Pride Month Spotlight: America Chavez

Whether she’s leading Marvel’s next generation of heroes or going solo, America Chavez is one of Marvel’s brightest young stars, punching her way through the multiverse on teams like the Young Avengers, A-Force and the Ultimates.

Now, America is set to reunite with the Young Avengers in a story by Alyssa Wong and Stephen Byrne in MARVEL’S VOICES: PRIDE #1, a celebration of Marvel’s LGBTQIA+ heroes available June 22. But before that, let’s take a closer look at how America’s dimension-hopping adventures forged the hard-hitting hero into a Marvel icon.

Who Is America Chavez?

For years, America believed she hailed from an alternate dimension called the Utopian Parallel and that her mothers, Amalia and Elena, died while saving the multiverse. But in 2021’s AMERICA CHAVEZ: MADE IN THE USA, America learned those memories were largely false. In reality, America was born on Earth-616, and the Utopian Parallel was really an island owned by the megalomaniacal tycoon Gales. America and her little sister Catalina had a rare genetic disorder called Edges Syndrome, and their scientist mothers brought them to the island to find a cure for the lethal disease. 

After being exposed to magical interdimensional energy, America’s condition improved. She also developed several powers, including flight, super-strength, invulnerability and the ability to create star-shaped portals that cut though space, time and the multiverse. When Gales took a special interest in these abilities, Amalia and Elena died helping America escape the Utopian Parallel – without Catalina or any of other kids imprisoned on the island. 

Traumatized by the escape, an amnesiac America washed up in New York, where she was found by Javier and Cecilia Santana. Claiming her as a distant relative, the Santanas took Chavez in and raised her alongside their son Berto. Eventually, America began working as a hero around the Washington Heights neighborhood. However, the Santanas didn’t approve of America’s Super Hero activities, which drove a lingering wedge between Chavez and her adoptive family.

America Chavez and the Young Avengers

Borrowing the name of WWII hero, Chavez first appeared as Miss America in 2011’s VENGEANCE #1 by Joe Casey and Nick Dragotta. As the co-leader of the Ultimate Nullifier’s secret Teen Brigade, America rescued the In-Betweener, fought the Young Masters of Evil, and encountered Kid Loki for the first time. 

After unceremoniously leaving the Teen Brigade and bouncing around the multiverse, America found her breakout role in YOUNG AVENGERS (2013). While dealing with Loki’s manipulations, the headstrong America tried to protect Billy Kaplan, AKA Wiccan, from the Asgardian’s schemes. When the interdimensional parasite Mother targeted Wiccan, America joined the Young Avengers and fought off the entity, even when it created warped versions of her late mothers. 

As this incarnation of the Young Avengers drifted apart, America formed a tight bond with Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), and the pair eventually became best friends. Kate and America’s friendship even lived on into 2015’s SECRET WARS, when the last fragments of the Marvel multiverse combined to form Battleworld. In SIEGE (2015), America, who hailed from the A-Force realm, befriended Hawkeye’s 1602 counterpart, Lady Katherine of Bishop, while fighting on the edge of Battleworld. 

America Chavez and the Ultimates

Once the multiverse was restored, America started dating paramedic-in-training Lisa Halloran. After their first date ended with the pair closing a tear in space-time, America joined a cosmic team of heroes including Captain Marvel and Monica Rambeau in ULTIMATES (2015), where they dealt with some of the Marvel Universe’s biggest cosmic threats before they reached Earth.

Thanks to her dimension-hopping powers, Chavez played a pivotal role in the Ultimates as the team transformed the world-devouring Galactus into the world-creating Lifebringer and rescued the unstable powerhouse Anti-Man from outside reality. But when the prophetic visions of Ulysses turned Marvel’s heroes against each other in CIVIL WAR II, tensions over the conflict drove even the cosmic heroes of the Ultimates apart.

However, America quickly reformed the team and served as its leader in ULTIMATES 2 (2016). Working with a friendly Galactus, America led the team as they tried to rescue the captured cosmic being Eternity and dealt with the First Firmament, the vengeful embodiment of a primordial universe.

America Chavez Goes Solo

Shortly after reforming the Ultimates, America stepped into her first solo comic book series with AMERICA (2017). Alongside her fellow Young Avenger Prodigy, Chavez began attending Sotomayor University and had a series of Multiversal adventures informed by her initial misconceptions about the Utopian Parallel and her mothers. In these dimension-hopping stories, America seemingly met her other-dimensional grandmother, faced her heroic legacy, and took on the villainous tycoon Exterminatrix. Around the time America started college, she also broke up with her girlfriend Lisa, who went on to befriend Jane Foster and join Damage Control.

In WEST COAST AVENGERS (2018), America teamed up with Kate and Hawkeye (Clint Barton) when they assembled a team of young heroes in California. During that team’s time together, they faced the vampiric Temple of the Shifting Sun, one of M.O.D.O.K.’s strangest schemes, and the newly formed West Coast Masters of Evil. America also briefly dated Ramone Watts, a team ally who became the Vibranium-powered hero Alloy. 

America’s powers started fading due to her long-dormant Edges Syndrome in AMERICA CHAVEZ: MADE IN THE USA. Also suffering from Edges Syndrome, an embittered Catalina confronted America and unlocked her sister’s memories of their childhood and their shared diagnosis. Despite Catalina’s attempts to restart their mothers’ research on the Utopian Parallel, America freed the other “Starling” test subjects on the island. By the end of this ordeal, Catalina was left falling aimlessly through the multiverse, while America’s powers were left waning from Edges. However, America reunited with the Santanas, who warmly welcomed their adoptive daughter home.

Next, America is set to reunite with super hero family as the Young Avengers reassemble in MARVEL’S VOICES: PRIDE, available June 22, before joining the newest incarnation of the Thunderbolts later this year.

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