so engrossed with the Children's Crusade that I'm definitely willing to give Marvel Comics another shot in the future. I'm open to taking suggestions for another omnibus to check out if anyone has any.
July 1, 2023
Oh the Young Avengers. I'm happy as a collector a Omni like this exists, collecting all their adventures over a decade, be it under the original creative duo or not. It's not all great material tho, some of the event tie in minis don't fully unutilize the team and has to share space with the Runaways, but the Civil War and Siege tie ins stood out as quality. It's hard to beat the fundamentals done right of the first 12 issue limited series. Chung on artwork bookending this book is a true feast for the eyes, some of the cleanest pencils in comics.
If I had a gripe against this book besides the uneven quality of the event tie ins like Dark Reign or Secret Invasion, it's that the team isn't utilizing it's full roster often. Sure you have a whole team, but not everyone feels like they need to be there towards the end. First time reading the Children's Crusade and despite it's beautiful art and colors, didn't need to be nine issues, and could have progressed faster with all the shouting and blame game that it contained.
Overall, it's still a strong collection for this very 21st century team, imo the stronger of the two versions, and a great series of stories when all together. It's hard to make a difference when you're young, but it's important to have that youthful passion to see the change in the world.
If I had a gripe against this book besides the uneven quality of the event tie ins like Dark Reign or Secret Invasion, it's that the team isn't utilizing it's full roster often. Sure you have a whole team, but not everyone feels like they need to be there towards the end. First time reading the Children's Crusade and despite it's beautiful art and colors, didn't need to be nine issues, and could have progressed faster with all the shouting and blame game that it contained.
Overall, it's still a strong collection for this very 21st century team, imo the stronger of the two versions, and a great series of stories when all together. It's hard to make a difference when you're young, but it's important to have that youthful passion to see the change in the world.
June 1, 2025
Someone else wrote that this had an amazing beginning and ending and I truly think that both of those parts make up for the slowness of the middle. The beginning and end of this comic omnibus truly encapsulate what it means to be a good comic story that fleshes out new and already established characters.
The Children's Crusade is some of my favorite comics that I've read so far. I mean look at how quickly I read through this Young Avengers book...and I'm even more of a DC fan.
I love the Scarlet Witch, Wiccan, and Hulking, they were obvi the focal characters of this set of stories and their arcs really come through. Completely loved as a superhero nerd.
The Children's Crusade is some of my favorite comics that I've read so far. I mean look at how quickly I read through this Young Avengers book...and I'm even more of a DC fan.
I love the Scarlet Witch, Wiccan, and Hulking, they were obvi the focal characters of this set of stories and their arcs really come through. Completely loved as a superhero nerd.
May 16, 2025
4.5 Wow what a full circle moment, yes the tie in stuff is only good when the young avengers are there but I loved this so much. I wonder what’s next for the goats. I don’t really see what patriot did was wrong unless doom wasn’t going to be evil but not sure
June 14, 2025
it's not two stars, if you never read much Marvel. it's rather three or more.
