#hawkeve

The new Avengers: Endgame trailer introduced Kate Bishop (Hawkeye) one member of the Young Avengers. I’m so, so excited for that! Here she is, being trained by Clint Barton.

For those of you not in the know, the Young Avengers was formed by the character Iron Lad. 

I know the name is... not great. Anyway, brief history of Iron Lad:

- Iron Lad is also another character “Kang the Conqueror” who first showed up in Marvel comics in 1963; he’s an almost painfully forgettable villain, who had never been written very well. He was best known for his ability to time-travel and fuck around in alternative universes. 

- Kang the Conqueror travels back to meet himself, a sixteen-year-old boy known as Nathaniel ‘Nate’ Richards, to save him from being hospitalised in a knife attack. We learn that the people who near-knifed him were bullies, and the event is what shapes him into the villain of Kang the Conqueror.

- Kang shows Nate through time, hoping that witnessing all his future success will inspire him to become the villain he is today - but this backfires and Nate is horrified by the idea of becoming evil. Nate steals Kang’s time-travelling technology, taking himself back in time and vowing to avoid this potential future version of himself.

- He attempts to contact the Avengers (specifically Tony Stark) who were, unfortunately, disassembled at that point in time. *SPOILERS* Vision has been destroyed at this point in time, and Nate discovers {by which I mean - breaks into Stark Industries to recover steal} his remnants which uncover a plan created by the Avengers in case they ever disband: the plan is to locate and form a new generation of Avengers.

- Iron Lad reconstructs his armour to look like Iron Man’s and calls himself Iron Lad. Why did he call himself this? Honestly, I have no idea. It’s a terrible name, simply the worst. Whichever comic book author came up with this needs to have a good hard look at themselves.

- He then goes onto form the Young Avengers, with the data he collected stole, to stop the evil alternate universe version of himself. The rest is ridiculously convoluted history.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE NATE RICHARDS I DESCRIBED IS ONLY ONE VERSION OF HIM, THERE ARE MANY OTHERS. THIS WAS NATE AS HE WAS KNOWN AS IRON LAD.

But, could Harley Keener fill to role of Iron Lad in the MCU?

Yes. Yes, absolutely. Obviously I think yes, that’s what this whole post is about.

A rose by any other name...

First roadblock we hit is difference in name. Harley and Nathaniel are not interchangeable names, and Iron Lad is clearly Nate Richards. There are at least three different versions of Nate Richards... all of whom are linked to Kang the Conqueror. If Nate Richards were to become Kang the Conqueror in the MCU, they would want his name to be Nate Richards.

Unless, they have no intention of keeping the “Kang” storyline. A new Iron Lad with a different, less convoluted and ridiculous, backstory to work into the MCU. If they’re not using Kang, they probably won’t want to call their Iron Lad.... Nathaniel Richards.

If the MCU were to set up an Iron Lad and exclude the Kang storyline, they would have to give him a different name - H a r l e y   K e e n e r .

Bullies. Nathaniel Richards was bullied for most of his childhood, and this served as the catalyst of him turning evil. In Iron Man 3 we comes to understand that Harley has suffered the same experiences. {side note: the bully who stabs Nate was named Morgan, Tony brings this name up while he’s discussing having a baby with Pepper, and there could be a tiny bit of foreshadowing there?}

Nathaniel is a genius, who at sixteen, has built a version of his own suit. We haven’t seen Harley develop since Iron Man 3, but even then we saw he had a capacity for building stuff (and a kickass workshop do do it in, thx Tony!)

It is confirmed that the actor of Harley Keener, Ty Simpkins, is confirmed to play him again in Avengers: Endgame. 

Harley Keener is still, apparently, relevant enough to include in the Avengers film - relevant enough to bring back. Sure, it could just be for a cameo, or it could be because they’re setting him up for another, more permanent role, in the Marvel Universe.

Age. Iron Lad is sixteen years old, Ty Simpkins  is seventeen years old, Harley Keener is said to be approximately sixteen years old in Avengers: Endgame.

Tony Stark has to die sometime... who will replace him?

[quick aside: I do think it would be more impactful for Harley to take the role of Iron Lad, and, in effect, the Iron Man legacy - because unlike Nate, he has a pre-established relationship with Tony.]

I know we all want to reject the facts but the hard truth is that Tony Stark won’t exist in this universe forever. RDJ probably isn’t ready or willing to do another decade of action films and there’s only so many times Tony Stark can crumble into an unhealthy destructive martyrdom because he actually gets himself killed in a self-sacrificing blaze of glory. May not in Endgame, but Tony will have to go... probably relatively soon.

In fact, they all will. The original Avengers aren’t going to stick around forever. It’s time for a new generation, a new Avengers, a Young Avengers.

The main reason I’m so excited for the possibility of seeing Harley Keener as Iron Lad is because that means YOUNG AVENGERS formation. I love Harley too and want for him to be utilised, but, really it’s all about a new generation of Avengers forming. 

Also, *CAPTAIN MARVEL SPoILERS* guess who’ll also be about the right age to fit into the Young Avengers team? Monica Fucking Rambeau that’s who.