Disclaimer: I don't own DC or Marvel
Fans of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D will be happy to know that some of the characters will be appearing in this chapter and the next, we also feature a reminder of Zack's origins and new major antagonists are revealed, enjoy.
The Redeemer
Chapter 8: the clash of brothers
Billy Kaplan had never been sadder in his life. True he had a lot going for him, his parents had accepted his and his boyfriend's relationship and even allowed them to live together, he maintained a close relationship with his always on the move twin and his family had grown slightly. As the reincarnation of Wanda Maximoff's son Billy knew his life would be complicated, technically speaking he had two mothers. The Kaplans were the most accepting people Billy had ever met, they accepted that he was gay, that he was a superhero and that his origins were not as simple as they believed. He and Teddy were supposed to be taking a break from super heroics and a recent argument they had reminded Billy that it was in their blood. Teddy was the son of Kree Captain Mar-Vell, a man whom abandoned his military to be a protector of the Earth, killed before his time and his memory and body desecrated not once but twice. During Mar-Vell's most recent resurrection he had encountered Teddy, at the same time Teddy also met the genetically engineered offspring of Mar-Vell, Phyla and Genis. But he couldn't connect with them, so Teddy maintained little to no contact with them and in their father's dying moments Teddy learnt that he had an older half brother, a result of Mar-Vell and the Kree Medic Una's love affair.
Hulkling had been eager to look for his brother in deep space. But Billy wanted the break from super heroics. The Hunt had cost them so much, their team the Young Avengers had become part of a grand covert ops team consisting of super powered runaways, protégés of famous heroes and students of the Avengers LA academy. They were the result of the dream of Siegfried Wallace, the adopted son of Sven Reilly, the father of Billy's half brother Zack. Yet again the hunt had revealed something, that in the House of M created by the Scarlet Witch's out of control powers, she and Sven had an affair. Despite the apparent erasure of the House of M however the child appeared as a fully-grown teenager with his hybrid abilities matured.
Again Billy was reminded of how much he had and how little Teddy had. His mother had been killed by the Super Skrull and though the Skrull hero expressed regret over having killed her, she was still gone and Teddy was left with only the possibility of reuniting with a long lost brother and the slim chance that his biological mother, the Skrull princess Anelle was still alive. But sitting in his room Billy began to think that perhaps he could change it. As his mother's son he too could manipulate reality if his will was strong enough and he wanted his boyfriend to be happy.
'Mom bought Hawkeye back, so why shouldn't I be able to do the same thing?' the young man wondered as he crossed his legs together.
His hands glowed with blue energy that swirled around him like water running into a tap. Windows in the fabric of reality began to open showing the events that Billy had witnessed. His kiss with Teddy, him meeting Wanda, Teddy and Genis defeating Muramasa (something which always made Billy smile with pride) and again and again the death of Teddy's mother were the things that stuck out, perhaps even more so than the formation of the Young Avengers.
"I want…" usually Billy would have to repeat what he wanted to change again and again, a psychological part of his powers, but if something interrupted that process then Billy would just be talking nonsense.
Billy could only use his powers if he concentrated and nothing broke his concentration more than someone banging against his window. He got off the floor and with an annoyed expression swung the curtains open. The face pushed against the glass was enough to make him recoil in shock.
"HI BILLY!" Zack yelled.
"What the hell are you doing?" Billy asked.
"I needed to see you," Zack said, his face still pressed against the glass.
"Get away from the window so I can open it, and don't yell at this time of night," Wiccan stated with a grimace, his half brother was so naïve, some found it cute and appealing.
Kate and their new teammate America Chavez liked that about Zack, even Noh-Varr liked him. Billy however was always reminded of everything he wasn't when Zack was around. Wanda and Sven always gave Zack the attention, even though they weren't technically a couple. He was their son genetically; Billy only had the spirit of the Scarlet Witch's son. Wiccan knew that Zack could sense his jeaolousy and contempt, yet still he acted friendly, like a brother.
"Thanks, I really needed to get away from mum and dad for a while, did you hear about the fight downtown?" Zack asked.
"I felt the tremors, but I was a little busy with a project I'm working on," Billy said.
"I thought you had graduated, what where you…" Zack suddenly paused, looking at where Billy once sat.
He lowered his mask and looked at Billy with a disapproving look.
