The History of Avengers Academy

School may be out for summer, but Avengers Academy is getting ready to welcome a new class.

At the original Avengers Academy, Earth's Mightiest Heroes taught a group of young superhumans with destructive powers and villainous inclinations how to be heroes instead. Now, Captain Marvel has assembled a new team of teenage superhumans with plans to reopen Avengers Academy for a new generation. 

As Captain Marvel readies her new recruits, let's take a closer look at how a generation of Marvel heroes came together to form Avengers Academy, what happened to that class of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and who is getting ready to enroll in the new Avengers Academy in Marvel Unlimited's AVENGERS ACADEMY: MARVEL'S VOICES INFINITY COMIC (2024) #1 on June 26.

WHAT IS AVENGERS ACADEMY?

Norman Osborn unwittingly laid the groundwork for Avengers Academy during DARK REIGN, when he held immense political power as the leader of the S.H.I.E.L.D.-like agency, H.A.M.M.E.R. After identifying several young superhumans with either destructive powers or signs of psychological instability, Osborn developed their abilities in hopes of turning them into his loyal soldiers. 

When Osborn fell out of power, the Avengers began training them to be heroes instead in AVENGERS ACADEMY (2010) #1 by Christos Gage and Mike McKone. Under headmaster Hank Pym, the Avengers Academy initially operated out of the subatomic Infinite Avengers Mansion. 

Several veteran Avengers taught the first Avengers Academy class. Since he had overcome Magneto's influence, Quicksilver joined the school to help steer the kids onto a better path and pass down Captain America's training lessons. As a former member of several Avengers teams as well as the New York Police Department, Tigra taught all facets of law enforcement at the school. Speedball—having retired his punishing Penance identity—and fellow former New Warrior, Justice, taught from their own experiences as teenage heroes. Rounding out the staff were the robotic Jocasta, Hawkeye (Clint Barton), and Hercules, who joined when the school moved to Avengers Compound, the former headquarters of the West Coast Avengers.

AVENGERS ACADEMY: THE FIRST CLASS

Avengers Academy's first class of included six students. The team's most experienced hero was Reptil, who had previously been a member of the government-operated Initiative and debuted in AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE FEATURING REPTIL (2009) #1 by Christos Gage and Steve Uy. Thanks to his Prehistoric Amulet, Reptil can transform all or part of his body into a prehistoric animal. As he continued his search for his missing parents, Reptil was unanimously elected leader of the first Avengers Academy class. Like Reptil, Striker had already been operating as a hero, but the media-savvy actor was mainly interested in using his electrical powers for fame and fortune. 

The first class also included Hazmat, who had to wear a containment suit to keep the radiation and other deadly substances produced by her body from killing everyone around her. She was joined by Veil, who could turn into any gas but was slowly losing her ability to return to her human form. The group also included Mettle, a surfer whose body was covered in the durable metal iridium. Finesse, another team member, had an intuitive mind that allowed her to understand complex systems and copy any physical action that she saw—much like her suspected father, the Taskmaster.

THE FIRST SEMESTER

After coming together, the Avengers Academy students discovered the Avengers thought they were in danger of becoming villains, a revelation that shaped many of their early adventures. In fact, once Finesse realized Quicksilver was hiding some of his past villainous actions, she had him secretly teach her how to be a villain. Then, just before they began dating, Hazmat and Mettle unsuccessfully tried to assassinate an incarcerated Norman Osborn during a field trip to the Raft, a superhuman prison. 

The team made their public debut in a battle with Whirlwind, which was secretly arranged by Striker's mom. A video of the Hood attacking Tigra went viral in AVENGERS ACADEMY (2010) #8 by Christos Gage and Mike McKone. In retaliation, Hazmat, Striker, and Veil released footage online of them attacking the depowered kingpin, which led to their temporary expulsion.

The Avengers Academy students were briefly aged up into adult bodies during a battle with Michael Korvac. When the Asgardian Serpent gave his destructive power to avatars around the world in FEAR ITSELF (2010), the heroes faced Absorbing Man and Titania, who were both controlled by dark Asgardian entities. After an intense battle, the Infinite Avengers Mansion was destroyed, and a disgusted Veil left the team in AVENGERS ACADEMY (2010) #19 by Gage and Tom Raney.

AVENGERS ACADEMY: THE NEW RECRUITS

After relocating to the Avengers Compound in California, Hank Pym opened the school to any young superhuman, and over a dozen new students began enrolling in AVENGERS ACADEMY (2010) #21 by Christos Gage and Sean Chen. The Academy's new recruits included street-level heroes like White Tiger and Power Man (Víctor Álvarez), and relatively experienced young crime fighters like Lightspeed (Julie Power) and Araña (Anya Corazón). This team also saw mutant recruits like X-23 (Laura Kinney) and Wiz Kid serve alongside machine-wielding human heroes like Rocket Racer and Juston Seyfert, who had a pet Sentinel. 

