New Warriors

The New Warriors are a Marvel Comics superhero team, traditionally consisting of teenaged and young adult heroes. They first appeared in The Mighty Thor #411 (December 1989).

The New Warriors were originally composed by writer/editor Tom DeFalco of young superheroes, including Nova, Speedball, Namorita, Marvel Boy, and Firestar, all of whom were once featured in solo series or who were supporting characters in more established series. This makes them a counterpart of sorts to DC Comics’ Teen Titans or a junior version of Marvel’s own Avengers, although the New Warriors were not sidekicks of the Avengers as many of the original Teen Titans were to members of the Justice League. The New Warriors were featured in an eponymous series from 1990 until 1996, which both benefited and suffered from being marketed to the MTV Generation. A short-lived revival was launched in 1999 and a mini-series followed in 2005. In the mini-series a small team of New Warriors agreed to star in a reality television show to fund their team. During the first issue of Civil War the villain Nitro killed most of this team (Night Thrasher, Namorita, and Microbe, but not Speedball), during a raid on a house full of supervillains.

History

Origins

Night Thrasher meticulously researched several young solo heroes to help him wage a war on crime. Vaguely modeled after the Fantastic Four, he chose to recruit the following heroes:

Richard Rider, previously known as the Xandarian empowered Nova, an experienced hero who had seemingly lost his powers.
Marvel Boy (later Justice), a mutant telekinetic with ties to the Thing and Captain America.
Firestar, a powerful mutant microwave manipulator with ties to the X-Men and the Hellfire Club.

Almost immediately after meeting the team was faced with a crisis; Terrax, a former herald of Galactus, had re-formed and was attacking several bystanders. Two other heroes joined the fight and were quickly accepted into the group:

Namorita (later Kymaera for a time), cousin of Namor, a mighty Atlantean with broad capabilities, particularly in water.
Speedball, a little-known Connecticut-based hero with strange kinetic energy abilities.

The six heroes battled Terrax and managed to neutralize him via the use of ersatz (but effective) teamwork. In the aftermath, The Avengers arrived and stole the credit, leaving the young heroes bitter and determined to make a difference where their elder contemporaries had failed.

Volume One

The New Warriors first appeared in issue 411 and 412 of the Marvel Comics title, Thor. The issue was written by Tom DeFalco, who assembled the team by scanning entries of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and finding characters he felt had been forgotten but were a part of the next generation of super-heroes. The appearance proved popular and plans were made for a spin-off as part of the informal "Heroes for the '90s" group of new comics Marvel debuted in the first six months of 1990. (The other new titles were RoboCop, Namor, Ghost Rider, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Spider-Man.) Amid derisive comparisons to the New Kids on the Block and predictions of failure before its release, New Warriors hit comic stands in May 1990 written by Fabian Nicieza, drawn by Mark Bagley, and edited by Danny Fingeroth.

To the surprise of its detractors, the comic eventually proved to be a hit, garnering an enthusiastic readership and strong sales. A second printing of the first issue was released in the summer of 1991. A trade paperback collection of the Thor appearances and the first four issues was published a year later, a decade before such repackaging became a standard in the comic industry. (The trade, New Warriors: Beginnings, has since gone out-of-print.)

Bagley remained with the title until issue 25, leaving for a career-defining stint on Amazing Spider-Man. Darick Robertson came on as the series' second regular artist. His expressive and dynamic style helped maintain the series' strength, which soon supported the notion of several spin-off titles. Nicieza pitched a four-issue limited series, Night Thrasher: Four Control, and in the Fall of 1992, Marvel published it to test the waters of building the New Warriors franchise. Bagley provided cover art; Dave Hoover was the interior artist. The experiment proved to be a success and a monthly Night Thrasher series appeared the following summer. Javier Saltares initially provided art but abruptly left the title after only two issues. David Boller was in place as the new regular penciler by issue 4, although Saltares briefly returned for issue 5. Issue 6 dealt with gang war and racial tension, and was reprinted in The Best of Marvel 1994 anthology. A second New Warriors spin-off written by Nicieza was published at the end of 1993 starring Nova. Chris Marrinan remained the regular artist for the entire run of the series. A third spin-off was planned to coincide with the 50th issue of New Warriors where a second team of Warriors would star in their own series. However, it was decided that sales were not strong enough, as the comic industry as a whole began to contract from the comic boom of the early 1990s, and the second Warriors book was scuttled. It was Bandit's reserve team (Hindsight, Darkhawk, Dagger, Turbo, Alex Power of Power Pack and Lady Sphinx) that was suspected to be this secondary team. Despite the decision not to start this second series, a four-issue Justice: Four Balance limited series with art by Craig Brasfield still made it to print in 1994.

