Patriot



A founding member and leader of the Young Avengers, Elijah Bradley is the nephew of Josiah-X and grandson of Isaiah Bradley. After receiving a blood transfusion from his grandfather, Elijah now possesses the abilities of a Super Soldier. Patriot recently resigned his title of Patriot and now lives with his mother.

Origin
Eli Bradley has a family legacy of heroes. After losing the secrets of the Super Soldier Serum when Dr. Erskine, the United States Army still wanted to produce more like Steve Rogers.[1] To this end, Col. Walker Price and Dr. Wilfred Nagel took 300 African-American soldiers from Mississippi to experiment upon. Only a handful of men survived the gruesome process, and only one of them survived the covert missions and assignments: Isaiah Bradley[2], Eli's grandfather.[3] His uncle, Josiah X, continued the family tradition, enlisting in Vietnam War. Later he even took up Isaiah's old Captain America uniform and join the Crew.[4] Before Isaiah received the Super Soldier Serum, he fathered Sarah Gail, Eli's mother. Because of this Eli was born with no superhuman abilities.[3]

Young Avengers
Shortly after the Avengers had disbanded, a younger version of Kang the Conqueror traveled to the present era with the goal of stopping his future self. Unsuccessful in his attempts to contact the Avengers, he downloaded the The Vision's programming and operating system from the remains of the destroyed Avengers Mansion. Among the Vision files, he found the Avengers Fail-Safe Program. Dubbing himself himself Iron Lad, he began to seek Avengers recruit in the New York City area. One of these recruits was Josiah X, Eli's uncle. However, Josiah had been out of contact with his family for years. Eli lied to Iron Lad, claiming to be a Super Soldier due to a blood transfusion from his grandfather, and volunteered for Iron Lad's team. Eli then began using the illegal Mutant Growth Hormone (MGH) pills to fabricate superhuman abilities. Wearing a costume very similar to that of Captain America's original sidekick, Bucky, Eli donned a full cowl and a set of five-pointed throwing stars as Patriot, and alongside his new teammates Hulkling, Asgardian and Iron Lad, formed the Young Avengers. After several weeks of training, the Young Avengers began taking on super hero missions.[8] Their second mission was an attempted to save two hundred guest at St. Patrick's Cathedral when they were taken hostage during Susan Bishop' wedding. Unfortunately, the Young Avengers were only successful in starting a fire and becoming hostages themselves. It was a bridesmaid, Kate Bishop, that actually saved them using one of Patriot's own throwing stars. The Young Avengers were able, however, to escape the scene before the police arrived.

After the attack, at the hospital, Kate was approached by Cassie Lang, daughter of the Avengers' Ant-Man. Together the girls tracked down the Young Avengers at the ruins of the Avengers Mansion, where the girls confronted the Young Avengers and invited themselves onto the team.[9] Not long afterward, the Mansion was attacked by Kang the Conqueror.[10] To join the battle, Kate donned gear from the Mansion such as Mockingbird's Battle Staves and Hawkeye's Bow. She also found the original Captain America's Shield for Patriot.[3] After defeating Kang and saving the world, Kate and Cassie remained on as permanent members.[11]

Captain America and Iron Man ordered the team to dispand and refused to train them. However, Kate used some of her family's money and connection to procure a new lair, costumes and weapons for the team.[12] With Iron Lad gone, Patriot and Kate took on the unofficial roles of co-leaders. Patriot and Kate even shared some chemistry and competitiveness.

Secret Identities and Family Ties
Not long after entering their secret superhero lives, Wiccan discovered Patriot was using MGH to temporarily grant him superhuman powers.[13] After taking MGH, Patriot fought Hyde one-on-one before injecting him with an overdose of MGH and knocking him unconscious. After being forcibly calmed by Wiccan's magics, Eli woke up in recovery at Avengers Tower, with the new Vision taking care of him. After Eli revealed the true origins of his powers, he quit the team. The other Young Avengers unsuccessfully attempted to get Eli to rejoin them. It wasn't until after Hulkling was captured by the Super-Skrull that Eli rejoin them.[14] During the subsequent battle between the Kree, the Skrulls forces, the Young Avengers and the New Avengers, Patriot used himself to shield Captain America from gunfire, and was severely injured. After the battle Captain America rushed to the hospital to give Eli a blood transfusion only to discover "another Captain America", Eli's grandfather, had already given Eli his blood. Since the transfusion, Eli has gained physical attributes and powers of a real Super Soldier.[15]

Civil War, Secret Invasion and Siege
Along with the rest of his team, Patriot sided with Captain America and the Secret Avengers against the Superhuman Registration Act, which led to the Superhero Civil War.

