A-Next Ages: J2

I thought it might be fun to work out the approximate ages of the various members of the MC2’s Avengers. Keep in mind this isn’t definitive unless it’s spelt out on the page and is merely a rough estimate based on in-universe information or- where necessary- statements from the creative teams involved in the characters creation and development.

For the second entry in this fledgling series, I thought we might take a look at someone I mentioned in the first entry about Bluestreak’s age: Zane Yama aka Zane Marko aka Juggernaut Junior aka The Masked Midget. Or, you could call the kid… J2!

While he first appeared as a cameo in What If #105 alongside other Avengers, he literally wasn’t the same character he would become when the MC2 began in earnest. It’s not until the first issue of both his solo series J2 and the A-Next series that we would truly meet Zana Yama, a young teenager who we learn is the son of the unstoppable Juggernaut, Cain Marko. Within his titular title, we get various hints and clues as to the timeline of events leading up to Zane’s father’s disappearance, which in turn help us work out Zane’s age.

The first such example comes from J2 #1 where we learn of Zane’s familial relation to Cain Marko. Zane notes he’s had recurring dreams about his father since he was ‘a little kid’. It’s also notable that Zane’s mother Sachi Yama was married to Cain for ‘a few years before he was zapped into some weird alien dimension’ and that afterwards she reverted her surname back to her maiden, along with Zane’s.

There are also a few further details in a later story within the same issue which show Zane recalling being taken to Central Park or the movies by his father when he was ‘only a kid’. Clearly Zane was very young when this occurred (J2 #1).

Over in the A-Next title, Thunderstrike is shocked to learn J2 is actually ‘just a kid’ and worries about endangering a minor. Zane mentions that his father disappeared before he was ‘old enough to know who or what he was!’ (A-Next #2) It’s interesting to note that Zane has nightmares about his father and here even refers to him as a monster, despite knowing him well enough. Clearly Zane is conflicted about how to he feels about his father based on his father’s history, the word of his mother and his own foggy memories.

Zane at times shows less emotional maturity than his fellow Avengers, as evident when he has a momentary panic at the sight of Mainframe being torn in half during a battle with the Defenders (A-Next #3). When forced to make an emergency landing in a Quinjet, J2 notes he can’t wait to get his drivers licence (A-Next #4).

When Cyclops recounts the last days of the Juggernaut, he notes that Zane (as J2) is ‘probably too young to remember the absolute bewilderment which greeted the news that the Juggernaut had been invited to join the X-Men’. This indicates again that Zane was a very young boy when his father disappeared (J2 #7).

We get the full story of the Juggernaut’s disappearance and capture in J2 #12 when he is reunited with his son, though we don’t get many more specifics that can help give us an approximate age. But given the MC2 is around 15 years in the future, Zane is a teenager and his father went missing when he was still very young (say, around 3-4 years old?) we can really start to pin things down.

As I mentioned last post, Bluestreak has an unrequited crush on J2 which she still retains well into their friendship throughout the run of A-Next, J2, Wild Thing and Avengers Next, even hanging out with him in his civilian identity of Zane. I used this to help narrow down Blue’s age then and I believe this also helps work out Zane’s age now too.

But let’s move on to some creator comments now, because I think the recent interview with Ron Frenz on Adam Chapman’s Comic Shenanigans podcast will clear the matter right up! Here’s what Ron had to say:

‘It was a lot of fun doing that character and juxtaposing between this good-natured 13, 14-year-old and the powerhouse that he could become. In that second issue we did that thing where he has to occasionally turn back to Zane so we did the thing with the ‘masked midget’ where he put on a ski-mask. He was a wonderful character to play with.’

Expanding on this later in the interview, Ron also added:

‘What was always interesting to me how people feel the need to ‘ship’ characters, to pair them off and everything. We had suggested in the run at one point in the run that there was an attraction between American Dream and Thunderstrike and somebody wrote in and said ‘now all you gotta do is get Cassie and Zane together’ because there was scene in the fourth issue where he’s feeling dejected and she goes out to talk to him and says ‘No, everything’s fine, you saved my life, you were scared but you came back. You saved my life and you’re an Avenger and blah, blah, blah’ and everybody somehow saw that as this was going to be the beginning of them being in a relationship. Zane is, like, 14 at the best! Cassie is a scientist working in a lab with her father, she’s gotta be in her early 20’s! Really?! So that was always bizarre to me when people would do that.’

Here’s the moment Ron is referring to:

I think that’s a pretty definitive answer, one that helps to make sense of the History of the X-Men in the MC2 as well! So, without even having to guess this time, I can say Zane Yama is 13 or 14 years of age throughout the published stories of the MC2.

Until I run out of steam, revert into my puny human form and don a ski-mask to hide my secret identity, I remain

frogoat