"You were trying to break the dimensional barriers weren't you?" he asked.
"I was trying to use my powers," Billy retorted, he was in no mood to be lectured by his younger 'half brother', he hated the term.
"Those abilities, the ability to manipulate reality is dangerous Billy, anything could slip through the cracks you create in our dimension," Zack explained.
"So suddenly you're an expert on reality manipulation, I was only going to do it once," Billy said.
"You do it once, then you're successful and everyone's praising you for it, that makes it easy to do it again and again and again until you lose track of the risks, or worse, you start thinking that this awesome and amazing power that is making everyone's lives better gives you the right to play god, which I believe was what mum did right?"
"Don't get self righteous with me Zack, is it you the Maximoff talking or the Reilly talking?" Billy asked.
"Both mum and dad know the risks of playing with power like that, I know the risks too…I saw them today," Zack sat on the edge of Billy's bed, as if defeated even though Billy was beginning to see his point.
Billy looked at Zack and saw that along with the boy's mask, his usually happy and optimistic demeanour had fallen.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I siphoned off of mum's power to disable the android we were fighting, the way Rogue and Wolverine looked at me, I could tell they were afraid. Most of the X-men hate mum for depowering the mutant community, for eliminating the mutant X-gene, Storm was pregnant but her child isn't a mutant, the same thing apparently applies to anyone born after M-Day," Zack explained.
"I don't need to be reminded of super hero history Zack, I am a geek after all, but what's so bad about our powers, if we join them together we might be able to bring mutants back," Wiccan said.
"Except it'll come with a price, magic always does Billy, we're drawing power from another dimension and there's no telling what you could have brought through with that spell just now, what were you trying to achieve anyway?" Zack asked.
Billy lowered his head and sighed.
"I was trying to bring Teddy's mom back," he said.
Zack widened his eyes before glaring at his brother.
"How could you be so foolish? Never mind the dangers of your powers, but the moral implications too, suddenly an ordinary woman is back from the dead and people start asking questions, like is every person who mysteriously reappears really gone because of witness protection? Or something else?"
"Oh and once again it comes back to your father and his cronies, do you think they own the witness protection excuse for coming back from the dead?" Wiccan asked.
"And do you think that you have the right to go behind Hulkling's back like that?"
"I have had enough of your self righteousness, then again the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree has it?"
"People will say the same for you if you start doing what mom did."
"Our mother is the only thing we have in common Zack Reilly."
Zack and Wiccan glared at one another, the younger brother's eyes glowed red whilst Wiccan's glowed blue. Before both could strike one another however the door swung open.
"What are you two doing?" a blonde haired teen asked.
Billy turned to his boyfriend, the glow in his eyes disappeared. Zack's glow faded as well as Teddy walked into the room. Hulkling put his hands on his hips and shook his head disapprovingly; anyone could see the tension between Billy and Zack. They were not as close as Wanda had been to her brother. The Skrull-Kree hybrid walked across the room, shifting into his natural form, a blonde haired, green skinned human with plates on his shoulders, even his clothes changed, turning into a sleeveless red and black bodysuit with a starburst symbol, his father's symbol on his chest.
"We got a lead on Kai-Vell, I know you don't approve of me going, but I'd rather you'd be with me Billy," Hulkling said.
"I know you want to find your brother, and your mother Teddy, but they might not be the kind of people you think they are," Billy sighed.
"I'm right here you know," Zack said, shooting a glare at the wizard.
Billy raised his hands, surrounding himself with a blue light. The light changed the shape and colour of his clothes, turning his pyjamas into a uniform, a black and red bodysuit with padded gloves and boots and a red cloak.
"At least you're using simple magic and not the world ending kind," Zack said.
"What's the problem with you two?" Hulkling asked.
"Nothing, I'd love to help out Teddy, in fact I could use the excuse to get away from the adults," the boy raised his mask over his face and nodded to the young Avenger.
"Well where we're going we'll definitely be getting away from the adults for a while," Hulkling smiled as he opened the window and flew up towards the roof.
