Who is America Chavez, the new hero in 'Dr Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness'

The biggest superhero movie of the year, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is almost upon us, and with it comes a whole new reality (or realities) for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), thanks to the endless possibilities brought about by the Multiverse.

We’re also preparing for a massive influx of new characters and variants of existing characters to make an appearance, with speculation that the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and even Deadpool might finally be making an entrance into the MCU.

One character that is definitely appearing is 16-year-old America Chavez (played by Xochitl Gomez), arguably one of the Marvel universe’s most powerful young heroes. America can fly, has superstrength and super speed, but her defining power is the ability to open up “star portals” to other realities within the Marvel multiverse, which kind of makes her a perfect fit for Multiverse Of Madness.

Her defining power is the ability to open ‘star portals’ into other realities.

In a recent interview with British movie magazine Empire, director Sam Raimi explained America’s role in the movie.

“Strange is still learning about the Multiverse. And here’s a character (America Chavez) that can actually travel through it. He’s such a know-it-all all the time, and to have to learn from a kid probably smarts,” he said.

Here are a few things you should know about the new superhero on the block.

Don’t call her Miss

First things first – America doesn’t’ have any links to Captain America. Not directly, at least. Although she did use the moniker “Miss America” when she was first introduced in 2011’s Vengeance #1, it didn’t last long, and she has been known as just plain old “America Chavez” since.

America was first introduced in 2011’s 'Vengeance' #1

Created by writer Joe Casey and artist Nick Dragotta, Vengeance was a comic book that starred one version of the Teen Brigade, which introduced another new character, Ultimate Nullifier, alongside America, and also comprised mutants Barnell “Beak” Bohusk, Angel “Tempest” Salvadore, and the In-Betweener.

Fun fact: There was a Miss America named Madeline Joyce who was introduced in 1943 and even fought alongside Steve Rogers as part of the All-Winners Squad.

Original origin

America got her own solo title last year.

Even for a relatively new character, America Chavez’s origin story can be somewhat complicated. Originally, she was said to have come from the Utopian Parallel, a dimension that exists out of time and separate from the conventional Marvel Multiverse (something like the Time Variance Authority, or TVA, in the Loki series).

It was created by the cosmic entity called the Demiurge, which is described as the “sentient life force of Earth’s biosphere” (whatever that means).

Anyway, America’s mothers were apparently the queens of the Earth within the Utopian Parallel, but died while trying to prevent the Utopian Parallel from being pulled into the Multiverse. A then six-year-old America ended up in Earth-616 (Marvel’s core universe) and was adopted by the Santana family in New York.

Made in the USA

Presumably, having a character called America who is not from America didn’t sit right with Marvel, so she was given a new origin story in last year’s America Chavez: Made In The USA title, her first solo series.

Last year's solo title changed Amercai's origin story somewhat.

As it turns out, America’s mothers, Amalia and Elena, were not from another dimension, but were human scientists who were looking for a cure for a degenerative disease called “Edge’s Syndrome”, which affected only those with xx chromosomes, including their daughter America.

There was a Utopian Parallel, but it wasn’t a dimension outside of the multiverse. In fact, it was actually a pocket dimension created on an island facility run by a billionaire named Mr Gales, who used it to study America and other victims of the illness. America’s mothers died helping her and the other children escaped, and she got her powers from the experiments Mr Gales conducted on her in that pocket dimension.

It is believed that she concocted the whole “other dimension” Utopian Parallel origin as a coping mechanism after all the trauma she suffered at the hands of Mr Gales.

She’s a team player

Having made her debut as part of the Teen Brigade (of which she was a co-leader alongside Ultimate Nullifier), America’s story has been pretty much a succession of teams since. While she has also been a member of the West Coast Avengers, A-Force, and the Ultimates, the team she is best associated with is the Young Avengers, of which some of the members have already been introduced within the MCU.

Wiccan and Speedball were introduced as Wanda and Vision’s children in WandaVision, Kate Bishop appeared in the Hawkeye series, Eli Bradley (Patriot) was in Falcon And The Winter Soldier, and Cassie Lang (Stature), was introduced in the Ant-Man movies.

The team America is most associated with is the Young Avengers.

And then there’s Loki, with whom America has had more than her fair share of run-ins. She first tangled with him in Vengeance #4, when she tried to stop the Young Masters of Evil from recruiting Kid Loki, but got sent to the Sixth Dimension instead.

As fate would have it, she would later end up on the same Young Avengers team as Loki in the excellent 2014 run on the title by writer Kieron Gillen and artist Jamie McKelvie.

With Tom Hiddlestone’s Loki already setting the foundation for the Multiverse in his eponymous Disney+ series, it’s only a matter of time before she meets the God of Mischief as well, though we’re hoping that the Kid Loki variant introduced in the series will be the one to join up with the Young Avengers.

We'd love to see Kid Loki in a live action version fo the Young Avengers.