When the Skrulls invaded Earth, Patriot joined the other Young Avengers and Runaways on the frontlines of the battle.[16]

Patriot along with the other Young Avengers helped rescue the fallen from Asgard during the Siege. He and Hawkeye were briefly trapped under some rumble themselves leading to an argument and a kiss.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Siege:_Young_Avengers_.231_16-0">[17]

Children's Crusade
After Wiccan's powers overloaded and the Avengers decided to keep him under observation, Patriot and the other Young Avnegers broke Wiccan out of holding and began the search for the Scarlet Witch. Patriot was extremely hesitant about the plan, but still accompanied the others. Accompanied by Magneto and Quicksilver, the team travelled to Transia and then to Latveria before discovering a depowered and amnesiac Wanda engaged to Doctor Doom. The rediscovery of Wanda did not go unnoticed though, as the Avengers soon arrived on the scene. A battle with Doom's Doombot army soon broke out and was only stopped by the arrival of Iron Lad.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Avengers:_The_Children.27s_Crusade_.231-.234_17-0">[18]

Iron Lad teleported the Young Avengers and Wanda into the timestream. They all went into the past, and met reanimated Jack of Hearts, who was about to explode. After that Wanda remembered who she is, regained her powers and returned herself, the Young Avengers and Scott Lang into the present.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Avengers:_The_Children.27s_Crusade_.235_18-0">[19] She then finally confirmed that Billy and Tommy are indeed her reincarnated sons.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Avengers:_The_Children.27s_Crusade_.236_19-0">[20]

Wanda's increased powers were revealed to be the result of her gaining a connection to the life force itself. A ritual intended to undo the Decimation was interrupted by Patriot, leading to the powers being transferred to Doctor Doom. He intended to usher the world into utopia, a utopia in which he would rule. The Avengers and X-Men teamed up to defeat him, and in the process, Stature was killed by Doom, and the villain escaped after losing his powers when they overloaded.

Iron Lad proposed to save Stature through the Timestream but Vision refused, ending with both of them battling each other and Iron Lad destroying Vision and then taking off to the timestream, even after Wiccan warned that this is the moment in time where he becomes Kang the Conqueror.

In the aftermath of the battles, Elijah left the team while all the remaining Young Avengers were officially named full fledged Avengers.

Powers
Eli was originally born with no superhuman powers. Eli used Mutant Growth Hormone. After receiving a blood transfusion from his grandfather Isaiah, Eli's body mutated making him a true Super-Soldier with peak human abilities, including:
 * Peak Human Strength: Eli's strength was increased to the peak of human potential. While not superhuman, he was as strong as it was possible for a normal human to be and could lift approximately 800 lbs.
 * Peak Human Speed: Eli could also run and move at great speeds, capable of reaching up to 30 miles per hour (he has been shown almost outrunning a helicopter).
 * Peak Human Stamina: Eli's musculature produced less fatigue toxins during physical activity than most other humans, though not to a superhuman degree. He could physically exert himself at peak capacity for approximately 1 hour before the build up of fatigue toxins in his blood began to impair him.
 * Peak Human Durability: While not superhuman, his body was as durable as a normal human's could be. While still subject to all human physical vulnerabilities, he was more resistant to them than most other humans.
 * Peak Human Agility: Eli's agility was also increased to a level that, while not superhuman, was superior to that of any Olympic athlete that has ever competed.
 * Peak Human Reflexes: Eli's reflexes were increased to similar levels and were superior to that of any Olympic athlete.===Abilities===
 * Skilled Combatant: Even without his powers, Eli, partially through his adventures with the Young Avengers, is an experienced and formidable hand to hand combatant.
 * Skilled Athlete: Eli is an excellent athlete and has portrayed skill in Parkour.
 * Skilled Tactician: He has proven himself to be a capable leader and a naturally skilled tactician.