WICCAN: Page 2 of 7

Publication Date: 25th Jun 2020
Written By: Monolith.
Image Work: Douglas Mangum.
Biography

BIOGRAPHY - PAGE 2

The Young Avengers came to the public's attention after rescuing people from a burning building and a wedding hostage fiasco at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Kate Bishop from the wedding and Cassie Lang (daughter of Ant-Man) tracked the boys back to Avengers Mansion around the same time Captain America, Iron Man and Jessica Jones did the same. Billy and the others explained about the Avengers Failsafe protocols and the coming of Kang, although Cap and Iron Man admitted they had no idea why Billy and Teddy would be in Vision's files. The gathering was attacked by the Growing Man, who was scouting that temporal zone for Iron Lad. Asgardian and the others fought the Growing Man, but the stimuloid sent a signal summoning Kang.

Asgardian and the Young Avengers stood by Iron Lad, but the adult heroes were concerned about Kang's warnings that the timeline would rupture if Nate did not fulfill his destiny. Time and space did begin rewriting themselves, creating a post-apocalyptic landscape and the loss of Jessica Jones' pregnancy. Billy and the others vacillated on what to do, and Kang's attacks left them little room to think about what was best as they instinctively fought back. Finally, after Kang murdered the Avengers and was turning on the Young Avengers, Iron Lad stabbed and killed his future self. Somehow, this led to a future where most of the Avengers were dead and Billy and Teddy (due to their unexplained connection to the team) faded from existence as well. Iron Lad finally relented and agreed to go back to the future and live out his life as Kang. This restored the timeline and brought back the Avengers and Young Avengers who had been lost.

Captain America was adamant that the Young Avengers could not remain together. The loosely associated new Avengers of the time were not prepared to train the kids, and Cap would not condone letting unseasoned teens risk their lives. Under the threat of calling their parents and turning them in, Billy and the others reluctantly agreed to retire. As days passed, however, the group decided they would defy Captain America anyway. The desire to do good as heroes was just too strong. Kate Bishop arranged for new costumes for the team, and suggested Billy lean into his spell-casting more under the new alias of "Wiccan." Even without Iron Lad, the Young Avengers remained dedicated to making the future a better place. [Young Avengers (1st series) #1-6]

The Young Avengers started operating publicly while trying to come up with a plan for what they would do if Captain America reported them to their parents. Billy tried to come forward with his parents, only to accidentally come out to them instead. Fortunately, the Kaplans were very loving and supportive of Billy and Teddy's relationship. The team stumbled, however, after the Avengers spoke to Cassie "Stature" Lang's mother and the Young Avengers learned Eli had no super-powers but had been misusing Mutant Growth Hormone instead. With two members out, the remaining Young Avengers considered ending their crime-fighting days again. [Young Avengers (1st series) #7-8]

The secret of Billy and Teddy's role in Avengers history came from a surprising source. Hulkling was assaulted in the streets by the Super-Skrull, who claimed Teddy was Dorrek VIII, heir to the throne of the Skrull Empire. Wiccan and Hulkling escaped and fled to Billy's home, only to find Teddy's mom waiting for them. Super-Skrull followed them there, revealing their secret identities to the Kaplans and exposing Teddy's mother as a Skrull. Teddy's mother was killed trying to protect Hulkling from the Super-Skrull, who kidnapped his young charge and fled. [Young Avengers (1st series) #9]

Wiccan gathered the Young Avengers to approach the adult heroes at Avengers Tower for help, but the only ones in residence were Jarvis and the new Vision. During Iron Lad's fight with Kang, his neuro-kinetic armor had come alive with a neural imprint of his personality mixed with the Vision's operating system, creating a newborn "teen" Vision. With the Avengers unavailable, Wiccan and Vision reactivated the Avengers Failsafe protocols in his system to find reinforcements. Tommy Shepherd was listed as a speedster in the protocols, and the Young Avengers found him at a juvenile detention facility in New Jersey. During the breakout, Wiccan was shocked to see Tommy Shepherd was virtually identical to him except for having silver hair. They were basically twins. Billy, Tommy and the others located Super-Skrull and Hulkling, only to be confronted by soldiers from the other half of Teddy's heritage: the Kree Empire. [Young Avengers (1st series) #10]

The Kree proved even more aggressive at trying to recruit Hulkling than the Super-Skrull, prompting the Young Avengers to flee back to Avengers Tower. Teddy insisted they bring the somewhat earnest Super-Skrull along so he could learn more about his heritage. Kl'rt the Super-Skrull explained how the Kree Captain Marvel and Princess Anelle of the Skrulls developed a passion for each other during the Kree-Skrull War when Dorrek VII, Teddy's grandfather, imprisoned Mar-Vell and some of the Avengers of Earth. Kl'rt saw the symmetry of Hulkling finding companions in the children of the Scarlet Witch, one of those Avengers. Billy didn't understand what Super-Skrull meant, and Kl'rt explained their records showed Wanda Maximoff had twins named Billy and Tommy, and here were identical young men, a spell-caster and a speedster (like Wanda's brother Pietro). After confirming this with Vision's Avenger files, Wiccan became convinced he and Tommy were the trans-migrated souls of Wanda's lost children.

The fighting over Hulkling became even more intense at Avengers Tower, as the Avengers and Young Avengers got caught between the Kree Empire and the Skrull Armada. The fighting ended when Super-Skrull shape-shifted into Hulkling and presented himself to both sides. He agreed to spend half a year with each camp before choosing where he would remain, luring the alien armies away from Earth and Teddy for the time being. Afterwards, Hawkeye and the other Young Avengers stood up to Captain America and told him they were going to remain active regardless of his threats, especially since most of their parents now knew about their activities. Wiccan shared his opinions about the Scarlet Witch with Cap and the older Avengers, although they remained dubious about his idea. Tommy decided to remain with the group as "Speed" and Billy got to know his "brother" while looking for ways to track down their "mother." [Young Avengers (1st series) #11-12]