it just has this manufactured feeling about it, none of this has a reason to exist, the team is simply pointless. If Marvel created a deeper story about the queer youth, this could've been a classic ahead of its time. (couple of years, but still)
instead they're just a filler team without a purpose and the Patriot is going to become your favorite 'hero' to hate
also there's no storyline here throughout for any of those characters. all of a sudden, you're just thrown into event after event, learning details that puts those kids well in redcon tradition (which is annoying, unearned and self-important)
there's no coming of age story here really, the famous crusade is just another shitty attempt to undo, what Marvel done in the past and make a restart with the Scarlett Witch character. and they make you wait for this 'story' the whole book
it just has this manufactured feeling about it, none of this has a reason to exist, the team is simply pointless. If Marvel created a deeper story about the queer youth, this could've been a classic ahead of its time. (couple of years, but still)
instead they're just a filler team without a purpose and the Patriot is going to become your favorite 'hero' to hate
also there's no storyline here throughout for any of those characters. all of a sudden, you're just thrown into event after event, learning details that puts those kids well in redcon tradition (which is annoying, unearned and self-important)
there's no coming of age story here really, the famous crusade is just another shitty attempt to undo, what Marvel done in the past and make a restart with the Scarlett Witch character. and they make you wait for this 'story' the whole book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2025
I will never really understand why The Young Avengers didn’t become Marvel’s Teen Titans. The Ingredients were there; a great lineup, a good introduction, and lots of potential stories. But instead of an ongoing comic that could still be running to this day, we got three mini-series and a bunch of event tie-ins. Event Tie-ins are the necessary evil of an ongoing comic, it will naturally run into events occasionally (or frequently in the late 00s) and you have to acknowledge them, but instead of a great ongoing comic with the occasional tie-in we got a handful of tie-ins usually combined with Marvel’s other teen comic, The Runaways. I wonder if the The Runaways were the reason The Young Avengers never took off, maybe some higher up thought they could only have one teen comic. Officially, it was always conceived of as a limited series because of Heinberg’s busy schedule, but I don’t understand why a new writer didn’t just take over for an ongoing series. The structure makes it hard to read as a single narrative as it's constantly running into big events with only small amounts of exposition. I think that has negatively affected some of my ratings. I thought about reading all of the events for context, but then I’d probably decide to read New/Mighty/Dark Avengers as well, and also the X-men books and who knows what else. That way, madness lies.
Volume 1: Sidekicks
TV writer Allan Heinberg and artist Tim Cheung introduce us to a team of young ripoffs of the older avengers who formed after the original team disassembled.
The Young Avengers initially consist of Iron Lad (Nate Richards), Patriot (Eli Bradley), Asgardian (Billy Kaplan), and Hulkling (Teddy Altman). Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) and Stature (Cassie Lang) join the team by the second issue. It is very quickly revealed that Iron Lad is a young Kang the Conqueror who used Vision’s Avengers Failsafe program to assemble a new team of Avengers in order to fight older Kang. This is an action packed intro that lets us get to know the new characters as heroes more than people, but it’s effective and a good start. 4/5 stars.
Volume 2: Family Matters
Heinberg finishes his run with a much more personal examination of the kids behind the masks. We learn about Cassie’s somewhat abusive homelife, that Eli is on Mutant Growth Hormone and isn’t actually a supersoldier, that the twins are Scarlet Witch’s twins, and that Hulkling is a skrull/Kree hybrid and the son of Mar-vell. This is when the story really comes into its own by revealing how these copies of older heroes are really their own people. I think this is what fellow TV writer Aron Coleite tried to do with Ultimate X-Men: Absolute Power but the difference is that Coleite did it with an established character with whom it made no sense. The other difference is that this is good. We get our final form of the team here as well. Iron Lad left in the first issue, but he’s replaced by a teenage Vision named Jonas, and before long the team is joined by Speed (Tommy Shepherd). Asgardian also changes his name to the much better Wiccan. The arc ends with the characters announcing that they were now going to have many adventures together and even implying that they might get to use the old Avengers Mansion. This was not to be. Or at least we aren’t going to get to see much of it. 4/5 stars.
Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways
Zeb Wells and Stefano Caselli take over for Heinberg and Cheung. The Young Avengers return alongside the Runaways for a Civil War tie-in. After the Runaways get caught using their powers openly, the Young Avengers go to get them and bring them into Cap’s underground movement (despite Cap telling them not to). The Runaways do not appreciate this and they fight. Meanwhile, Shield releases Noh-Varr, a kidnapped kree warrior forcibly altered with cockroach DNA. Shield was really evil during the civil war. This one’s pretty fun. The dynamic of the Young Avengers and Runaways as the well behaved obedient kids and teen rebels respectively works really well, and the teams’ realizations that they have more in common than they think is also well executed. After all, the Young Avengers are rebels too. It’s fun, even if the villain is a bit much. 3/5 stars.
