And you thought your PE teacher was a dick.
Avengers Academy is a spinoff of Marvel's highly popular Avengers franchise. Avengers Academy is exactly what it says on the tin, a school for young and up coming super humans. Started during the 'Heroic Age' it stood out from the other Avengers titles by featuring largely new characters (the students) and some less prominent existing characters (the staff). The first story arc features Hank Pym (Ant-Man, Giant Man and many more) starting up the school to teach the first class how to be heroes and how to live with their various physical and emotional scars. Starting in issue #21 a brand new story arc begins featuring most of the original students, joined by a number of existing Marvel teens, some joining the main cast, the others being in the background as part timers. The school was also moved to Los Angeles to the West Coast Avengers compound and several members of the staff changed.
Created by Christos Gage the series acts as a Spiritual Successor to the similarly themed, though quite different Avengers: The Initiative, also co-written by Gage. One of the students 'Reptil' coming from that series, Hank Pym and Tigra were also central figures in that book. Though that Pym was a Skrull. The presence of Hank, Jocasta and Quicksilver means it also continues some plot threads from Dark Reign-era Mighty Avengers.
While any issue can be picked up and enjoyed, especially new reader friendly issues are #1, #14.1 and #21.
The title lasted for 39 issues (August, 2010- January, 2013) and some of the cast appeared in the Darker and Edgier Avengers Arena series as part of the Marvel NOW! relaunch. Also see Young Avengers for another Avengers-affiliated young team.
Unrelated to the free-to-play mobile village simulator game with the same name.
Avengers Acedemy provides examples of:
- Action Girl: All of the female students count and Tigra for the teachers.
- Asshole Victim: Even though Tigra lambastes the participants for their actions, it's hard for the reader not to take some satisfaction when several of the Academy's students respond to learning how the Hood invaded Tigra's home, beat her viciously, made her beg for her life and threatened her mother, by deciding to Pay Evil unto Evil and do the same thing to him, putting up a video of the Hood pleading for his life on YouTube.
- Ambiguous Situation: Of the six original students, only Reptil and Finesse get a solid explanation on where their powers might have come from (the former has his amulet, the latter might be Taskmaster's daughter). Hazmat just says she's not a mutant (with her parents blaming Roxxon, their workplace, for potentially exposing her to something that changed her), Striker's mother seems to know where his powers came from but lies that she doesn't, and Veil and Mettle don't get any sort of explanation for theirs.
- Animal Theme Naming:
- Reptil, sort of.
- Hank Pym started the series as The Wasp. His original superhero identity was Ant-Man. He also used Yellowjacket.
- White Tiger
- Animal-Themed Superbeing:
- Reptil who can turn into any Dinosaur. At first, it was only in parts, later he could change into a whole animal. his adult self can change into any animal from the dimension that Moon-boy and Devil Dinosaur came from.
- Tigra, an orange and black furred cat-woman.
- Arch-Enemy: Jeremy Briggs is everything they fear becoming wrapped up in a package of being everything they also want.
- Avengers Assemble: Used in the original sense a few times.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Finesse. Considering she's heavily implied to be Taskmaster's daughter, this is a given.
- Badass Cape: Averted as is common with Marvel Comics.
- Only Justice the instructor is a Badass Cape.
- Badass Normal: Finesse counts, though her ability to learn and analyze data borders on Super-Intelligence.
- Bad Powers, Bad People: The reason the kids were gathered for this 'school'. They either have bad powers or budding sociopathy, and are being trained to specifically prevent them from turning into supervillains. The series sees how successful or not they are.Mettle: "Look at us. Big monster guy, the human electric chair, poison gas girl, assassin chick, t-rex boy, and Chernobyl in Abercrombie and Fitch. One wrong move and any one of us could be a murderer."
- Big Damn Heroes: Happens several times, most recently when students are going to sacrifice themselves to stop "The Worthy" and prevent the destruction of a city when Giant-Man burst through the walls of the Infinite Mansion, attacking "The Worthy" while the rest of the staff (all of which are Avengers) show up to rescue the students!
