YMMV / Avengers Academy

• Anvilicious: The series covers several heavy topics related to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Gender Identity primarily, with an odd combination of ham-handed and nuance. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, for instance, covers not just war, but assault and torture; and Gender Identity issues include bisexuality and whether or not the attempted sexual assault that awoke Striker's powers also 'caused him' to be gay.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: While Finesse's The Ace when it comes to basically any skill, she has difficulty understanding human emotions. She's not sure why that is—the second issue sees her speculate that she could be autistic (and thus more prone to alexithymia), have Asperger's syndrome (which she dismisses as she doesn't display any other symptoms), or be a straight-up psychopath — and it's later suggested to be a side effect of her powers, with her brain discarding anything it deems "unnecessary" (such as long-term memories and social skills) in favor of new skills.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Since joining the book as a background character in issue #21 Juston Seyfert seems to be rapidly becoming one. He even got a spotlight during the Avengers Vs. X-Men arc.
  • Although they ARE main cast members Mettle and Hazmat are easily the most popular characters in the book. As such fans were ecstatic when they finally got together. And they were really pissed when Mettle got killed off in Avengers Arena.
• Friendly Fandoms: There's big overlap in fandoms of Avengers Academy, Young Avengers, New X-Men: Academy X and Runaways.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Hazmat - an ethnically-Japanese girl with radioactivity-based powers who has been described as a "walking Chernobyl". Less than a year after she was introduced, the Sendai earthquake happened, which caused radioactive material to escape from the Fukushima nuclear powerplant.
  • Hazmat, Mettle and Striker calling out their status as C-List Fodder in light of Avengers Arena. Juston and Sentinel's near-death experience at the hands of Emma Frost similarly becomes rather depressing given their fate in Arena.
• Memetic Mutation: Mettle, particularly his face, became a meme on 4chan before his name was announced, where they called him "Fortress". Acknowledged twice in the comic itself, once of Mettle learning of his meme status (making up for him being mistaken for the child of the Red Skull) and later when lamenting the attention, he declares that they betrayed him.
  • During the flag football game Jocasta tries to keep order by using an in built taser to shock anyone who starts brawling, when Mettle is threatened with it he exclaims "Don't tase me, Jo!"
• The Scrappy: White Tiger due to being a Canon Immigrant from a largely disliked cartoon and having a rather shallow personality that consists mainly of being a bitch and haranguing Reptil for not doing enough for the community as a Latino superhero.
• Strawman Has a Point: During the "War with the Runaways" arc, Hank Pym and Tigra plotted to take Molly Hayes and Klara Prast and put them into foster homes where they would never be found by their older "siblings". Predictably, when the Runaways found out, they attacked. While Pym and Tigra's plan sounded cold and heartless, and while Hank Pym is probably the last person who ought to be making decisions about other people's lives, it's worth noting that the arc was, in part, a follow-up to the unfinished "Home Schooling" arc from the Runaways series, the central thesis of which seemed to be that Nico and Chase were god-awful parental figures who seemed especially ill-equipped to help Klara, who was still showing signs of trauma from her near-death experience and who is powerful enough to accidentally kill someone if she gets too upset. Thankfully, at the end, Nico casts a spell to make each team see things from the other team's point of view, and thus the two groups are able to reach a peaceful compromise.
• Ugly Cute: Mettle can look surprisingly cute. The fact that he's got an Adorkable, kind-hearted personality underneath his metal exterior helps.
• Values Dissonance: It's mentioned that one of the things that Briggs' company is doing to help the world is by developing a cure to autism — a line that was already eyebrow-raising when the issue in question was released, and one that's only aged like milk since. (On the one hand, Briggs has already proven himself a sociopath by this point, but on the other hand, it's the sympathetic Veil that's bringing it up as a positive).
• The Woobie: Most of the cast, but Hazmat and Mettle in particular. Hazmat had her life and future ruined when her powers manifest in full, and she found out that some of the bad things in her life (sickness of parents, death of her dog) really were her fault. Now she's locked in a containment suit for pretty much the rest of her life so she doesn't kill anyone. Mettle's not much better off. It makes her very bitter, but deep down, she's very much a Woobie. Ever since he manifested his powers, poor he has shades of this. Looking like a monster thanks to his red metallic armor and having no skin as well as he was often mistaken as 'Red Skull's son' by the public. He is also qualified as the Iron Woobie.
  • Of all the instructors, it's Speedball. Though he is slowly recovering from his Penance phase, he still cuts himself behind closed doors as he claims that is the only way for him to use his more powerful, Penance-based powers in fights and he is haunted by the memories of Stamford disaster. This guy seriously needs a hug.

---