I never imagined. Never dreamed. My worst fear came true. I know now. No one's going to save me. I'm going to save myself. 
- —Veil
Appearing in "Growing Up"
Featured Characters:
- Avengers Academy
- Students (Also inhabiting bodies of their older selves)
- Staff
Supporting Characters:
- Jocasta
- Avengers (Main story and flashback)
- Protector (Noh-Varr)
- Iron Man (Tony Stark)
- Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
- Thor (Main story and recap)
- Wolverine (Logan)
- Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
- Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)
- Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) (Only in recap)
- Hercules (Only in recap)
- Black Knight (Dane Whitman) (Only in recap)
- Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) (Only in flashback)
- God (Yahweh) (Invoked)
- New Avengers
- Carina Walters (Main story and flashback)
- Commander Steve Rogers / Captain America (Main story and recap)
Antagonists:
- Michael Korvac (Main story and flashback)
- Red Skull (Johann Shmidt) (Only in recap)
Other Characters:
- Collector (Taneleer Tivan) (Only in recap)
- Elders of the Universe (Mentioned)
- Norman Osborn (Mentioned)
- Spider-Man (Miguel O'Hara) (Vision or hallucination)
- Killraven (Jonathan Raven) (Vision or hallucination)
- Martian Masters (Vision or hallucination)
- Deathlok (Luther Manning) (Vision or hallucination)
- Sentinels (Vision or hallucination)
- Veil (Maddy Berry) (First appearance)
- Reptil (Humberto Lopez) (First appearance)
- Finesse (Jeanne Foucault) (First appearance)
- Hazmat (Jennifer Takeda) (First appearance)
- Mettle (Ken Mack) (First appearance)
- Striker (Brandon Sharpe) (First appearance)
Races and Species:
- Humans
- Mutants
- Androids
- Kree-Cockroach Hybrids
- Asgardians
- Human-Olympian Hybrids
- Human-Kree Hybrids
- Unidentified alien species (Main story and flashback)
- Cyborgs (Main story and flashback)
- Martian Masters (Vision or hallucination)
- Sentinels (Vision or hallucination)
Locations:
- Earth-616
- Earth-928 (Vision or hallucination)
- Earth-691 (Vision or hallucination)
- Earth-7484 (Vision or hallucination)
- Earth-811 (Vision or hallucination)
Items:
- Fossilized Amulet
- Finesse's Battle Staves
- Mjolnir (Main story and recap)
- Energy shield
- Hawkeye's Suit
- Hawkeye's Bow & Trick Arrows
- Bleeding Edge Armor
- Spider-Man's Suit & Web-Shooters
- Ms. Marvel's Suit
- Wolverine's Suit
- Spider-Woman's Suit
- Captain America's Uniform & Captain America's Shield (Main story and recap)
- Wasp's Suit and Wings (Only in flashback)
- Ebony Blade (Only in recap)
- Cosmic Cube (Only in recap)
Synopsis for "Growing Up"
Pym discovers Veil in her attempt to bring back Janet van Dyne. However, it turns out that what they perceived to be Janet is actually Carina Walters. And where she is, Michael Korvac is as well. However, Carina has no intention of returning to her husband. Korvac, on the other hand, isn't willing to let her go nor his eternal plans of conquest. The Avengers and New Avengers then arrive in the Academy to defeat Korvac once again. Meanwhile, Jocasta sequesters the Academy students and Carina into a saferoom which shunt to other dimensions every 2.3 seconds, though the effort is futile.
While Korvac is slowly besting the Avengers, Carina explains her history with Korvac and how she came to be his wife. The story came to an end when she trapped herself in Underspace. And that's when Pym found her, mistaking her for Janet. And when Pym gave Carina Janet's memories, she saw that the former Avengers was marked by similar experience but grew stronger for them. Unfortunately, she's not powerful enough to stop Korvac.
Veil then starts blaming herself for letting this happen. Carina compliments her to owning up to her mistakes and tells the students that Korvac is not invincible and cites the example of how the Red Skull disintegrated him with antimatter. In conclusion, the students themselves are the only hope of defeating Korvac. She offers to place them in the bodies of their adults selves from other timelines, but only if they consent. Veil is confused, thinking that she's dead in the future. Carina assures her that she's currently looking at a timeline where Veil is 30 years old. Veil then agrees.
Outside, Korvac floors the Avengers. Only Speedball is left standing. Though he is temporarily able to overwhelm Korvac and weaken him, it is still not enough. But that's the least of Korvac's worries, as the the Academy students step out as adults to face him.
Solicit Synopsis
Notes
- Carina Walters last appeared as Carina Walters in Avengers #177, where she and Korvac seemingly died. She first appeared in the Wasp's form in Mighty Avengers #35.
- Korvac fought and was defeated by the Red Skull in Captain America (Vol. 3) #18.
- Korvac inhabiting his ancestors is a reference to the events of Korvac Quest, told in Fantastic Four Annual #24, Thor Annual #16, Silver Surfer Annual #3, and Guardians of the Galaxy Annual #1.