- The Big Guy: Mettle. Being a giant of iridium, it's sort of the default.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: Hazmat in #10: "Today's gonna suck as much as all the others... but just a little bit harder. Because it's One More Day... with no end in sight."
- She does it again in #34. "I thought they'd reopen the Academy in a day. Maybe two. But this Avengers vs. X-Men thing just keeps dragging on."
- Bittersweet Ending: And not because of Avengers Arena either. That's just salt in the wound. This series ends with:
- Veil permanently depowered and even losing the health boost that she got when her mutation manifested, as well as being forced to go back to normal school... but where she is able to forcibly move up in the pecking order thanks to the confidence and fighting skills she learned at Avengers Academy.
- Hazmat and Mettle being told they can't take more of Jeremy Briggs's cure, because It Only Works Once, but deciding they can still have a relationship with each other at least.
- Striker's face is seemingly permanently scarred by Jeremy Briggs... but he matures enough to realize that looks aren't everything, and he can still have a life with them.
- Finesse losing her friendship with X-23 over the fact she used Laura's claws to kill Jeremy Briggs and let everybody think it was Laura who struck the killing blow, and seemingly loses Reptil to White Tiger.
- The whole Avengers Academy team being told that they have officially graduated to rookie Avengers, and are on their way to becoming full-fledged Avengers in time.
- Hank Pym and Tigra actually seem to be forming a healthy, stable relationship.
- A new Avengers-based humanitarian program to better support superhumans to places where their powers can help in ways other than just beating bad guys is launched.
- Black Dude Dies First: When the mansion is under attack Hazmat snarks that she "feel(s) like the black guy in a disaster movie".
- Blessed with Suck: The original cast is pretty much built on this. We have Veil who can turn into mist... yet her power is slowly killing her. Then we have Hazmat whose body produces deadly radiation, and has to be confined to a suit to protect others (think Captain Atom meets Rogue). Then there's Finesse, who is a super fighter but her brain can't handle all the information, causing her to discard social skills as "extraneous data", with the similarly empowered Taskmaster stating that his own short-term memory suffers similarly, as his brain constantly dumps "useless" data to imprint more combat skills. Sure enough, a future version of Finesse shows she has awful short-term memory, to the point that she's continually forgetting her daughter's name. And then there's Mettle, who was a champion surfer before his powers awakened granting him Super-Strength and Nigh-Invulnerability...but making him look like a metal version of Red Skull (he even yells once 'I'm not related to Red Skull, I'm Jewish'). Striker and Reptil are the safest of them, but they've got issues of their own to work around (and Striker's aren't even related to his powers).
- Book Ends: The series starts off with Veil being picked on in school and ends that way. Except in the end, Veil has picked up more self confidence and ass-kicking skills.
- Boxing Lessons for Superman: Part of the point of this series. Finesse uses her training with the actual Captain America and Iron Fist to hold her own against Taskmaster, as an example.
- Brick Joke: In the first issue of Wolverine and the X-Men, there's the promise of the "inaugural flag football game vs. the Avengers Academy". Sure enough, in the crossover between the two series, they have a flag football match.
- Breather Episode: The prom issue (#13) and a Flag Football Match against the Jean Grey School (#38) and the grand finale. The last two become even more relevant with what follows it.
- Broken Bird: All of the original students and staff. They are all in their own way damaged. There’s a reason Tigra refers to the staff as the black sheep of the Avengers.
- The Bus Came Back: Veil returns, along with Jeremy Briggs and Jocasta, in an attempt to close the Academy.
- Canon Immigrant:
- Reptil, originally a character created just for The Superhero Squad Show toyline, was introduced in the comics in an Initiative special in early 2009, and became a student at Avengers Academy the following year.
- And Ava Ayala, the New White Tiger, who was created for the new Ultimate Spider-Man animated series as confirmed by Gage on Twitter.
- X-23, while fully established at the time of her debut in the comic, originated in the X-Men: Evolution animated series.
- Cat Girl: Tigra and White Tiger, in different ways. Tigra is an actual catgirl, being half woman and half tiger — which manifests as her looking like a human with clawed fingers and toes, cat-like eyes, a cat's tail, and a body covered in fur, with her son sticking to the same theme. White Tiger's costume and gender combine give her a vaguely cat-like trait, with horns on her mask symbolic of cat's ears and clawed fingers, but she's much more symbolic than Tigra.
