The MCU’s Young Avengers Can Redeem A Hero From Marvel’s $476m Box Office Bomb

The MCU‘s Young Avengers project will give one of its characters a chance to make a better impression than they did in their superhero debut. The foundations for an MCU Young Avengers movie or show have been laid over Phases 4 and 5. Characters such as WandaVision‘s Billy and Tommy Maximoff, Hawkeye‘s Kate Bishop, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s Elijah Bradley are a staple of the Young Avengers in the comics. Others, like Ms. Marvel‘s Kamala Khan, aren’t a part of the team in the source material, but are joining the team in the MCU.

As of Phase 5, the MCU’s Young Avengers cast still lacks two important members: Theodore Altman a.k.a. Hulkling, a Kree-Skrull hybrid who marries Wiccan; and Nathaniel Richards a.k.a. Iron Lad, a teenage version of Kang the Conqueror who seeks to stop his evil counterpart. The closest the team has gotten to assembling has been in The Marvels‘ ending scene, where Ms. Marvel reaches out to Kate Bishop with her own Avengers initiative.

Cassie Lang’s Young Avengers Future Could Make Up For Her Quantumania Hero Debut

Cassie Lang Could Have A Bigger Role As Stature Within The Young Avengers

Cassie Lang was a highlight of the first two Ant-Man movies thanks to her sweet personality as a little child. She also starred in a heartwarming scene in Avengers: Endgame, where Scott Lang reunited with her five years after being snapped. The MCU recast Cassie Lang in order to give her a protagonist role in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. But while Cassie received plenty of screentime in the third Ant-Man installment, she didn’t have much to do within the story beyond motivating Ant-Man to save her.

Cassie Lang caused her family to fall into the Quantum Realm, got kidnapped by Kang the Conqueror, and incited the Freedom Fighters’ rebellion — three of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania‘s often criticized plot points, which seemed forced and didn’t create a clear character arc for Cassie Lang. As a result, Kathryn Newton didn’t have enough material to play with, and Cassie struggled to make the same impression as her fellow Young Avengers. The MCU’s Young Avengers could rectify Cassie Lang’s poor superhero debut by giving her a bigger role in the plot and allowing her to make difficult but competent decisions from the start.

Cassie’s Marvel History Means She’s A Perfect MCU Young Avenger

Cassie Lang Has Been Both A Famous Marvel Hero And A Supervillain

In Marvel Comics, Cassie Lang is a much more dynamic hero than what Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania established. Cassie joins the Young Avengers after Scott Lang’s death, turning her sorrow into motivation to fight crime like her father. She then finds herself a spot in the Young Avengers and reveals that she can grow to giant size after taking Pym Particles for years, earning the nickname “Stature”. As Stature, Cassie Lang proves her worth in events such as Civil War and Secret Invasion, and attains impressive feats such as knocking out Doctor Doom.

After sacrificing her life to defeat Doctor Doom, Cassie Lang resurrects and attempts to gain superpowers in order to work as an independent hero. To achieve it, she reaches out to the Power Broker, who entices her to become a supervillain. While Cassie initially accepts, she regrets her decision and switches sides to join forces with her also resurrected father, though she retains the “Stinger” mantle. In short, Marvel Comics’ Cassie Lang is a forceful and self-reliant hero with a story of her own, and her MCU counterpart can still follow in her footsteps once she becomes a full-fledged superhero in the MCU’s Young Avengers.