Young Avengers Presents
A series of character studies of each Young Avenger set in the aftermath of the Civil War. This is good, but the different artists (Paco Medina, Harvel Tolibao, Alana Urusov, Mark Brooks, Mitch Breitweiser, Alan Davis) and writers (Ed Brubaker, Brian Reed, Roberto Agurre-Sacasa, Paul Cornell, Keven Grevioux, Matt Fraction) on each issue can be a bit jarring. It would have been an excellent part of an ongoing comic, but as one of the handful of arcs we get, it just feels like a waste that we never see the team get together. Still a pretty fun series of vignettes, though. 3.5/5 stars.
Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers
Christopher Yost and Takeshi Miyazawa take over writing and pencils, respectively, for the second Young Avengers/Runaways teamup. This is the first one with bad art, or more accurately art that doesn’t fit the story. The story is all about Skrull politics amid the invasion, and the art is a cutesy cartoony style that makes everyone look like children. This is the point where I haven’t really read any of the events being tied into, so that could be the reason for my reduced enjoyment, but I found this bad. There was little interplay between the teams, and instead, we mostly got a story that only really involved or included Xavin and Teddy with everyone else really just muddying the waters. It’s the first Young Avengers arc that I would just call bad. 2/5 stars.
Dark Reign: Young Avengers
Paul Cornel and Mark Brooks, who teamed up earlier for a Young Avengers Presents issue, return for the Young Avengers’ third event tie-in, although I guess it's debatable whether Dark Reign counts as an event. We begin the story with an established Young Avengers team consisting of teenage supervillains. I haven’t read Dark Avengers, but my understanding is that they are all established villains. If these are pre-existing supervillains, then they are not ones I’m familiar with, and this is a problem because there just isn’t really time for me to understand and care one way or another about them. I get why he did it this way, he wanted some tension about whether they were good guys or not, but that doesn’t work either since he shows them being so evil early on. Most of the run is about the Young Avengers trying out and training the other Young Avengers and there’s moments where I really liked it, but in the end I think it’s messy and doesn't quite come together. 2.5/5 stars.
Siege: Battlefield
The last of the tie-ins, this time brought to us by Sean Mckeever and Mahmud Asrar. It brings us to the middle of Siege with the Young Avengers running around ruins trying to save people. It feels like watching 15 minutes in the middle of a film without context. Skippable. 1.5/5 stars.
Young Avengers: The Children's Crusade
Heinberg and Cheung finally return for an arc following up the loose plot threads from their first run and tying a bow on the Young Avengers. It's 11 issues long, filled with plot twists, betrayals, deaths, resurrections, retcons, and a lot of ludicrous explanations of magic. At its heart, it's an attempt to address the problems with Avengers Disassembled and its treatment of Wanda. But it's also a series finale, and a crossover event filled with shocking twists. It is utterly ridiculous and way too ambitious for its own good… and I love it. This is exactly the kind of nonsense that I read comics for. 4/5 stars.
Heinberg has compared his first Young Avengers arc to a season of TV. Going with that metaphor, it is the first season of a TV show, and his second arc is the final season. Unfortunately, there are no seasons in between, and I think that remains a shame. I love this team, and I wish we got more of them.
Volume 1: Sidekicks
TV writer Allan Heinberg and artist Tim Cheung introduce us to a team of young ripoffs of the older avengers who formed after the original team disassembled.
The Young Avengers initially consist of Iron Lad (Nate Richards), Patriot (Eli Bradley), Asgardian (Billy Kaplan), and Hulkling (Teddy Altman). Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) and Stature (Cassie Lang) join the team by the second issue. It is very quickly revealed that Iron Lad is a young Kang the Conqueror who used Vision’s Avengers Failsafe program to assemble a new team of Avengers in order to fight older Kang. This is an action packed intro that lets us get to know the new characters as heroes more than people, but it’s effective and a good start. 4/5 stars.
