Abstract

The two Young Avengers series were groundbreaking for their respective times in representing lived queer experiences for young people. The 2005 series introduced gay couple Wiccan and Hulkling and centered on subverting the expectations of adults through the way the characters’ superhero identities manifested. This series’ art represented the mainstream values of the queer community at the time, which were centered around assimilationist politics. The 2013 series included more queer characters and showed the team expressing their sexualities and superhero identities in a way that is both based in lived experience and inherently fluid. Examining the 2013 text through Jose Esteban Muñoz’s ideas of queer futurity in his book Cruising Utopia (2009) gives insight into how this concept was played with through the series’ art. Analyzing visual elements in these texts such as clothing/costuming, dialogue, and panel structure provides a unique perspective on queer futurity that looks towards community and mutual care through the lens of the youth superhero team. Muñoz’s framework gives these series added depth and creates space for critical yet joyful engagement with them as meaningful texts.