Marvel has given people some of the greatest superheroes ever, and on this day 36 years ago, they introduced us to what was touted as the next generation of Marvel superstars — the New Warriors. The Mighty Thor #411, published on this day in 1989, had the God of Thunder meet this next generation of teen heroes — Night Thrasher, Marvel Boy, Firestar, Nova, Namorita, and Speedball (only Night Thrasher was appearing for the first time; the rest had premiered over the years, with Nova having his own series starting in 1976) — as he battled the Juggernaut in the “Acts of Vengeance” crossover. The crossover saw the villains change it up on the heroes by attacking heroes they didn’t usually fight (although Thor had occasionally fought Juggernaut; “Acts of Vengeance” is best known for the Mandarin and the Hand body switching Psylocke, and Magneto and Red Skull having a chat about World War II that went exactly how you imagine it would). The New Warriors were the the first time that Marvel brought together a non-mutant teen superteam, and they have a rich legacy… if you know where to look for it.
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Teen superheroes had been around since the Golden Age, but unlike DC, Marvel didn’t have nearly as much success. Their first foray into teen heroes was way back in the Golden Age, as Bucky and Toro led the Young Allies in back up stories. Later, Amazing Fantasy #15 would introduce Spider-Man, the most successful teen superhero ever, and X-Men #1 would give us the teen X-Men. However, the X-Men didn’t take off until Giant-Size X-Men #1, when the team consisted of adults, so they were never as popular with readers like the Legion of Superheroes and later the Teen Titans were. In the early ’80s, Marvel would introduce the New Mutants, who would become the publisher’s most popular teen team (and would birth spin-off teams like the Fallen Angels and the X-Terminators). However, Marvel had mostly ceded the teen superteam to DC, so the New Warriors were the first salvo in Marvel trying to take them back. The New Warriors don’t have the cache that other teen teams do, but they are still something special.
The New Warriors Were Teen Superheroes in the Mighty Marvel Manner
The New Warriors made quite a splash, helping Thor defeat the Juggernaut. Marvel stacked the deck for the team by mostly using heroes that fans knew. Nova’s The Man Called Nova series ran for 25 issues from 1976 to 1979. Firestar had first appeared in the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends cartoon before coming to the comics and getting involved with her fellow mutants. Marvel Boy was the present version of Vance Astro, the future leader of 30th century Guardians of the Galaxy (his history is fascinating and deserves its own article), and was a telekinetic mutant. Namorita was the cousin of Namor, and Speedball had hung out with Spider-Man back in the day.
They were actually pretty popular right off the bat, which lead to their own series in 1990, a book that gave future X-Men writer Fabian Nicieza and future Spider-Man legend Mark Bagley their first major credits at Marvel. It was a pretty standard superhero book, but there was a pretty interesting story arc in the book’s second year, featuring Marvel Boy. His father hated mutants, and abused his son, and Vance accidentally killed him with a telekinetic blast, leading to him being arrested and put on trial. It was the kind of story you could only get from Marvel.
New Warriors wasn’t doing X-Men numbers, but it was a solid selling book, buoyed by Nicieza and Bagley, who both had bigger, better things in front of them because of New Warriors. The book ran for six years, totaling 75 issues, and introduced new members like Silhouette and former Avenger Rage (an angry black teen that Marvel thought was a good idea). Those first few years were the most popular of the New Warriors’ career; Marvel has since put out five New Warriors’ series, and made their deaths a huge part of Civil War, but the team never really took off.
In fact, most people only know about them because of the aborted sixth volume of New Warriors from 2020. Daniel Kibblesmith and Luciano Vecchio wanted to bring them into the 21st century, introducing new characters like Screentime, Snowflake, and Safespace. The whole thing was roundly panned by fans across the political spectrum, and Marvel shelved the project. There was also a planned TV show that never made it past the pilot stage. The New Warriors aren’t looked at in the best light because of the 2020 reboot, but for those of us who were teens in the ’90s and reading comics, the New Warriors will always be a fondly remembered super-team.
The New Warriors May Have Failed in the Long Run but They’re Still an Important Part of Marvel History
The New Warriors helped Thor battle against Juggernaut, showing just how powerful they can be. This led them to a ’90s series that doesn’t exactly have the cultural cache of other teen teams, but they were an important part of ’90s Marvel. I remember those early issues of New Warriors, and they were a lot of fun. All of that came from The Mighty Thor #411.
The New Warriors never actually became the next generation of heroes. Ironically enough, the two characters that went on to the most fame were Marvel Boy (later named Justice) and Firestar, who both joined the Avengers in the late ’90s, with Firestar becoming an X-Man in the Krakoa Era; as usual being a mutant is always the door to bigger, better things. Nova had a second chance in the mid ’00s and Marvel is trying build the character back up again. The New Warriors may have failed in most ways, but they were still a cool idea that introduced readers to some great characters. Maybe one day, Marvel will dust them off.
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image courtesy of 20th Century Studios
