Timeline

In a series of What If? comics that came out late 2008, writer C.B. Cebulski showed us what might have happened should Iron Lad not recruit the Young Avengers, but the runaways instead.

What If: House of M #1 (flashback)

(An older Kang kidnapped his younger self (who would become Iron Lad) and took him on a tour of his future. He showed Iron Lad his ultimate destiny, a time in which he would defeat and kill the Avengers. The young Kang didn’t like that future, so he stole some time-traveling armor and tried to go back in time to warn the Avengers. Not knowing how to use the armor properly, he instead traveled into the future and discovered that a villain named Victorious had killed all the Avengers.

The young Kang didn’t like this future and when he found the injured Vision, they used the Vision’s failsafe program to pinpoint a team of Young Avengers in the past. Kang returned to the present as Iron Lad in order to recruit these Young Avengers)

What If: Spider-Man Back in Black #1 (flashback)

(Meanwhile, Victorious had noticed Iron Lad and followed his trail through the time stream to the present where he recruited a younger version of himself)

What If: House of M #1 (flashback)

(Iron Lad recruited the runaways as his Young Avengers. He gave Chase some new Fist-O-Gons and found Old Lace)

What If: House of M #1 (including flashback)

(Iron Lad was then defeated by Victor Mancha and Victorious  and Victor took over as the new Iron Lad. He took his new team of Young Avengers on their first mission which was to fight the Wrecking Crew. Molly was injured and a couple of the team members expressed concern about Iron Lad)

What If: Fallen Son #1

(Victorious later met up with his younger self and expressed his unhappiness that the Young Avengers weren’t killed in action. Victor promised he would make sure they died on their next mission. Gert and Old Lace overheard them talking, discovering Iron Lad’s true identity and confronted them, but Victorious attacked Gert, only for Chase to get in the way of a screwdriver thrown at Gert. Chase almost died)

What If: New Fantastic Four #1 and What If: Spider-Man Back in Black #1

(An older Kang arrived in the present to find the younger Kang the captive of Victorious. Kang fought Victorious, aided by the Young Avengers. Victorious then killed Kang’s younger self and the older Kang vanished into the time stream, leaving the kids to face Victorious and Victor Mancha)

What If: Secret Wars #1

(Molly returned to the fray and helped them fight Victorious, alongside Chase who used Iron Lad’s armor to heal his wounds and attack Victorious. Victor Mancha decided he didn’t like the way his future was heading and killed Victorious before disappearing into the time stream. The Young Avengers kept their name and continued to be super heroes)

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What If: Astonishing X-Men #1

In a one-off issue, the Runaways appeared in this back-up tale, though they only appear in a couple of panels. This issue is unrelated to the House of M back-up tales.

(Ultron battles the Runaways  and kills them all whilst trying to obtain Danger as his bride)