Billy and Zack followed, shooting fierce looks at one another. But their frowns rose into looks of shock at what waited for them on the roof. It was a space ship of Kree design; its armour was green and its hatch opened to reveal some familiar faces. Standing in the lead was Young Avengers leader Kate Bishop, also known as Hawkeye. Her long black hair had been straightened and had no bands to hold it up, she wore a pair of sunglasses and had downgraded her previously complicated suit into a simple light purple bodysuit with her shoulders exposed by slits, black boots and archery gloves covered her limbs and a black belt with a holster was wrapped across her hips. Next to her stood oddly enough a former member of the X-men, with Sieg's sacrifice having inspired many super heroes to join together, it was said that the day the X-men would work with the Avengers would not be far behind. Though Prodigy no longer had an X-gene he still retained the massive knowledge he once absorbed and wore his black and yellow X-men uniform proudly. The third new member was someone from another dimension; America Chavez was a Latino girl whose super hero costume consisted of street clothes with an American flag style theme.
"Ready to go?" Kate asked.
Billy opened his mouth to speak…
"YOU BET I AM!" Zack's excited yell beat him to it.
Sat in the pilot's seat of the ship was Noh-Varr, another reality hopper like Chavez. He still fell under Kree jurisdiction though; even though he didn't wear a Kree uniform he was looking for Kai-Vell under orders from Ronan the accuser. Kai-Vell's squad had gone missing when on a mission; Noh-Varr himself however didn't need any other motivation than saving the son of his idol Mar-Vell.
"Good to see you again son of Aeon," Noh-Varr said.
"You're all going?" Zack asked.
"Virgil assigned me to this 'squad' if you will, he's currently working on a case with X-23 and Wind Dancer, something about a group of twelve year old sociopaths waiting to make a new Hellfire Club," Prodigy explained, the air of scepticism thick in his eyes.
"We have dealt with crazier things you know," Kate said.
"You only say that because you think Virgil's cool, trust me you aren't his type," Prodigy said.
"You mean he's more your type?" Miss America smirked.
"Firstly, he's A-sexual which in case you've never read a book…"
"Or Wikipedia," Kate interrupted.
"It means that he's not sexually attracted to anyone, man or woman, and secondly I'm with Surge, we've been together for a while now and I'm not suddenly going to develop an interest in the same sex," Prodigy explained.
"Homophobe!" Chavez, Billy and Teddy suddenly shot glares at David.
He looked at them in shock, his orange glasses nearly falling off of his head.
"No I didn't mean it like that it's just…" he paused as the three smirked and began laughing.
"Its okay you like who you like, you should have seen the look on your face," Chavez laughed.
"Too bad about Virgil, he's so cold now, then again losing your brother might do that to you," Kate said.
"You're only saying that because you wanted to ask him out," Billy said.
"Well of course, he's so cool and at ease, its all right to have dreams about the guy you wouldn't actually want to date," Kate explained.
"Whilst sometimes you don't have to dream Kate Bishop?" Noh-Varr looked over his shoulder and winked at the girl.
She smiled back, the pair had recently begun a 'friends with benefits' relationship, one they both thoroughly enjoyed. Zack sat a short distance away from the group of heroes, looking at a hologram of Captain Mar-Vell alongside a display of his nega bands. He then looked over his shoulder and nodded his head at Chavez. She leant against the wall with her arms crossed, her eyebrows raised in a curious expression.
"I've been to many worlds, pocket dimensions are my specialty, but there's only one dimension I cant get to," she began and waited for Zack's guess.
"The spirit realm," the boy immediately thought of the dimension that had gifted his father with his abilities.
"It's a world humans were never supposed to reach, yet science did what my powers couldn't do, those scientists established a chain and one spirit ventured into this world, choosing an inappropriate host, a host called Cade Hunter," America explained.
"How do you know all this?" Zack's enquiry came as he turned away from the hologram, which immediately shifted into the image of Deathblade.
Miss America walked past Zack, nearly shoving him aside to look at Deathblade.
"My world was a paradise dimension and he decimated it," she squeezed her hand into a fist, as if she was going to punch the hologram.
"A whole dimension, but that's not right, that isn't the man that my dad described," Zack said.
"Well it was someone wearing black armour similar to your father's, so I'm not counting Deathblade out. Still I suppose someone can always recreate paradise," Zack followed America's line of sight, she was staring at Wiccan.
Zack looked over the other Young Avengers, Noh-Varr was busy piloting, Prodigy was checking his PDA and Hulkling and Hawkeye were talking. He had as good a chance as any to finish the discussion he was having with his brother.
