Youngblood is a superhero team, created by writer-artist Rob Liefeld, that initially premiered as a backup feature in the one-shot, Megaton Explosion #1 (June 1987). The team quickly gained interest from fans and was awarded its own ongoing series with Image Comics in 1992. Youngblood #1 (April 1992) became the first book published by Image Comics. The series was inspired by Liefeld’s idea that if superheroes existed in real life, they would be treated as celebrities. Therefore, Youngblood follows the superhero members fighting crime and evil, as well as navigating the world of celebrity endorsement deals, TV show appearances, and agents.

The original Youngblood team, featured in Megaton Explosion, consisted of Sentinel, Sonic, Brahma, Riptide, Cougar, Psi-Fire and Photon. By the time Youngblood came to Image, a new proposal for the team included Speedy, Harlequin, a pair of Kh’undian warriors, a S.T.A.R. Labs android, and an unknown character. This idea was ultimately rejected.

Under his Image imprint, Empire Studios, Liefeld revived his Youngblood proposal to create new characters and expand the team roaster. This new team consisted of Shaft, a former FBI agent who uses a high-tech bow and arrow; Badrock, a teenager transformed into a living block of stone; Diehard, an advanced cyborg; Vogue, a Russian fashion model with purple-and-chalk-white skin; and Chapel, a government assassin.

Together this new team served as a high profile superteam sanctioned and overseen by the United States government. In celebration of the 25th anniversary, Liefeld launched a new ongoing Youngblood series in May 2017, led by Chad Bowers and Jim Towe.

In 2025, the Youngblood Deluxe series featured rescripted, recolored, re-lettered, and remastered editions of the original series. A new Youngblood series has just begun with Liefeld back to write and draw the book for the first time in 30 years.