Volume 2: Family Matters
Heinberg finishes his run with a much more personal examination of the kids behind the masks. We learn about Cassie’s somewhat abusive homelife, that Eli is on Mutant Growth Hormone and isn’t actually a supersoldier, that the twins are Scarlet Witch’s twins, and that Hulkling is a skrull/Kree hybrid and the son of Mar-vell. This is when the story really comes into its own by revealing how these copies of older heroes are really their own people. I think this is what fellow TV writer Aron Coleite tried to do with Ultimate X-Men: Absolute Power but the difference is that Coleite did it with an established character with whom it made no sense. The other difference is that this is good. We get our final form of the team here as well. Iron Lad left in the first issue, but he’s replaced by a teenage Vision named Jonas, and before long the team is joined by Speed (Tommy Shepherd). Asgardian also changes his name to the much better Wiccan. The arc ends with the characters announcing that they were now going to have many adventures together and even implying that they might get to use the old Avengers Mansion. This was not to be. Or at least we aren’t going to get to see much of it. 4/5 stars.
Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways
Zeb Wells and Stefano Caselli take over for Heinberg and Cheung. The Young Avengers return alongside the Runaways for a Civil War tie-in. After the Runaways get caught using their powers openly, the Young Avengers go to get them and bring them into Cap’s underground movement (despite Cap telling them not to). The Runaways do not appreciate this and they fight. Meanwhile, Shield releases Noh-Varr, a kidnapped kree warrior forcibly altered with cockroach DNA. Shield was really evil during the civil war. This one’s pretty fun. The dynamic of the Young Avengers and Runaways as the well behaved obedient kids and teen rebels respectively works really well, and the teams’ realizations that they have more in common than they think is also well executed. After all, the Young Avengers are rebels too. It’s fun, even if the villain is a bit much. 3/5 stars.
Young Avengers Presents
A series of character studies of each Young Avenger set in the aftermath of the Civil War. This is good, but the different artists (Paco Medina, Harvel Tolibao, Alana Urusov, Mark Brooks, Mitch Breitweiser, Alan Davis) and writers (Ed Brubaker, Brian Reed, Roberto Agurre-Sacasa, Paul Cornell, Keven Grevioux, Matt Fraction) on each issue can be a bit jarring. It would have been an excellent part of an ongoing comic, but as one of the handful of arcs we get, it just feels like a waste that we never see the team get together. Still a pretty fun series of vignettes, though. 3.5/5 stars.
Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers
Christopher Yost and Takeshi Miyazawa take over writing and pencils, respectively, for the second Young Avengers/Runaways teamup. This is the first one with bad art, or more accurately art that doesn’t fit the story. The story is all about Skrull politics amid the invasion, and the art is a cutesy cartoony style that makes everyone look like children. This is the point where I haven’t really read any of the events being tied into, so that could be the reason for my reduced enjoyment, but I found this bad. There was little interplay between the teams, and instead, we mostly got a story that only really involved or included Xavin and Teddy with everyone else really just muddying the waters. It’s the first Young Avengers arc that I would just call bad. 2/5 stars.
Dark Reign: Young Avengers
Paul Cornel and Mark Brooks, who teamed up earlier for a Young Avengers Presents issue, return for the Young Avengers’ third event tie-in, although I guess it's debatable whether Dark Reign counts as an event. We begin the story with an established Young Avengers team consisting of teenage supervillains. I haven’t read Dark Avengers, but my understanding is that they are all established villains. If these are pre-existing supervillains, then they are not ones I’m familiar with, and this is a problem because there just isn’t really time for me to understand and care one way or another about them. I get why he did it this way, he wanted some tension about whether they were good guys or not, but that doesn’t work either since he shows them being so evil early on. Most of the run is about the Young Avengers trying out and training the other Young Avengers and there’s moments where I really liked it, but in the end I think it’s messy and doesn't quite come together. 2.5/5 stars.
Siege: Battlefield
The last of the tie-ins, this time brought to us by Sean Mckeever and Mahmud Asrar. It brings us to the middle of Siege with the Young Avengers running around ruins trying to save people. It feels like watching 15 minutes in the middle of a film without context. Skippable. 1.5/5 stars.