Sven opened his eyes and shook his head at Wanda. The pair had arrived at Billy's apartment and from simply checking the windows found that no one was at home. Sven had an ability shared by all those whom had been empowered by the spirit realm, they could sense one another, even feel their emotions. What Sven sensed made him even more concerned for his son; Zack had conflicting emotions just waiting to explode, quite literally considering Zack's powers. He dared not to tell Wanda know, she had to believe everything was all right. Between the X-men's constant vigilance with her and her brother's death she had enough craziness in the world piling on her conscience. Likewise Sven had his own responsibilities too, with Zack off world he would have to trust his son to deal with his problems on his own.
"He's with Billy, they're both together, it'll be all right Wanda," he said to his former lover.
He didn't even know whether he could call her that. They had only dove into a relationship in Wanda's warped reality, the house of M, where she had been the sheltered princess and he the guilt driven royal guard, both in need of someone to save them. But where it counted he hadn't been there, so it was no fairytale ending. In the true reality however though Sven was drawn to Wanda, he couldn't truly say that he loved her.
"I think we both know differently Sven," though not a telepath, Wanda didn't need any kind of special abilities to know what was on Sven's conscience.
While he remembered only a summarised version of his life in the House of M, Wanda remembered every second of it. Her father's rise to power, the altered lives of the heroes, a world where mutation had become so wide spread that humans were the minority. She remembered a happy family, a family truly united with even her half sister Lorna being close to her and how that family had nearly been ripped apart by the Winter Soldier, Nuke and Mimic, all of whom killed, one at her hand. But what haunted her perhaps even more so than the three words she spoke in grief (and the results of those words) she remembered a man, Sven Reilly. Mimic had been his friend, many of Sven's friends and loved ones died in her father's rise to power, including the woman he loved.
He however convinced S.H.I.E.L.D. to surrender, becoming one of the most hated humans in the history of the House of M, hated by his own kind. She remembered every detail of his life and the life they had together, the grief he felt when Faith died, the anger he had to let go of after losing his friends and the strength it had taken him to surrender to the only source of order left in the world, Magneto. Even in the House of M he was a hero, a hero she fell in love with. There came nights when she would lose herself in those memories, of their walks in the garden, their first kiss and part of Wanda felt that she was actually reliving the nights they spent together, him sneaking into her room, kissing her neck gently, his eyes always asking her for permission and the gentle touch of his skin against hers. There had even come a day, a day before the dreaded final day of the reality when he had told her he loved her.
Through remembering all of that and seeing him again Wanda found that she couldn't deny her inner feelings. She was still in love with him, he was with her best friend but she still wanted to be with him. Her heart skipped a beat as he touched her shoulder. His hand reached to her cheek, his gloved hand made her feel warm and safe. She felt his thumb wipe away a tear and she didn't resist him turning her face to look at him. He had the kindest eyes she had ever seen, but there was a spark of regret in them. Sven shook his head, his way of telling her that they couldn't be.
"Wanda I'm sorry but…" he paused in confusion as he felt a vibration on his thigh.
He cleared the armour on his legs and reached into his pocket. Someone at S.H.I.E.L.D. was patching into his mobile, which he usually put on silent. He flicked open the phone and a holographic image of Skye appeared. She was the new recruit of the rebuilding agency, a former hacker recognised by S.H.I.E.L.D. for her abilities. Like Coulson she stuck to civilian clothes, though they were a reflection of her age and maturity, cheap but fashionable casual wear.
"Hi Sven, you really need to get an encryption packet on your phone it was easy to download Simmons's hologram tech onto your phone and then hack it again to talk to you and is that the Scarlet Witch?" the brown haired girl asked her eyes quickly swinging to Wanda.
"Wouldn't it have been easier to just use the number I gave you?" Sven asked.
"You keep your phone on silent Sven," Wanda reminded him.
"Point taken, is there a problem?"
"Yes there is a bloody problem," Skye cringed as a voice emanated from her side; it was thick with panic and the graceful accent of Scotland.
"Calm down, I'm sure Sven has a very reasonable explanation," a gentler voice from England spoke.
"You mean an answer that makes no scientific sense, and why is he Sven all of a sudden?"
"He told us all to call him Sven, or were you not listening?"