Robertson and long-time inker Larry Mahlstedt left the series with issue 50. Robertson went on to the critically-acclaimed Transmetropolitan. Richard Pace and Bruce Patterson were brought in as the new art team but Pace's style was not well-received. Facing burn-out from his immense workload, Nicieza simultaneously pulled out from Nova with issue 7 and Night Thrasher with issue 12. Marrinan took over writing Nova and remained as artist. After a two-issue story by Dan Slott and Guy Dorian, Kurt Busiek and Art Nichols became the regular team on Night Thrasher. Three months after dropping the spin-off titles, Nicieza dropped New Warriors as well with issue 53. Evan Skolnick, Nicieza's former assistant, followed as writer. Patrick Zircher was brought in to take over for Pace with issue 55.

The loss of Nicieza and the shrinking comic market of the mid-90s took their toll. Night Thrasher was cancelled with issue 21. Nova soon followed, ending with issue 18. The Skolnick/Zircher team remained on New Warriors, securing a temporary sales increase with the utilization of the Scarlet Spider. However, sales continued downward until Marvel cancelled the series with issue 75 in 1996.

Volume Two

A short-lived relaunch began in 1999 and ran for 10 issues. It was written by Jay Faerber and penciled by a variety of artists, including Steve Scott, Karl Kerschl and Jamal Igle. Faerber and Igle would go on to collaborate on several other projects. Original members Namorita, Nova, and Speedball were joined by returning member Turbo and new members Bolt and Aegis. The last was an all-new character, reminiscent of Night Thrasher being the only new character among the original team. A promotional issue #0 was given away with Wizard Magazine.

Volume Three

A six issue mini-series of the title was released starting in June 2005, written by Zeb Wells and illustrated by Skottie Young, and featuring the team as the stars of a reality TV show. The line-up includes previous members Night Thrasher, Speedball, Nova, and Namorita, along with one new character, Microbe. A second new character, Debrii, joined in issue 4. Both characters debuted in the series, much like Night Thrasher shortly before volume 1 and Aegis in volume 2. A trade paperback collection of all six issues was released in January 2006

Civil War

The New Warriors, Night Thrasher, Speedball, Namorita, and Microbe (Nova is currently in space as part of Marvel's Annihilation storyline), were last seen fighting Nitro and some other supervillains. During the fight, Nitro exploded killing most of the New Warriors at the start of the Marvel Civil War story arc. It has been reported that only one member of the team has survived. A listing of the Warriors on DestroyAllWarriors.com, a fictional anti-Warriors website created by Hindsight Lad, lists all of the Warriors involved as killed. Though Speedball has been publicly confirmed as killed in the incident, the website listing suggests that the fact that one of the Warriors survived the Stamford explosion was not made public. Due to Speedball's powers, he survived the blast (see Civil War Front Line #1), but was depowered due to a kinetic overload.

As a result of Civil War, Firestar had decided to retire from superheroing, leaving the only founding members Speedball and Justice, with Nova in space.

These events are nicknamed New Warriors Disassembled (after Avengers Disassembled) in New Warriors fan circles.

New Warriors (MC2)

In the alternate timeline known as MC2, Spider-Girl reforms the New Warriors and fights with them. However, when Spider-Girl makes a truce with supervillains Funny Face and Angel Face, the team shuns her.

The new roster includes The Buzz, Raptor, Darkdevil, The Golden Goblin, and the twin crimefighters sharing the identity of LadyHawk. The team receives support from Normie Osborn, including unlisted cellphones.

Team roster

Founding members

Additional members

Aegis (joined Vol. 2 issue 1)
Bandit (formed reserve team in Vol. 1 issue 48)
Bolt (joined Vol. 2 issue 1) (deceased)
Dagger (recruited to Bandit's reserve team in Vol. 1 issue 48, declined full membership in issues 35 and 51)
Darkhawk (joined team in Vol. 1 issue 22, later member of New New Warriors in Vol. 1 issue 48)
Debrii (joined Vol. 3 issue 4)
Helix (reserve member circa Vol. 1 issue 68)
Hindsight (blackmailed way onto team in Vol. 1 issue 37, accepted as full member in Vol. 1 issue 51)
Hybrid (recruited by Justice, but declined membership)
Microbe (joined prior to Vol. 3 issue 1) (deceased)
Rage (joined Vol. 1 issue 26)
Scarlet Spider (joined Vol. 1 issue 56) (deceased)
Silhouette (joined circa Vol. 1 issue 15, associated with team starting issue 2)
Speedball II (replaced original Speedball's place on team in Vol. 1 issue 50)
Timeslip (joined Vol. 1 issue 72)
Turbo/Mickey Musashi (informal reserve membership started in Vol. 1 issue 35, recruited to Bandit's reserve team in issue 48, joined full-time Vol. 1 issue 54)
Turbo 2/Michael Jeffries (informal reserve membership started in Vol. 1 issue 35) (deceased)
Powerhouse (aka Alex Power, see Power Pack) (recruited to Bandit's reserve team in Vol. 1 issue 48, joined full-time Vol. 1 issue 54)

Notable Allies

Ultra Girl a Kree/Human mutant
Slapstick a living cartoon
Mad Thinker and Primus
Smartship Friday

Notable Enemies

Trivia

The team has broken up twice: once in Nova Vol. 3 issue 1, then reformed in New Warriors Vol. 2 issue 1, and the other time somewhere before New Warriors Vol. 3 issue 1, then reformed in that issue as recounted in flashbacks seen in issue 3.

