Marvel makes shocking change to plans for Young Avengers project

From the moment Marvel began introducing characters from the Young Avengers roster within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, fans have been eagerly waiting for the team of young heroes to come together in an official capacity. 

Key pieces have gradually been added to the Marvel chess board and we’ve now reached a point where there are more than half a dozen key Young Avengers within the MCU. We have Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop, Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez, Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang, Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel, Joe Locke as Billy Kaplan aka Wiccan, Elijah Richardson as Eli Bradley aka Patriot, Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams aka Ironheart, Jack Veal as Kid Loki, and we know other key players such as Tommy Maximoff aka Speed and Hulkling will soon be on their way. 

With so many key players from the Young Avengers team making their way to the MCU, the pieces are being laid for a team up and Marvel is indeed working to bring these heroes together. However, it seems Marvel won’t be doing so via a feature film as anticipated. 

Marvel isn’t making a Young Avengers movie

While Marvel is still working to bring the Young Avengers together, it seems when the group assembles for their first solo project it won’t be a movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

According to new reports that have been confirmed by trusted Marvel insider Daniel Richtman, Marvel has decided to make a few notable changes with its upcoming Young Avengers project the first being that the plan is no longer for the project to be a movie but to instead be a Disney+ series. The other big change is that the project is no longer to be titled Young Avengers and is set to adopt the title of Champions. 

First, Marvel apparently doesn’t want to use the term “Young” to describe the group due to some of the cast members attached to the project aging out of the young label. As for why they’re looking at a show instead of a movie? It seems they’re a bit hesitant after the box office performance of The Marvels and feel a show would be a better fit for the project which is apparently being developed with Marvel actively searching for a showrunner. 

While we don’t exactly agree with Marvel’s decision to pivot from a movie to a show, that plan actually sounds like the better plan as it gives Marvel the chance to bring the characters together in a series that could span 6-9 episodes (depending on the format) and give audiences more time with the characters. This also could help with building out the dynamics of the team and allow for the heroes to truly come into their own while allowing Marvel to gauge the success of the show which could then lead to their adventures continuing in a second season or perhaps with a film. 

We also can’t fault them for not wanting to use the young branding when their key players aren’t exactly going to be kids/teens when the project finally sees the light of day. We’ve all seen how much fans have roasted Stranger Things for having adult actors playing kids, so dropping Young can help with branding for the project and hopefully prevent too many age jokes when it comes to the ages of the cast. 

That doesn’t mean we can’t still refer to them as the Young Avengers, but a rebrand of the name seems like the best call for Marvel and it also allows them some flexibility to play around with the team’s roster and origin story. 

We’ve seen that Kalama is helping to put the team together and seems primed to take a big role on the team, which is a bit of a departure from comics so creative liberties are being taken and we’re happy with what we’ve seen so far. Plus, if a rebrand is what it takes to get a Young Avengers project past the finish line, we’ll happily accept the name change if it means getting to see the heroes come together within the MCU!