While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has an impressive output of movies and TV shows, many projects get cancelled. For instance, Bladespent seven years cycling through directors and rewrites before Marvel pulled the plug on the Mahershala Ali-led reboot. Also recently, Marvel Studios walked back on the Wonder Man Season 2 renewal, despite the show’s acclaim. A little further back, seven years ago to be precise, the New Warriors TV show suffered the same fate. Before Disney+ even existed, the show was supposed to introduce the world to Milana Vayntrub’s take on Squirrel Girl, a beloved hero who should make her debut in Avengers: Secret Wars.
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In Marvel Comics, Doreen Green, better known as Squirrel Girl, is a hero with the strength, agility, and buck teeth of her animal namesake, who commands swarms of squirrels. Even though her powerset is a joke, Marvel writers have spent more than three decades sending her up against some of Marvel’s most dangerous villains and having her win, thanks to her delusional optimism and her ability to think outside the box to defuse fights without participating in any fistfight. Squirrel Girl’s personality and unique approach to problem-solving turned her into a fan favorite, even though she is a C-list hero in Marvel’s pantheon. Doreen has also spent decades as a member of the New Warriors, the team of young heroes introduced in 1990 and built around teenagers trying to prove themselves, despite their often weird powers. Freeform ordered a live-action adaptation of New Warriors straight to series in 2017, with Doreen chosen to be part of the team. Sadly, the project died before any episode aired.
Why Marvel Cancelled the New Warriors TV Show
Freeform ordered New Warriors straight to series in April 2017, greenlighting ten episodes under showrunner Kevin Biegel, previously known for Scrubs and Cougar Town. In addition to Squirrel Girl, the pilot also included Craig Hollis/Mister Immortal (Derek Theler), Dwayne Taylor/Night Thrasher (Jeremy Tardy), Robbie Baldwin/Speedball (Calum Worthy), Zack Smith/Microbe (Matthew Moy), and Deborah Fields/Debrii (Kate Comer). Filming wrapped in Atlanta by that November, and the finished pilot tested well enough internally to catch the attention of Disney executives outside Marvel Television. Freeform then pulled the show from its 2018 lineup anyway, citing a lack of scheduling room, and returned the project to Marvel, which then shopped it to other Disney-owned outlets. Two and a half years of silence followed, ending on September 15, 2019, when Marvel confirmed the series had failed to find a new home and was officially dead. Biegel later offered a different account of the collapse, stating in 2021 that a single executive killed the show over its LGBT-inclusive storylines. Marvel has never addressed that claim directly, but by 2019, Marvel Studios had access to Disney+, meaning the official excuse doesn’t make much sense.
The cast and crew of New Warriors never fully let go of the project, frequently using social media to talk about the missed opportunity. Theler shared previously unseen footage and set photos from the pilot this month, describing the bond the cast built during filming as something that stayed with them. Biegel had done the same years earlier, posting behind-the-scenes images of Doreen Green’s costume and the practical effects built for her squirrel sidekick, Tippy-Toe. Vayntrub never fully let go of the character either, voicing Squirrel Girl in Marvel Rising, the audio drama Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show, and the video game Marvel Rivals in the years since. She has also talked openly about how she would love to join the MCU. Marvel Studios now has the best opportunity to make that happen.
Squirrel Girl Appearing in Avengers: Secret WarsWould Be the Funniest Thing Ever
Avengers: Secret Wars, set for release on December 17, 2027, is built around the 2015 comic event in which the multiverse collapses under a wave of universe-colliding Incursions. Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr. in the movies) rebuilds what remains into Battleworld, a single planet stitched together from the wreckage of countless alternate realities. That structure allowed the comics to streamline continuity by introducing new variants and eventually bringing alternate dimension characters into the main timeline. The MCU is doing the same, with Secret Wars being sold as a reset of sorts. The movie will likely resurrect beloved characters, kill others, change casting for major roles, and even make some heroes canon in the Sacred Timeline.
Squirrel Girl is a strong fit for the crossover event, as the convergence of timelines gives Marvel Studios the excuse to salvage her from the dead Freeform project. More importantly, in her 1991 debut, Squirrel Girl ambushed Iron Man in the woods, then watched Doctor Doom capture him, only to lose to a coordinated assault of ordinary squirrels chewing through his armor. Writers later revisited the fight to confirm it was the real Doom rather than a decoy, and Doreen went on to defeat him again in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. Dropping her into a Doom-controlled Battleworld would let Marvel pay off a hilarious comic rivalry. Plus, Marvel Studios will never dare to do this, but the single funniest thing in the MCU would be to let Squirrel Girl beat Doom by herself right at the end of Secret Wars. One can dream, right?
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