- Central Theme: There's two major themes that run through the entire series. The first and biggest is the defiance of expectations. But the other one is a bit subtler, but is nonetheless important: dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
- There's a third one, too - trying to do something for someone's own good without consulting them is not a good idea. Most of the problems start with something like this - the kids not being told they're potential villains, the kids going after the Hood intending to get revenge for Tigra, Veil releasing Karina (who she thinks is Wasp) since she thinks that Hank will appreciate it...the list goes on.
- Chrome Champion: A metallic red variant in Mettle.
- Civvie Spandex: Again, Mettle.
- Clothes Make the Legend: Hank Pym returning to his Giant-Man look and name just in time to rescue the students from the Absorbing Man.
- Code Name:
- Striker, Hazmat, Mettle (it's like a double entendre he says), Veil, Reptil and Finesse in the first class. When the roster expands we get White Tiger and Lightspeed. Well they are training to be Avengers after all.
- Hank Pym who started the series out as The Wasp in honor of his late wife finally returns to his older Code Name Giant-Man
- Clingy Jealous Girl Hazmat gets pretty jealous of X-23 when Mettle was trying to befriend her.
- On the otherhand, Hardball gets jealous of Reptil when it looks like he's flirting with Komodo, Hardball's girlfriend
- Covered with Scars: Robbie Baldwin (a.k.a Speedball and formerly as Penance) the instructor is covered with scars from his Penance stint. However, his scars are mostly hidden inside his skintight Speedball costume and he cuts himself in private without any notice from other instructors until his act was only discovered by Veil.
- De-power: Jeremy Briggs' evil plan involves depowering every genetic-based superhuman in the world, and then selectively restoring only those individuals willing to work for him.
- Dysfunction Junction: Both the teachers and the students are severely messed up.
- For the teachers, we have: Hank Pym, who has undergone multiple psychotic breaks over his adult life, been divorced several times, and most recently spent a prolonged period as captive of the Skrulls. Tigra, whose mind has consistently been overwhelmed by her feral feline urges at several points (including an extended period where she had to be kept miniaturized in a cat enclosure to keep her from endangering people), and who was raped-by-proxy by a Skrull playing on her affection for Hank Pym, which got her pregnant. Robert Baldwin, who was the only survivor of an incident that killed 600 people, which broke him to the point he became obsessed with self-mutilation — a practice he's still engaging in during the earliest issues. Vance Astrovik, who accidentally killed his dad with his powers. Quicksilver, who has been through the Heel–Face Revolving Door more times than one can count.
- For the students, we have: Veil, who was a bullied and humiliated girl at high school who was given the ability to assume the form of any gas, including poisonous ones, and who is doomed to discorporate into nothing if she is not cured. Finesse, who seems to be a budding sociopathnote . Striker was bought up by an abusive Stage Mom and sexually molested by the manager she got for him, and whom she wouldn't believe was molesting him. Mettle's mutation trapped him in the form of a deformed monster with muted tactile senses. Even Reptil, the least-baggaged member of the initial students, had his parents kidnapped and is desperately looking for them.
- Enfant Terrible: The Horror Men Call Hybrid. This marks the first return of Jimmy Marks, a Half-Human Hybrid of human (mutant) and Dire Wraith, since he was killed in the original X-Man comic, and he is still up to his own form. He manipulates events to get himself taken to the Academy, and then starts trying to siphon the life out of the male students, whilst planning to brainwash the female students into a harem with which he can breed a new generation of super-powered Dire Wraith hybrids to conquer the world with.
- Faking the Dead: Jocasta faked her own death at some point.
- 15 Minutes of Fame: Striker's mother had an affair with a prominent politician. After her fame ran out, she began pushing her son to become famous as well.
- First-Issue Spoiler: The first issue ends with the reveal that the Avengers Academy program isn't to train them as heroes so much as to prevent them from becoming supervillains, as they were determined to be the most at-risk of Osborn's test subjects.