Later, Jocasta faked her death and joined Veil in following Jeremy Briggs, a manipulative genius who wanted to depower the world's superhumans and redistribute abilities as he saw fit. The Avengers Academy students got into a brief battle with the teenage Runaways just before their school was used to house several X-Men trainees during AVENGERS VS. X-MEN (2012). Despite some tense moments between the mutant and non-mutant heroes, the mutants were allowed to leave peacefully, although the Phoenix-wielding Emma Frost unsuccessfully tried to destroy Seyfert's Sentinel. 

Eventually, Veil and several other original Avengers Academy students were depowered by Briggs and defeated by the Young Masters, a group of teen villains. However, most of the students were repowered, and Finesse fatally stabbed Briggs with X-23's claws in AVENGERS ACADEMY (2010) #37 by Gage and Tom Grummett.

WHAT HAPPENED TO AVENGERS ACADEMY? 

Although the students of Avengers Academy were set up for promising futures, several of their stories took dark turns following their time at the school. After Arcade kidnaped Hazmat, Mettle, X-23, Reptil, and Juston Seyfert, he forced them and several other teenage heroes to fight to the death in Murderworld, starting in AVENGERS ARENA (2012) #1 by Dennis "Hopeless" Hallum and Kevin Walker. 

When Arcade tried to kill Hazmat, Mettle sacrificed his life to save her. As Arcade's cruel competition went on, Reptil was seriously injured and Seyfert was killed. After the teen heroes escaped, Hazmat seemingly killed Arcade and joined several other Murderworld survivors in trying to take down the Masters of Evil.

After Avengers Academy quietly closed down, established heroes like White Tiger and Araña returned to their vigilante careers, and mutant students like Wiz-Kid and X-23 played critical roles throughout the rise and fall of the mutant nation Krakoa. After briefly working with Striker and Leonardo Da Vinci, Reptil continued his adventures as a solo hero in REPTIL (2021) #1 by Terry Blas and Enid Balám. 

Despite a stint with A.I.M., Finesse joined Hank Pym's daughter Nadia Van Dyne in G.I.R.L. Hazmat became a close ally of Captain Marvel, and Captain America recruited her to his team of vampire-slaying Avengers during BLOOD HUNT (2024) in AVENGERS (2023) #14 by Jed MacKay and C.F. Villa.

THE NEW AVENGERS ACADEMY

In MARVEL'S VOICES INFINITY COMIC (2022) #95 by Anthony Oliveira and Bailie Rosenlund, the Avengers began recruiting superhuman students again as they prepared to reopen Avengers Academy. Captain Marvel's first recruit was Aaron Fischer, who protects vulnerable populations as Captain America of the Railways. Doctor Voodoo invited Bloodline, the part-vampire daughter of Blade, to enroll after her encounter with Agatha Harkness.

Escapade accepted Emma Frost's invitation to join the team after she used her mutant power to switch abilities and locations with those near her to stop a plane hijacking. Shuri asked Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur to join the school at a science expo for young geniuses. Spider-Man (Miles Morales) was also invited to join, but he gave up his spot on the team to Normie Osborn, who operates as the Red Goblin with his symbiote Rascal.

The team's last recruit was Kid Juggernaut, the current wielder of the Gem of Cyttorak. Jin "Justin" Joon-Sung, who debuted in MARVEL'S VOICES INFINITY COMIC (2022) #100 by Oliveira and Minkyu Jung, is the grandson of Jin Moon-Ho, who had wielded the power of the Juggernaut immediately before Cain Marko. Though he worked with invading Japanese forces as Taiko, Moon-Ho refused Cyttorak's order to destroy his home village in Korea, and Marko killed him. 

After Marko lost the Gem of Cyttorak, Justin inherited the Gem and embraced its power while fighting the wizard Malphegor, as detailed in KID JUGGERNAUT: MARVEL'S VOICED INFINITY COMIC (2024) by Emily Kim and Jung. When he caused a scene while saving pedestrians outside of his family's Vancouver bakery, Kid Juggernaut met the X-Men and told them his story. At Professor X's invitation, Justin agreed to join Avengers Academy to reclaim the Juggernaut legacy.

Discover Justin Jin's story now in KID JUGGERNAUT: MARVEL'S VOICED INFINITY COMIC! Then, attend the first day of classes in AVENGERS ACADEMY: MARVEL’S VOICES INFINITY COMIC #1 on Marvel Unlimited starting June 26!

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