Young Avengers: The Children's Crusade
Heinberg and Cheung finally return for an arc following up the loose plot threads from their first run and tying a bow on the Young Avengers. It's 11 issues long, filled with plot twists, betrayals, deaths, resurrections, retcons, and a lot of ludicrous explanations of magic. At its heart, it's an attempt to address the problems with Avengers Disassembled and its treatment of Wanda. But it's also a series finale, and a crossover event filled with shocking twists. It is utterly ridiculous and way too ambitious for its own good… and I love it. This is exactly the kind of nonsense that I read comics for. 4/5 stars.
Heinberg has compared his first Young Avengers arc to a season of TV. Going with that metaphor, it is the first season of a TV show, and his second arc is the final season. Unfortunately, there are no seasons in between, and I think that remains a shame. I love this team, and I wish we got more of them.
June 22, 2025
I found myself really engrossed with this cast of characters, I only wish they had a longer ongoing story.
The original two volume story arc introduces the characters and allows some time to develop them, but then the original run ends and what comes next is various tie-in issues to Civil War, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, and Siege. I really enjoyed seeing the cast of Runaways cross over with Young Avengers, and the Dark reflection of the Young Avengers in the Dark Reign cross over was pretty interesting.
I did find myself disappointed by the finale of the book' Children's Crusade. It had some great character moments between Billy (Wiccan) and Tommy (Speed) and their grandfather (Magneto) and uncle (Quicksilver). But the story became bloated with nonsense action scenes as the Young Avengers fight the Avengers and then the Avengers fight the X-Men. It felt like the worst excess of this period in Marvel Comics, superheroes fighting when they could just talk things through. I also didn't like how they hand-waved away Scarlet Witches actions and seemed to pin the blame on Doom? It just didn't seem well thought through, and the conclusion just wasn't satisfying for me. Especially as Patriot Elijah Bradley (the grandson of the Black Captain America) just seemed to disappear from Comics after this book.
Despite my review seeming negative, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters, especially Kate Bishop and Elijah Bradley. The cast felt authentically "teenaged" and their dynamic as a group was a lot of fun to read.
The original two volume story arc introduces the characters and allows some time to develop them, but then the original run ends and what comes next is various tie-in issues to Civil War, Secret Invasion, Dark Reign, and Siege. I really enjoyed seeing the cast of Runaways cross over with Young Avengers, and the Dark reflection of the Young Avengers in the Dark Reign cross over was pretty interesting.
I did find myself disappointed by the finale of the book' Children's Crusade. It had some great character moments between Billy (Wiccan) and Tommy (Speed) and their grandfather (Magneto) and uncle (Quicksilver). But the story became bloated with nonsense action scenes as the Young Avengers fight the Avengers and then the Avengers fight the X-Men. It felt like the worst excess of this period in Marvel Comics, superheroes fighting when they could just talk things through. I also didn't like how they hand-waved away Scarlet Witches actions and seemed to pin the blame on Doom? It just didn't seem well thought through, and the conclusion just wasn't satisfying for me. Especially as Patriot Elijah Bradley (the grandson of the Black Captain America) just seemed to disappear from Comics after this book.
Despite my review seeming negative, I really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters, especially Kate Bishop and Elijah Bradley. The cast felt authentically "teenaged" and their dynamic as a group was a lot of fun to read.
December 18, 2024
An iconic young super-team origin story for the ages!
(LOVE the narrative framing of Jessica Jones as the jaded ex-hero turned unlikely reporter/cool adult the kids can actually confide in. Unexpected, but very cool.)
With the Young Avengers set to be big-screen icons soon, it makes sense to go back and read the stories where it all began, to see how they were first introduced, the twists and turns it took to actually get them all together, and wonder, what parts of this story might actually show up on film?
Like, we probably won't see inciting incident Iron Lad anytime soon, but hey, that's what Ms. Marvel and Iron Heart are here for - team assembling and tech prowess!
Besides that, we already got actors for Patriot, Wiccan, Giant-Girl, Hawkeye, AND America - and she doesn't even show up in this book! At this point, the only OG casting we're still missing is Hulkling! (at least, not the one we might've expected...)
We've even got Jessica Jones back if we're lucky! (substitutes ranging from Daisy Johnson to... Peter Parker???)
