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