While fans wait for the Young Avengers to eventually debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a new team of super teens is making waves in the comics. Marvel has had several teams full of teenagers, ranging from the likes of the New Warriors, New Mutants, Runaways, Young Avengers, and most recently, Champions. It’s never long before the spotlight is put on a young group of aspiring heroes. The Young Avengers have name recognition and a loyal fanbase behind them, but another team is looking to carve out their own place in the Marvel Universe. The New Champions have arrived, and they’re already taking out bad guys.
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ComicBook has the exclusive preview of New Champions #1 by Steve Foxe, Ivan Fiorelli, IG Guara, Arthur Hesli, and VC’s Travis Lanham. It drops readers right in on the action in San Francisco as the New Champions assemble to take down The Brothers Grimm. The evil duo think they’re being attacked by Moon Knight when crescent darts go flying by them in the air. However, it’s not Moon Knight or the Avengers. “West Coast, Young or otherwise,” one of the heroes says. We then meet four of the New Champions.
New Champions take down their first supervillains
The preview of New Champions #1 reveals the names and abilities of its four members. First up is Moon Squire, who can absorb light and has a costume similar to Moon Knight. Next is Liberty, a beacon of hope and hard-light constructs. She soars through the air with metal wings. Cadet Marvel appears to be inspired by Captain Marvel and has jet-powered punches and fuel-injected attitude. Last is Hellrune, who has a mystery spear, mystery spells, and a mystery origin that may or may not be Asgardian related.
[RELATED: Marvel Reveals Young Avengers Plans for 2025 (With New Team Members Confirmed)]
Liberty celebrates their win, but Cadet Marvel encourages her not to make a scene in front of the villains. The Brothers Grimm can’t believe they were defeated by tween sidekicks, let alone they did it all by themselves. Moon Squire is ready to leave the Brothers Grimm in police custody so he can make it back home in time for dinner with his mom. This exchange is an example of just how young the New Champions are. Liberty teases that she’s got a special surprise in store for her teammates, with Moon Squire hoping its a New Champions mobile so he can stop taking the bus home.
The release of the New Champions Variant cover series in 2023 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 through several titles last year. These are the heroes that will make up the New Champions roster, with some being teased as future villains. Liberty, Hellrune, Moon Squire, and Cadet Marvel all appeared in Steve 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.”
[RELATED: Marvel’s History With Teen Superhero Teams, From Young Avengers to New Champions]
“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.
The exclusive preview of New Champions #1 is below. The issue goes on sale Wednesday, January 8th.
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Image Credit: Marvel Comics