(LOVE the narrative framing of Jessica Jones as the jaded ex-hero turned unlikely reporter/cool adult the kids can actually confide in. Unexpected, but very cool.)
With the Young Avengers set to be big-screen icons soon, it makes sense to go back and read the stories where it all began, to see how they were first introduced, the twists and turns it took to actually get them all together, and wonder, what parts of this story might actually show up on film?
Like, we probably won't see inciting incident Iron Lad anytime soon, but hey, that's what Ms. Marvel and Iron Heart are here for - team assembling and tech prowess!
Besides that, we already got actors for Patriot, Wiccan, Giant-Girl, Hawkeye, AND America - and she doesn't even show up in this book! At this point, the only OG casting we're still missing is Hulkling! (at least, not the one we might've expected...)
We've even got Jessica Jones back if we're lucky! (substitutes ranging from Daisy Johnson to... Peter Parker???)
December 28, 2025
Just for the record, I have read a lot of omnibuses before I started my Goodreads account. This one is no different. This right here is my entrance to the Avengers, and it didn't disappoint. This was a very fun and engaging omnibus to read. I had so much fun reading it, and it only took 4 me days to do so. There are a lot of great storylines in this omnibus, like how Wiccan, Hulkling, Kate Bishop, Cassie Lang, and Iron Lad met. Lots of story arcs and especially the character developments, it's top tier. I'm going to go ahead and give this a 4.5/5 star, while it was fun and near perfect omnibus, I'm not exactly fond of the Avengers. This is a great starter for a marvel omnibus for those who are looking to get into Marvel.
August 26, 2023
A fantastic, enjoyable collection of stories focusing on the Young Avengers team that deals with multiple Marvel events involving the team. The Young Avengers team consists of Hulking, Wiccan, Iron Lad (For awhile) Kate Bishop, Patriot, Vision, Stature (Cassie Lang) and other members coming in and out. The omnibus does contain the additional issues with Young Avengers teaming up with the Runaways but the opening issues and the final story arc are best parts of the book. In all the book is solid read and worth adding to your collection if you have any interest in the Avengers.
September 8, 2024
Solid new characters in solid stories. I would have rated it five stars, but the tie-in issues were average and I've grown tired of adolescent characters making bad choices that make me dislike them. In character choices? Maybe. But even so, it's a personal thing I'm finding i could do without the older I get.
October 27, 2024
This took me awhile! I don't think I have ever read an entire omnibus of anything.
There's not really a cohesive introduction to the Young Avengers and some of the mixed stories where Young Avengers are visitors to the original, overall arc can be somewhat difficult to get into. Loved the whole Children's Crusade storyline.
There's not really a cohesive introduction to the Young Avengers and some of the mixed stories where Young Avengers are visitors to the original, overall arc can be somewhat difficult to get into. Loved the whole Children's Crusade storyline.
June 15, 2025
Anything by Heinberg (initial series+ Children's Crusade) was great. All the stuff in between- from crossovers was meh. Like it wasn't crazy bad but just more of the same. And that was basically atleast the third of the book?
Could have given it a higher rating if they actually continued the solo Young Avengers series. All the characters were great.
Could have given it a higher rating if they actually continued the solo Young Avengers series. All the characters were great.
December 4, 2022
Although I didn’t love the crossover issues the initial run and children’s crusade still make this book a 4 star read.
February 14, 2023
Before the new Ant Man movie comes out, I just need to stake my claim as Cassie Lang’s biggest fan
February 22, 2023
The event tie ins and one shots mess with the flow, but in all the book is solid. Especially the Children’s Crusade story.
July 22, 2023
Just got the ultimate collection omnibus and I have to say after reading a ton of comics. This is my favorite. I love these guys so unbelievably fucking much I could start sobbing.
September 22, 2023
4.5 וואי שלמות
July 1, 2024
I accidentally read this after I had read Children’s Crusade so none of the twists shocked me but it was still a great story!!
September 23, 2024
Start of pretty good. The ending was pretty good as well. The middle though was a wreck.
January 27, 2025
5 stars for the original run, but loved rereading all of these!
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