"Heroic Age"
In the wake of the 2008–2009 "Dark Reign" storyline, it was discovered that Norman Osborn had manipulated several young super-powered people for his own purposes. Six of these teens are placed in a program called the Avengers Academy located in the Infinite Avengers Mansion, headed by Hank Pym, with Tigra, Justice, Speedball, and Quicksilver as teachers. They say the purpose is to teach these youths how to become heroes. However, the students soon discover that they were selected because their profiles indicate they are the ones most likely to become villains.[16] After finding out the truth, Finesse blackmails Quicksilver to teach her everything he was taught in the Brotherhood of Mutants threatening to expose the fact that he stole the Terrigen Crystals and not the Skrull imposter that he claimed to have committed the crime.[17]
Pym takes the students to the Raft, the supervillain prison as a part of a tour. During the tour, Hazmat uses an EMP to shut down the prison.[18] Hazmat, Mettle, and Veil locate Norman Osborn's cell to exact their revenge. Osborn however manipulates their emotions about the secrets Pym is keeping from them and convinces them that he can someday cure them of their individual maladies.[19]
The students gain notoriety after they defeat Whirlwind. However it is revealed to Striker that his mother paid Whirlwind to stage the attack for publicity.[20] Reptil is voted to be student leader but after a confrontation with Mentallo he loses control and nearly kills him. His teachers suggest he seek counseling but he refuses to talk to the faculty. They then set up a meeting with Jessica Jones who had similar issues, and Reptil finally opens about many of the things that have been troubling him, but keeps his concerns about his fellow students and the academy private.[21]
Hank Pym finds a way to bring his late wife, Wasp, back to life. After some convincing and a battle with Absorbing Man, he decides against it because the risks are too great. Pym returns to his old Giant-Man persona as a way of letting go and moving on.[22]
After video of the Hood assaulting Tigra goes viral, Hazmat, Veil and Striker track down Hood, now depowered, and torture him. Veil records the incident and the students upload the video in the same manner as Tigra's assault. When the students show Tigra the video she becomes furious and expels all those involved.[23] Quicksilver helps Finesse seeks out Taskmaster believing him to be her biological father but is called back early to attend a faculty meeting to determine if Tigra's decision to expel Hazmat, Veil, and Striker was just. The teachers overturn the decision and instead place the students involved on probation.[24] After the expelled students are readmitted, Speedball takes them all on a field trip to Stamford, Connecticut, to visit the memorial of the incident that started the Civil War. At the memorial, the group is attacked by the Cobalt Men which Speedball easily defeats using his Penance powers. Veil later sneaks into Pym's lab in order to find a way to help him bring Wasp back.[25]
Veil soon finds that what seemed to be Wasp was in fact Carina, wife of Korvac. Korvac follows Carina back and the Avengers are summoned to fight him. With the Avengers soon defeated, Carina uses her powers to transform the students into adults.[26] Carina tells the students that she has placed their consciousness in their adult bodies from possible futures. After the students defeat Korvac, they revert to their normal bodies with the exception of Reptil, who remains in his adult body from a possible future.[27] On prom night at the Avengers Academy with members of the Young Allies and past members of the Initiative in attendance, Reptil still in his adult body dances with Komodo. When Hardball accuses Reptil of hitting on "his girl", a fight breaks out but is soon broken up by Pym and Speedball. After the fight Reptil speaks with Spider-Girl, who tells him that she liked him the way he was, and reverts to his teenage body.[28]
While the adult Avengers are dealing with the eruption of Mount Etna, Tigra and the students learn that Electro has broken into a French lab. Once on the scene, the students discover that Electro is accompanied by the rest of the Sinister Six. The Sinister Six overpower the students and Doctor Octopus steals a device containing self-sustaining power. The team barely escapes before an explosion takes out the lab. Back at the academy, Pym then tells the students that he has failed to prepare them for such a fight and they will train harder as a result.[29]
The students meet another young super-powered person that was manipulated by Norman Osborn named Jeremy Briggs. Since Osborn's defeat, Briggs has managed to become a billionaire. He shows the students several others teens tortured by Osborn, some of which have decided to use their powers to help people directly. When Finesse reveals that Briggs was telling lies and was using the teens for his own purposes, they attacked him. Briggs overpowers the students but ultimately lets them be taken out of his building by security stating that he could kill them if he wishes, but not today.[30]
"Avengers vs. X-Men"
During the 2012 "Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline, the Avengers bring the mutant children left behind by the X-Men following the battle on Utopia to the Avengers Academy to keep them from interfering in the war. Hercules organizes a sports competition between the Academy students and the mutants to ease tensions between the groups but after a while the mutants choose to exclude themselves. Meanwhile, Sebastian Shaw breaks out of the holding cell that Wolverine placed him in inside the Academy.[45] Hercules, Tigra and Madison Jeffries try to stop Shaw, but are defeated. Meanwhile, X-23 tries to figure out whether she should align herself with her former friends from Utopia or her current friends at the Avengers Academy. After talking to Finesse, she witnesses the young mutants from Utopia (now joined by Ricochet, Wiz Kid, and Hollow) confronting the Academy students. When Juston Seyfert and his Sentinel try to stop the young mutants, X-23 attacks the robot and forces it to retreat, deciding that the young mutants should not be deprived of their free will to leave the Academy if they want. Shaw then suddenly appears in front of the teenagers.[46] Before a battle begins, X-23 and Finesse warn their friends that Shaw's body language indicates that he does not mean to hurt anyone, but to help the mutant children to escape. After both sides agree that the mutant children should not be confined against their will, Tigra suggests to fake a fight in order to justify their escape in front of the cameras at the Academy.
"Final Exam"
After the closure of the Academy, the students are summoned by Jeremy Briggs, proclaiming that he has found a cure. Veil reveals to the students that she has had her powers removed by Briggs' invention, called "Clean Slate". After Mettle and Hazmat take the cure, Briggs reveals his true intentions: to depower superhuman beings and re-disperse their abilities to individuals, whom he deems worthy. After defeating the depowered students with the help of the Young Masters, Briggs extends his offer to Hazmat, Mettle, Striker, and Veil, who accept.[50] The depowered students regroup and manage to take down Big Zero. With the rest of Young Masters and Briggs, believing that they are dead, the depowered students make their way to Brigg's laboratory in search of an antidote. Meanwhile, Striker tricks the Enchantress into giving him the antidote and attacks her but is nearly killed by Briggs. During the commotion, Veil gives the antidote to Hazmat and Mettle.[51] Hazmat rescues Striker but Briggs and the Enchantress escape. In the laboratory, the depowered students defeat Coat of Arms, just as Hazmat, Mettle, Striker, and Veil arrive with the antidote. The students make their way to the roof but find that Briggs as already launched "Clean Slate" via missiles.[52] Lightspeed takes off after the missiles and disarms a couple as Veil tricks Briggs' scientists into releasing Jocasta so that she can redirect the rest.