Speedball is the only character to have been a member through the team's entire tenure, though only if one counts that he was temporarily replaced by someone assuming his identity. He even survived the Stamford blast that started the Civil War. Out of all the members, only three have been members in each of the team's series: Speedball, Nova, and Namorita/Kymaera, though one could count Night Thrasher, who was not a member in Vol. 2 until the last page of the last issue.

Parallels in Group Structure

There have been parallels in the group's memberships at the beginning of each volume. First, each volume starts with two women and four men, for a total of six members: Volume 1 (Night Thrasher, Speedball, Nova, and Marvel Boy/Justice versus Firestar and Namorita), Volume 2 (Speedball, Nova, Aegis, and Bolt versus Namorita and Turbo), and Volume 3 (Night Thrasher, Speedball, Nova, and Microbe versus Namorita and Debrii). Second, there is always at least one character created specifically for each series: Volume 1 (Night Thrasher), Volume 2 (Aegis), and Volume 3 (Microbe and Debrii). Third, there are two new members to the team versus four members that have appeared in the previous volume, obviously not counting volume 1. Volume 2 (Speedball, Nova, Namorita, and Turbo versus Aegis and Bolt), Volume 3 (Night Thrasher, Speedball, Nova, and Namorita versus Microbe and Debrii). Volume 1 could be paralleled in that Night Thrasher intended the team to consist of four members (himself, Nova, Marvel Boy/Justice, and Firestar), though Speedball and Namorita showed up to join as well.

Note that Volume 3 did not actually start with four men and two women, but Debrii was added in issue 4. The parallelism is still close enough to warrant mention.

Funding

The New Warriors were funded by the Taylor Foundation, a company created by Night Thrasher's parents before their deaths. Night Thrasher acquired the Taylor Foundation before forming the New Warriors, and used its resources to help assemble and operate the team. In fact, the New Warriors were headquartered first in the Taylor Foundation's main location, the Ambrose Building, and then in one of its warehouses (affectionately titled the Crash Pad).

The Taylor Foundation was not as limitless as some other superhero group funding. For example, groups such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four had much larger pools of resources. Despite this, the Taylor Foundation's smaller resource pool was never explored in its finity. In fact, the only times exploring the New Warriors' smaller resources was when Night Thrasher was not on the team and the New Warriors didn't have access to funding. There were two cases exploring the New Warriors' lack of funding: First, in Volume 1, Night Thrasher recognized their lack of funding and deposited money into their slush fund shortly after he and Rage were kicked off the team. Second, in Volume 2, the Crash Pad had been destroyed, and the New Warriors had to rely on their connections with the New York Fire Department to give them a new headquarters in the form of an unused firehouse.

The future of the New Warriors' funding is now in question, though. At the end of volume 3, Night Thrasher had lost the Taylor Foundation to the Ashley Brothers, a television company. Without the Foundation to fund them, it's unknown how the New Warriors will function. Especially with Night Thrasher killed in the Stamford blast, their funding now seems limited, though this is currently overshadowed by their fractured and questionable membership.

Bibliography

New Warriors #1-75, Annual #1-4 (July, 1990 – September, 1996)
New Warriors Ashcan oneshot (1994)
New Warriors #0-10 (October, 1999 – July, 2000)
New Warriors Limited Series #1-6 (July-Dec, 2005)

Extended Bibliography

Firestar #1-4 (March, 1986 - June, 1986)
Justice: Four Balance #1-4 (September, 1994 - December, 1994)
Night Thrasher #1-21 (August, 1993 - April, 1995)
Night Thrasher: Four Control #1-4 (October, 1992 - January, 1993)
Nova Vol. 1 #1-25 (September, 1976 - May, 1979)
Nova Vol. 2 #1-18 (January, 1994 - June, 1995)
Nova The Human Rocket #1-7 (May, 1999 - November, 1999)
Annihilation: Nova #1-4 (June, 2006 - September, 2006) and Annihilation Prologue (March, 2006)
Speedball The Masked Marvel #1-10 (September, 1988 - June, 1989)

Trade Paperbacks and Digests

New Warriors: Beginnings (reprints Thor #411-412, New Warriors v.1 #1-4)
New Warriors: Reality Check (reprints New Warriors limited series #1-6)
Essential Nova v.1 (reprints Nova v.1 #1-25, The Amazing Spider-Man #171, Marvel Two-in-One Annual #3)
X-Men: Firestar Digest (reprints Firestar #1-4)

External links

Marvel Comics superhero teams | Marvel Comics titles | teen comics