- Five-Token Band: Goes very, very close to this trope with the original lineup. Reptil is Latino, Mettle is half-Jewish and half either Black or Polynesian, Hazmat is a Japanese-American girl, Veil is also a girl and Striker is gay. Later additions to the core team (White Tiger, Julie Power and X-23) are Latino, bisexual and a clone, respectively and are all girls.
- Fog Feet: Veil looks like this when she flies, since it relies on converting her lower body into mist.
- Frozen Face: Mettle. Because he does not have skin and is left with metallic armor on every part of his body, his face looked more skull-like.
- Future Me Scares Me: Subverted and played straight in the Korvac arc. Some of the students were disappointed that at least in those particular futures, described as their most powerful incarnations in the multiverse, they were still Cursed with Awesome. Reptil actually refused to let his future body change back at first because it granted him better control of his powers.
- And it was later revealed that Reptil would become possessed by the same and potentially evil alternate future version of himself in a later arc.
- Genki Girl: Julie is incredibly excitable during a basketball game, including yelling "Go Team Girls!", something that did not escape Hazmat.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Surprisingly, of the student Mettle seems the most volatile. This surprises him too.
- Hazmat is no slouch in that category either.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Played with at one point; Mettle is distressed to discover people assume he is the Red Skull's son. He's half-Jewish.
- Heroic Sacrifice: one averted, one played with. During Fear Itself, Hazmat, Mettle, and Finesse agree to stay behind to hold off two of the Worthy (Titania and Absorbing Man) and self-destruct the Infinite Mansion. This is averted thanks to the timely intervention of Hank Pym, Jocasta and Quicksilver. Later, Hazmat and Mettle sacrifice their recently regained humanity and normalcy as well as the possibility of a normal life in order to save their friends (and the world) from Jeremy Briggs' plans.
- How Did You Know? I Didn't: Played with. Hazmat blasts X-23 in #25, Mettle asks her if she knew X would be okay. She said yes, but added that even if she wouldn't be, she'd have done it anyway.
- Hurt Foot Hop: Hazmat once attempts to kick Rockslide in the groin. Rockslide is a mutant whose body built out of solid rock. Hazmat is a mere human girl in a suit. Hazmat ends up hopping up and down while clutching her foot in pain.
- I Have Many Names: In addition to everyone having a Code Name, Hank Pym has several. Often referred to simply as Hank Pym, he was The Wasp when the series started, before becoming (again) Giant-Man. And in his past he has also been Ant-Man, Yellowjacket, and Goliath.
- I Am Not a Gun: In a moment of desperation Finesse uses Laura's claws to kill Jeremy Briggs while she was unconscious, allowing Laura to believe she did it herself before passing out. When Finesse later reveals the truth Laura is deeply upset at being used in such a manner, and it destroys the friendship they'd built.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Veil and Hazmat have quite a few gripes about their conditions. While Veil manages to keep things in stride until Fear Itself (she is only afraid of literally vanishing into thin air), Hazmat is very
wangsty about it. Jeremy Briggs cures them both at different points of the story, and while Maddy manages to stay normal for the rest of the series, Jenny has to get her powers back and forsake a normal life when Briggs launches his masterplan. - Informed Attribute: Veil initially complains about not having the chest for wearing a superheroine costume, but she appears just as curvy as every other superheroine.
- Ironic Echo: Issue #37: As Jeremy lays dying, Finesse repeats the same phrase he said when he attacked the group, reminding him of the Avengers Academy's ultimate goal: "Say hello to the bad guy."
- Jumping-On Point: Issue #1 obviously. However both 14.1 (a standalone story between #14 and #15) and #21 (start of a new arc) were billed as these.
- The Kid with the Remote Control: Juston Seyfert from the earlier Marvel comic series Sentinel.
- Lamarck Was Right: Finesse has the same powers as Taskmaster, who gained them by special serum, and it's implied she might be his daughter. When the two of them meet, she directly asks him about it, only for it to turn out that a drawback of his powers is loss of his non-combat related memories, so he has no damn idea.
- The Leader: Reptil. He's above all else really wants to be a hero. Elected Class President.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- When the students are told that they can stop Korvac, Mettle says that the Avengers are already fighting him and "we're not even in the cartoons". Striker points out that Reptil is, because kids love dinosaurs. This is a reference to The Super Hero Squad Show cartoon, which features Reptil as a rookie alongside the more famous classic Avengers.
