Iron Lad

Few debut issues in the Modern Age landed with the weight of Young Avengers #1 in 2005, and Iron Lad was right at the heart of it — a compelling new figure conjured by the creative team of Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung that immediately signaled something special was happening at Marvel. Across a sixteen-year footprint that stretches from that landmark launch through Avengers: The Children's Crusade and Jonathan Hickman's sweeping Avengers run, Iron Lad has kept extraordinary company — sharing pages with the likes of Captain America, Hawkeye, Hulkling, and Billy Kaplan — lending the character a sense of genuine consequence in the wider Marvel universe. With two key-issue appearances to his name and a presence in some of the most critically discussed Marvel storylines of his era, Iron Lad is the kind of character that rewards the curious collector who digs just a little deeper.