Members of the Young Avengers have been popping up in the MCU shows and movies that have released so far (or are set to release in the future), which has a lot of Marvel fans abuzz about the possibility of a Young Avengers movie or TV show. The Young Avengers are a group of teenage superheroes from Marvel Comics that have their own sets of powers but also take on the legacies of the heroes that came before them in order to fight their own threats.
There are actually multiple runs of the Young Avengers comics: the original one published in 2005 and a newer collection published in 2013. There are also a lot of series in between the two that feature the team on their own adventures or involved in wider Marvel events, like Civil War or Secret Invasion. Because of this, the question about an adaptation then becomes: which run will an MCU adaptation pull from? Some of the members who are integral to the initial 2005 run aren't present in the 2013 run and vice versa. Some of the Young Avengers have already appeared, but which other members might show up, and which storylines will the MCU use?
The first Young Avengers lineup includes some faces fans have already seen in the MCU, including Cassie Lang (Scott Lang's daughter), Eli Bradley (grandson of Isaiah Bradley, and he briefly appeared in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier), and Billy and Tommy Maximoff (who appeared in WandaVision, and who in this initial Young Avengers run have been adopted by different families and are unaware that the other exists). The team also includes Kate Bishop (who is set to take on the mantle of Hawkeye in the upcoming Disney Plus Hawkeye show), Teddy Altman (Hulkling), Iron Lad, and a version of Vision that has the Vision's body but not his memories.
From this initial team, the members that have already appeared in the MCU would likely be part of an MCU Young Avengers lineup. Cassie Lang is set to be a bigger character in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which will likely set her up to be her own hero. Billy and Tommy will have to find a way back into the MCU and be aged up, and many fans theorize that it could happen in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as Wanda is going to be a main player in that story and might be able to get her children back using the multiverse. Teddy has not yet been introduced to the MCU, but he will definitely be part of the line up, as he is integral to the Young Avengers plot lines and to the MCU at large, especially if they're doing the Secret Invasion storyline.
It seems unlikely that the Young Avengers Vision will be part of the MCU team, mostly because it's a strange part of the storyline that can work in a comics format, but wouldn't translate well to screen and would just be confusing because of the multiple versions of Vision we've already seen in the MCU. Iron Lad will, however, probably be a part of the team initially, if they follow the Kang the Conqueror storyline from the comics (especially because a lot of fans have theorized that Kang might be making his way into the MCU soon with all of the time travel elements that they've been exploring recently). All of this is to say that most of the original Young Avengers team will probably be included in an on-screen adaptation. But what about the 2013 crew?
In Volume 2, which is the run from 2013, the team looks slightly different. There are some returning players, including Kate Bishop's Hawkeye, Billy, Tommy, and Teddy, but there are also the new additions of Kid Loki, Miss America, Noh-Varr, and Prodigy. Kid Loki is a version of Loki who is trapped in a child's body after his death and subsequent resurrection. Because of the time travel elements in the Disney Plus show Loki, it's likely that we could see Kid Loki appear, or even have him be the form that Loki ends up in at the end of the show in order to further set up the Young Avengers.
America Chavez (Miss America) is a superhero with super strength and the ability to travel the multiverse through portals. She is allegedly going to be in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and will definitely be included in a Young Avengers line up because she's integral to the plot of the 2013 run. Noh-Varr and Prodigy are also somewhat important to the story, but since there are so many characters already, they could be dropped from the first line up and show up in a potential season 2 or movie 2 of a Young Avengers series, depending on whether Marvel decides to go the TV show or movie route with the team.
Obviously, this is a lot of characters, especially when none of them have been fully fleshed out yet. All of this isn't even touching on the fact that other teenage superheroes that have been confirmed for the MCU but aren't traditionally part of the Young Avengers lineup (such as Ms. Marvel or Ironheart) could potentially get sorted into the team.
Most of the team will have to be introduced more fully to the audience at the beginning of the movie or TV show, and having too many characters will just make it overly complex and confusing. It would make sense for Marvel to just follow the first storyline where the Young Avengers deal with the threat of Kang the Conqueror in the first movie or first season, and do the 2013 story in a follow-up. However, it seems like America and Kid Loki could be entering the MCU early on, so would they be lumped in with the original team, or would they have to wait around for a sequel?
One way to solve this is to have them be their own separate side plot in the first Young Avengers installment. When Young Avengers Volume 2 begins, Kid Loki and America already know each other, because he's been causing problems for her across the multiverse. They could lean into this and explore that as a plotline while the Young Avengers deal with Kang, and then have Loki and America enter the fold later on, already known to the audience.
Of course, there's also the possibility that Marvel could combine different elements of both stories, or make up a totally new one for this more patchwork team. There hasn't been any official confirmation of a Young Avengers MCU adaptation, but the hints are definitely there. The MCU does stray from the comics in a lot of ways, so it wouldn't be shocking if they used the characters from the Young Avengers but made up an entirely new plot for them. Either way, they certainly have a wealth of different plot lines to pull from, and no shortage of sarcastic teenage superheroes to bring to the screen.