- Future Reptil's inner monologue reveals that he doesn't remember Ava Ayala existing in his timeline, not even knowing that the original White Tiger had a living sister. On a meta level, Ava never appeared in the Marvel Universe before that particular arc (she's a Canon Foreigner from Ultimate Spider-Man (2012)); as such, this can come off as commentary on how she was suddenly retconned in.
- Legacy Character: White Tiger, Ava Ayala. The mantle is one that has been in her family. It was first used by her older Brother Hector Ayala and her niece Angela Del Toro (who's older than Ava).
- Let's You and Him Fight: Happens between the Avengers Academy Students and The Avengers in Issue #21 then again between the students and the X-Men in the next issue!
- Later subverted with the Runaways as midway through, they talk things out and join forces.
- Long-Lasting Last Words: Played for Laughs when Hercules pretends to be vanquished in a fight, but his pre-passing-out monologue goes on forever.
- Luke, I Might Be Your Father: Finesse and Taskmaster think they might be related because of their similar special abilities. Taskmaster doesn't deny the possibility but states that he's been with quite a few women and he couldn't possibly narrow down Finesse's mother even if he didn't have memory problems. He also refuses to take a Daddy DNA Test because he doesn't want the government to get a sample of his DNA. Taskmaster still spars with Finesse once to memorize her movements, since it's the only surefire way he will remember her, only to realize that, like him, she has copied all her maneuvers from others so she had nothing to impart on him.
- Later on, a future version of Finesse is shown suffering from similar memory problems as Taskmaster, a further proof of them being related. What makes the whole thing sadder/a moment of Doomed by Canon is that she is shown to have a daughter with Reptil, meaning she possibly passed this defect on. Although her daughter's powers seem totally unrelated to either of her parents so there is hope.
- Married in the Future: A version of Reptil travels back from a future where he and Finesse are married and have a daughter.
- Moral Pragmatist: This is how the veteran Avengers try to reform the teenage would-be supervillains. They try to show the kids that doing evil and supervillainy will only hurt themselves and their goals in the long run, while heroism or playing within the law can be lucrative. It sticks with some, but not so much for others.
- Ms. Fanservice: For a teacher Tigra wears very little! Lampshaded several times by the students, but especially when she meets Emma Frost in issue #22.Emma Frost: By the way, darling, I love your outfit. Don't let anyone tell you it's inappropriate for a teacher.
- When the Runaways call her on it, she finally has a retort:
Tigra: Ya know, before you judge, why don't you try wearing clothes over a heavy coat of fur in California.- X-23's original outfit in this series before getting a proper shirt.
Rockslide: That chick's hardcore. I miss the sports bra, though. - Monster Modesty: Mettle is always clothed from the waist down, even after his shirts have been shot or burned off. Justified in that, unlike some mutants with similarly deformed bodies, Mettle is still fully anatomically correct below the waist.
- Mutants: The students (except Finesse and Reptil) are believed to be mutants in their origin stories but
Word of God confirmed that they are not mutants, just vaguely mutates.- The Instructors Quicksilver and Justice are mutants. Also, the new recruits X-23, Ricochet and Wiz Kid.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Giant-Man and Tigra are hit with this when the kids are called into action during the Fear Itself arc, especially when Mettle kills a Mook and Tigra asks if he's prepared to do it again to protect civilians.
- Also, Veil and Jocasta when they realize Briggs is going to take away the superpowers of everyone on Earth and only give them to the ones he deems "worthy".
- Nigh-Invulnerability:
- Mettle again, the Made of Iron type.
- Veil of the Made of Air type.
- No Hugging, No Kissing: Averted, the series handles the sexual overtones well and realistically for a group of teenagers spending a lot of time with each other. Reptil and Finesse engage in casual sex, and a huge part of Hazmat's storyline was her fear of intimacy, not just related to her Blessed with Suck powers.
- "Not So Different" Remark: In Jennifer's hunt for Red She-Hulk, the Leader says that even though she has control of her emotions, she has just as much rage as Bruce.
