After teasing the reveal of a new series starring a cast of teen heroes, Marvel has officially announced its bringing the Champions franchise back with New Champions. The release of the New Champions Variant cover series last year introduced fans to a new set of characters who were billed as the secret sidekicks of our favorite Marvel heroes. Their popularity is what led to these heroes being slowly introduced into the main Marvel universe throughout several titles over the last couple of months. They will now take part in a new ongoing series, but not all of these characters will be heroes, with some going down a villainous path.
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New Champions comes from writer Steve Foxe (Spider-Woman, Timeslide) and artist Ivan Fiorelli (Daredevil: Woman Without Fear, Timeslide), who are looking to reinvent what it means to be a teen hero in the Marvel Universe. The roster of New Champions begins with Liberty, Hellrune, Moon Squire, and Cadet Marvel, who all appeared in Foxe’s run on Spider-Woman as the group called The Assembly.
“As soon as I saw the New Champions variants, my mind started racing dreaming up possible origins and powers and codenames for these imagined sidekicks,” Foxe explained. “Reverse-engineering the cast from the covers was unlike any other creative process I’ve ever been involved in, and I’m beyond stoked to debut a whole new class of Marvel heroes (and a few villains!) in New Champions alongside Ivan Fiorelli, who makes each and every one of these new additions feel like they’ve been part of the fabric of the universe all along.”
“I’m really looking forward to diving into New Champions!” Fiorelli said. “What really excites me about this project is the opportunity to bring fresh faces into the Marvel Universe, and explore something completely new. These young heroes have their own stories to tell, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they’ll grow and evolve visually as the series unfolds. I hope readers will enjoy reading our pages as much as I will enjoy illustrating them!”
“I’ve been dying to write a teen hero team my whole career—it’s the time in everyone’s life when we’re figuring out who we really are, and adding Norse magic or jet-powered punches or accidental hell portals to that search for identity is a recipe for storytelling gold,” Foxe added.
What is New Champions about?
WHO ARE THE NEW CHAMPIONS?
What do four kids whose lives were derailed by Hydra, Scarlet Witch’s mysterious protégé, a cursed roller derby jammer and a Wakandan runaway have in common? Not much! But when Hellrune’s mysterious powers activate to bring them together, they’ll have to learn how to work as a team quickly—or face the wrath of the Cult of Hela!
New Champions #1 goes on sale January 8, 2025.