Skye let her face fall into a deadpan expression as the scientists of her team continued their romantic argument. Sven smiled at the interaction, the Scottish male was Leo Fitz, a graduate in engineering and his British partner was Jemma Simmons, a graduate in life sciences both human and alien.
"I'll be there as soon as I can," Sven said.
"Don't bother, Coulson's nearly there," Skye said.
Sven raised his eyebrows in confusion. He suddenly began to hear a humming sound, a sound that grew louder as if approaching the rooftop. Sven and Wanda turned to the edge of the roof as a red Chevrolet Corvette floated into their line of sight. Sitting at the driver's seat as casual as anything was Coulson.
"So this is Lola?" Sven asked.
"Yeah, your father fitted the hover pads himself, I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time," Coulson said.
"We were looking for Zack, but he's in good hands," Wanda said.
"Then you wont mind me taking Sven for a while."
"More recruiting?" Sven asked.
"No, in fact it's a more personal issue, personal for you Sven," Coulson said.
"Then count me in, I'm going with you," Wanda said.
Sven looked at Wanda for a moment and smiled. Coulson noted the exchange and hoped that Sven knew what he was doing.
"How exactly does it concern me, judging from Fitz reaction it must be something connected to the spirit realm, what did you find?" Sven asked.
Coulson's response was instant despite the impossibility of the statement.
"We think we've found Sieg!"
"I think we've found Kai-Vell, or at least what's left of his squad," Noh-Varr sheepishly pointed out.
Teddy practically pressed his face against the glass, looking at the carnage and destruction that had been wrought on the planetoid. His jaw fell, looking at the massive number of dead bodies and Kree blood that had spilt the ground.
"Is there breathable air on that planet?" Kate asked.
"Yes Kate Bishop, but I believe we should not go unarmed," Noh-Varr said.
"You know Noh you can be sweet when you're concerned," Kate raised her energy bow with a grin.
Zack gripped his head and fell sideways onto the wall. Billy turned and looked at Zack with only mild concern. Their argument was still fresh on his mind. Despite suddenly becoming ill, Zack tried to resume their conversation. He stumbled forward, falling into Billy's arms. That was when Billy's scowl fell and his brotherly instincts took over.
"Zack are you all right?" he asked.
"I can feel them, the dead, they're still afraid," Zack said.
He limped towards the nearby viewing window and looked out into the landscape. Someone was firing a blaster in the distance, Zack and Billy could see the flashes of the energy beams.
"NOH-VARR GET US TO THE NORTH SIDE OF THE PLANET NOW!" Billy yelled.
The Kree nodded his head and began flying the ship in the said direction. He narrowed his eyes as he got closer and saw exactly what had killed the Kree. The dying squad had been joined by the Skrull, perhaps they had also been seeking the son of Mar-Vell, tensions between the two races were still high and their were probably still people looking for revenge on the Captain. These Skrulls however were fighting alongside the Kree, trying to survive the onslaught of creatures both known and unknown facing the warriors, whom fell in doves. They were fighting against grey skinned, cyborg creatures with cannons on their arms and grey and gold helmets.
"Chitauri," Noh-Varr identified the alien creatures.
"I have no idea what those other creatures are though," Prodigy said.
They were blue and insect like in appearance and were stabbing the warriors with their spiked legs. Zack narrowed his eyes slightly at the only human on the ground. He was swinging a scythe attached to his arm, dismembering Kree and Skrulls together. His uniform was blue and his cloak was red, the way his scythe had replaced his right arm only confirmed that he was the Grim Reaper, brother of Wonder man. Zack however had an instinct that it wasn't Williams under the hood.
"Do not rest until you have found Kai-Vell," Reaper said.
He looked up at the ship and smiled. Energy ran across his blade and with a swing he sent a blast flying at the craft. Noh-Varr moved out of the way of the object, hitting two of the demon creatures. An energy blast flew into the back of a Chitauri, knocking it away from a Kree medic. Hulkling watched the Kree warrior whom had slain the Chitauri, broad shouldered and commanding, his white face exposed by his helmet. He imagined that the skilled warrior was his brother, the one they had come to save. The warrior picked up his fellow soldier, lifting him onto his feet as he blasted more enemies.
"STAND UP AND FIGHT KAI-VELL!" he yelled at the fully armoured soldier.