- Odd Friendship: Quicksilver and Finesse form one, with Pietro even comforting her when she gets upset, and being furious when Magneto tries to attack Finesse when Finesse defends Pietro.
- The One That Got Away: Finesse possibly loses Reptil forever because she waited too long to reciprocate any feelings towards him.
- Out of Focus - Compared to everyone else, Julie Powers didn't get a lot of focus in the series, outside helping Striker figure out his sexuality. But during Final Exam, she takes the lead and kicks a lot of ass to make up for it.
- Pair the Spares: The end of the series ends with Hazmat and Mettle cementing their relationship, Julie Power on a date with Karolina, Striker going on a date/prom, Reptil and White Tiger hooking up and Finesse left alone as her friendship with X-23 disintegrates completely and she loses her partial boyfriend Reptil because she waited too long.
- Person of Mass Destruction: While the limits of her power have not been revealed the radioactive Hazmat is dangerous to just be around outside of her suit or special room, and claims to be able to take out a city by herself (one way or another). During Fear Itself, she created a localized explosion strong enough to stagger two of the Worthy. It created a Mushroom Cloud.
- Poisonous Person: Again, Hazmat.
- Promotion to Parent: After her parents were killed when she was a child, Ava Ayala went to live with her older sister Awilda (Angela del Toro's mother). Though unlike most cases of this trope, Awilda is an adult and married with children.
- Prison Riot: What they accidentally cause while visiting The Raft and use it to cover an attempt to kill Norman Osborn. He manages to talk his way out of it, though.
- Put on a Bus: Veil after the Fear Itself event. She does come back on occasion, but never rejoins the Academy.
- Also after Fear Itself, the instructors Justice and Speedball leave the academy to cope with their problems by travelling around America on a roadtrip.
- Machine Teen and Rocket Racer leave the Academy and join with Jeremy Briggs although for different reasons.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: Actually a plot point that Hank Pym, as well as Reed Richards himself are unable to help Veil, Mettle, and Hazmat.
- In their appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man, Spidey explains to the students in class how he was wrong for trying at first to use his powers for financial gain as a wrestler instead of helping people and the students ask why he didn't just patent his webbing and make millions that he could donate to needy charities. Spidey counters that he'd have to give up his secret identity to patent it, but one of them points out he could have used proxies in the form of shell companies to hide the source of the webbing, and point by point take apart Mr. Parker's lesson plan as being illogical and overall, useless.
- Rewind, Replay, Repeat: The more anti-heroic of the students decide to find the Hood, beat him up, and put him begging for mercy on YouTube, in revenge for his attack on Tigra. While Tigra believes this was a totally inappropriate action and chews them out for it, she can't resist watching the scene, again and again...
- Scare 'Em Straight: In a (minor) crossover with the Thunderbolts. Striker even cites the idea directly, the title of the issue is "Scared Straight".
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Essentially, this is Veil's immediate reaction after all that the kids have been through in Fear Itself. She is so traumatized that they were essentially dropped in the middle of a war (no thanks to Absorbing Man's irrational grudge against Hank Pym) that she jumps ship to work with Jeremy Briggs the day after everything's over.
- Sensible Heroes, Skimpy Villains: The problematic aspects of this trope are lampshaded where the Avengers confront Cyclops' post-Schism X-Men team. Hawkeye (IIRC) says of Emma Frost, "I knew someone who dresses like that couldn't stay a good guy!", to which Tigra responds, "What does that make me? Doctor Doom?".
- Later, Mettle makes a joke along those lines, suggesting that if Finesse goes evil, she should wear stiletto heels and get a "boob window".
- She Is All Grown Up: Julie Powers sure as hell isn't the same as in her Power Pack days.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: To a degree, pretty much everyone as they all deal with post traumatic stress disorder in various ways. Teachers and Students included. This is especially true after Fear Itself.
- Shock and Awe: Striker has the ability to create and manipulate electricity.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Veil gets one of these during the Fear Itself event, where she finds and rescues a mother from a collapsed building, only for the mother to be gunned down in front of her daughter just after being saved.
