:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54087677/FullSizeRender.0.jpg)
Marvel Entertainment has given Disney’s Freeform channel a straight-to-series order for New Warriors, a live-action scripted comedy following a team of young superheroes in their heroic and secret identities.
New Warriors would feature a team of six young superheroes who live and work together, trying to “make a difference in the world” even if their powers are not exactly on the level of the the Avengers.
“Not quite super, not yet heroes,” says Marvel’s press release, “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.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Kevin Biegel (Scrubs, Cougar Town) is nearing a deal to write the 10-episode season and serve as showrunner.
The show’s description is not too different from how the New Warriors are traditionally depicted in Marvel Comics. The team has always been populated by a rotation of young superheroes, with an original lineup of Firestar, Marvel Boy, Namorita, Nova and Speedball. The only confirmed character to be included in Freeform’s New Warriors at the moment is Squirrel Girl, described as “tough, optimistic and a natural leader,” strongly implying that she’ll be taking charge of the team, whenever the other five members are announced.
Squirrel Girl has a long history at Marvel Comics as a comedic character. In her early appearances she was a young girl with seemingly absurd powers — the proportional strength and agility of a squirrel, the gnawing power of a squirrel, the tail of a squirrel, and the ability to talk to squirrels and command a squirrel army — but who consistently triumphed over some of the most dangerous villains in the Marvel Universe, like Doctor Doom, Thanos and Galactus.
In the past few years, thanks to her wildly popular and critically lauded solo series, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, from Ryan North and Erica Henderson, Squirrel Girl, née Doreen Green, has gotten a decent amount of attention outside of the comics world. Actresses like Anna Kendrick and Stranger Things’ Shannon Purser (she played Barb) are voicing their interest in the role, should it ever come to screen. Lately, in addition to eating nuts, kicking butts and being on the Avengers, Doreen Green has been trying to maintain a secret identity for the first time, while getting her undergrad degree in computer science and chilling with her best squirrel friend, Tippy-Toe.
New Warriors will be Marvel’s first live-action comedy series, but not its first with Freeform; almost exactly a year ago, the company announced that it would be producing a drama based on Cloak and Dagger. Hopefully, Marvel’s first foray into television comedy will be less disappointing than Warner Bros.’ New Warriors is set to debut in 2018.
