At this point, Marvel’s cinematic universe has conquered just about every medium and genre around, so it should come as no surprise that the superhero juggernaut is trying its hand at live-action comedy television.
Freeform network announced this week that it put in a 10-episode order for New Warriors, an upcoming comedy series featuring a group of young-adult heroes from the Marvel Comics universe. The series will be Marvel’s first foray into live-action comedy on television, and it joins the upcoming Cloak & Dagger series as the first two Marvel properties on the network.
Marvel Comics’ New Warriors comic-book series debuted in 1990 and features a group of junior heroes who were initially positioned as a teenage version of The Avengers. The series followed the group as they battled a variety of villains while simultaneously dealing with the pressures of young adulthood and living in the shadow of the more prominent Avengers team.
The New Warriors television series is described as follows:
“Marvel’s New Warriors is about six young people with powers living and working together. With powers and abilities on the opposite end of the spectrum of The Avengers, the New Warriors want to make a difference in the world … Even if the world isn’t ready. Not quite super, not yet heroes, Marvel’s New Warriors is about that time in your life when you first enter adulthood and feel like you can do everything and nothing at once — except in this world, bad guys can be as terrifying as bad dates.”
The series will feature fan-favorite Marvel Comics character Squirrel Girl — a teenage girl with the powers of a squirrel and a bottomless well of confidence — as one of the team’s members. In recent years, Squirrel Girl has become one of the most popular characters on the lighter side of the Marvel Comics universe, and currentlyis the focus of a self-titled series. Additional members of the show’s team haven’t been announced yet.
The original roster of the New Warriors consisted of Firestar, Marvel Boy, Namorita, Nova, Speedball, and team leader Night Thrasher. A long list of other characters have become members of the team at one point or another.
The television series is expected to consist of 30-minute episodes, with the first season premiering in 2018. New Warriors will be produced by Marvel Television and ABC Signature Studios, with Marvel Television head Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory serving asexecutive producers.