- Shout-Out: Mettle's costume, a black T-shirt and jeans, refers back to Mike McKone's stint on Teen Titans, where he designed that same costume for Superboy.
- Stage Mom: Striker's mother. She actually hires Whirlwind to attack the students so that her son will gain publicity.
- Straight Gay: Striker.
- Stripperiffic:
- Averted in the original students. And the new students avoid it, too, unless you count Lightspeed showing off her midriff.
- But not by original teacher Tigra, who runs around in a bikini. She even defends this in some issues where the students and the Runaways meet up. Running around california while covered in fur is hot enough, thank you.
- Superhero School: Avengers Academy, which trains future superheroes.
- Super-Strength:
- Mettle.
- Reptil, presumably, in the right dinosaur form.
- Surfer Dude: Mettle before his recruitment into the Initiative/Avengers Academy, also making him one of the few ethnically Hawaiian superheroes.
- That Thing Is Not My Child!: Invoked. Ant Man was replaced by a Skrull which copied him "to the genetic level" and, during an affair with Tigra, impregnated her. As such, the child is genetically Ant Man's. Later, the real Ant Man returns, and Tigra insists that he has no parental claim to the baby. He agrees, but she then asks him to be the child's godfather instead.
- There Are No Therapists: Therapists would be really, really useful in Avengers Academy. The central concept is that the kids are in the Academy because they're all traumatized or otherwise disturbed, and the Avengers want to mold them into superheroes before they turn into supervillains. The only psychologist they see is Moonstone - whom they visit in prison because she's an evil psychopath. The students do seem to be encouraged to confide in their instructors, with the conceit being that since their instructors are all especially troubled Avengers and associated, they are better able to guide them.
- Highlighted in #6, after Reptil's trauma causes him to attack a criminal as a feral raptor, Hank sends him to speak with Jessica Jones. After the session, Jessica reminds Hank while she can relate to Reptil she's not a therapist herself and he needs professional help.
- This also applies just as much to the adults. When Tigra realizes that her brutal beating at the hands of the Hood and the public humiliation it caused her are still affecting her, she doesn't see a professional about it, but instead goes on a talk show to get if off her chest.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Crisis Crossover Fear Itself has the students trapped in another dimension being pursued by two of the "Worthy", villains who through magic Took a Level in Badass and are now at Thor's power level and intent on killing the students to get back at Giant-Man.
- Tsundere: Hazmat and her interactions with Meetle, at least at first.
- Troubled Teen: The initial six kids vary in regards to their troubled nature, but they all singled out for being part of the program because they have the potential to become villians. Hazmat (has to live her life in a suit to avoid killing anyone with her powers), Finesse (criminal parents and possibly dealing with autism), Veil (bullied severely), and Striker (molested as a child and coming to terms with his sexuality) fit this trope the most.
- Twist Ending: At the end of the first issue the students are led to believe they were chosen because they have the potential to become great heroes. They were actually chosen because they have the greatest potential to be great villains and the Avengers want to steer them down a different path.
- Villain Has a Point: Whilst Jeremy Briggs is ultimately revealed to be a bad guy, even the Avengers Academy students give him the credit that he does have some valid points about using superpowers for humanitarian effects instead of just being glorified vigilantes.
- War Is Hell: The Serpent War was not kind to these kids.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Jeremy Briggs in spades. He rejects the whole idea of becoming a superhero, but is dedicated, in his way, to helping people, founding a multi-million corporation with the aid of similar super-powered teens to begin enacting real social changes. Even his plans for world domination are rooted in the idea that the "older generation" are too caught up in their pointless super-powered brawls to do something useful.
- Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Spider-Man villain Rhino, when the kids try to take on the Sinister Six and fail horribly, refuses to kill the kids on Electro's orders.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In the final issue, just as the teachers are about to give the students their Level 3 Clearance as a graduation gift, Hazmat starts to lash out at the teachers by telling them the kids have always known they were enrolled out of fear they'd go off the deep end and turn to villainy. Giant-Man immediately responds that while that was the case at first, the students managed to rise to the occasion and prove themselves, time and again, as the heroes they are supposed to be, while Hawkeye points out that he himself was a "danger case" like them.note
