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 third entry in this fledgling series on A-Next
Ages, it’s time to figure out the age of the swashbuckling and dashing Brandon
Cross aka Freebooter.
As I mentioned briefly in my post about Bluestreak’s
age, we don’t get much explicit details about the characters when the Dream
Team debut fully in A-Next #4. As pointed out to me by arias-98105,
Freebooter appears to be around the same height as Shannon Carter
aka American Dream, suggesting he is fully grown.
While Brandon is not referred to directly, his teammates American Dream and Bluestreak are noted to be ‘all around my age’ by Argo the Almighty in A-Next #6. It appears Argo himself is a teenager (albeit one of godly stature) which helps give us a ball park figure to determine Freebooter’s own age.
Throughout the A-Next series we get mentions of Brandon’s romantic life which indicate he’s…. very active on the dating scene. This might seem inconsequential at first, but then we get this exchange from Spider-Girl #13 when Freebooter unwittingly attempts to flirt with the webhead before Bluestreak indicates Spider-Girl is underage. This indicates Brandon is at least 18 years old.
Further evidence to support this can be found in Last Hero Standing #2 when, during a visit to his former mentor and teacher, the narration box refers to both American Dream and Freebooter as teenagers.
We also saw Brandon’s level of maturity when he convinced his younger teammate Bluestreak of the group’s need to investigate the events surrounding their predecessors’ final mission (A-Next #9).
Let’s close this out by bringing it full circle. As seen in my post about Freebooter’s Costumes, Brandon is already a teenager training under Hawkeye when we see him at his youngest in a flashback within American Dream #3. He even has a bit of facial hair! Evidently, both Shannon and Brandon are around the same age.
Outside the comics themselves now, we have a response to a fan-question about both Freebooter and Bluestreak by Tom Defalco from the Alvaro’s Comicboards Spider-Girl Message Board. Here’s the question and response:
‘James Hunter: This one is where the clarification is needed, in your mind, how old are Bluestreak and Freebooter? I ask because a friend and I were discussing how mature Freebooter seems at times (in the end we decided that Freebooter must be about 19 and Bluestreak in the early teens, maybe 15 or so, would that be about right?)
Tom Defalco: Sounds about right.’
While Brandon has moments of maturity, Shannon is the more mature of the two, as noted by Ron Frenz on Adam Chapman’s podcast Comic Shenanigans Episode 744:
I’ll cover Shannon more thoroughly in a later post. But with all of that out of the way, we have one of the easiest and clearest established age within the MC2. Brandon Cross aka Freebooter is 19 years old at least up until the events of Last Hero Standing. It’s possible he’s 20 by the end of the MC2’s publication history, but that’s purely speculation. If you have any arguments to the contrary or you feel I’ve missed something, don’t hesitate to let me know!
Until I pattern myself after a Olympic-level marksman and attempt to honour my beloved mentor, I remain
frogoat