Teddy looked down at the shorter, slightly less muscular soldier. Dressed in full combat gear, including a helmet that covered his face, the young man looked out of place in a battle where some warriors were actually smiling over their deaths. An energy blade suddenly flew into the commander, knocking Kai-Vell to the floor.
"You all need to go now, do what we came here to do and I'll see if I can lose our pursuit," Noh-Varr said.
"Forget it, they need you down their, I studied and pass Kree flight exams five minutes ago," Prodigy said as he took Noh-Varr's seat.
Noh-Varr nodded to David, putting his confidence in the former mutant.
"All right Young Avengers, ASSEMBLE!" Kate yelled.
She took Noh-Varr's hand as he opened the hatch. Hulkling grew his talons and wings, whilst Zack pulled out his escrima sticks. The fighters of the team jumped out of the hatch and flew into the battle. Noh-Varr threw Kate in midair, allowing her to shoot several arrows into the heads of Chitauri. Miss America punched her away through several of the insect creatures as Zack broke their armour with his clubs. He flipped in midair, dodging energy blasts. Noh-Varr fired his blasters, hitting the insect creatures in their chests. Wiccan summoned a torrent of lightning, frying the implants on some of the Chitauri.
"NO SURRENDER!" the Skrull commander yelled as the last of his brethren fell.
He fell soon after to an energy blast. A figure emerged from the smoke of his remains, setting his sights on Noh-Varr. He rushed towards the young Kree, hitting him with a sonic blast. Then he punched him in the chest and lifted him off of the ground. Hawkeye turned and faced the new arrival, he was a giant of a man, or at least humanoid. He was clearly either an alien or a human wearing an organic suit, or an alien wearing a suit. Either way he looked intimidating, his suit was black and hugged his whole body, even his face. The suit also had a lighter shade of black, almost grey armour across the top half of his body, including his shoulders and around his head, a pack of some kind was fused to his back, shape very much like a beetle with the pincers extending past his shoulders. His red eyes looked over Kate and his mouth twisted into a grin.
"Powerless meat, but still good enough for dissection," he said, the mere sound of his voice made his superiority complex clear.
"You're no alien race I have ever encountered," Noh-Varr said, groaning as he got off the floor.
"We are the Reach, and you will soon be our slaves."
"Hey Black Beetle, you got dibs on super powered kids on your Earth but no variation of mine, you don't want to piss the boss man off do you?" Reaper asked.
The newly identified Black Beetle snarled as he turned away from Noh-Varr and Hawkeye. He suddenly swung around; shape his arm into a cannon. A sonic wave threw the two Avengers back, Kate landed on Noh-Varr's chest, their unconscious forms as intimate as they were before the mission. Zack stood his ground as the Chitauri and the Reach drones surrounded him.
"This one however," the Reaper turned to Kai-Vell and raised his scythe over his head.
Suddenly, Hulkling slammed into the Reaper, punching him squarely in the jaw. The Reaper slid backwards, gripping his face and dragging his blade across the ground. Miss America flew over Hulkling and raised her fist to punch the Reaper. He suddenly threw off his hood, causing America to freeze. She lowered her arms and hovered down to the floor.
"Chavez what are you doing?" Hulkling asked.
"Demiurge," Miss America muttered.
Billy looked towards the Reaper and widened his eyes in shock. It was a mild reaction compared to the looks Zack and Hulkling had.
"She doesn't want to attack me because I'm the only one with the power to bring her world back, as for you Teddy I'm extremely disappointed, that punch was no way to treat…your boyfriend," the Reaper grinned, revealing himself to be an older version of Billy.
"Guys, I'd hate to make the situation worse but…well it just got worse," Prodigy said over the radio.
He looked at the Reach and Chitauri fleets gathered around the Planetoid but they were not the focus of his concern, it was the grand portal they had appeared through.
"We're going to need backup and fast," he said.
Next Chapter 9: Through the eyes of heroes
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, the Young Avengers will return in several chapters time, meanwhile we return to Cade as he sees the lives of the heroes, whilst back in the Marvel Universe Sven and Wanda join the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in studying a dimensional worm hole.
The Billy being the Grim Reaper was inspired by the Last Avengers Story, I'm also going to include some young heroes from the DC universe later.