Before Marvel Studios oversaturated Disney+ with interconnected superhero shows, Marvel Television was developing a weirder corner of the MCU for Freeform. New Warriors originally got a 10-episode straight-to-series pickup right out of the gate and assembled a group of up-and-coming young actors to portray the titular group of heroes learning to use their powers and evolve into a functional team. The show was often described as Marvel’s answer to The Office. The half hour comedy even used the mockumentary style of the NBC show in its completed pilot that reportedly tested “through the roof.” Between an early pickup and that kind of positive feedback, everyone involved thought they’d get the chance to finish what they started. Sadly, that wasn’t to be as Freeform dropped the project, Marvel failed to find another home for it within the Disney umbrella of networks and almost everything filmed for the series was locked away. The actors went their separate ways, Marvel Television went away completely, and fans thought their chance to see their favorite furry-tailed Avenger would never see the light of day. Instead, eight years later, one cast member remembered he had footage on his phone and has broken his silence to reveal a bigger look at the live-action Squirrel Girl fans missed out on.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Derek Theler, the actor who played the indestructible Mr. Immortal, took to his Instagram to share footage of Milana Vayntrub’s Squirrel Girl leaping into action and landing in full superhero pose for the unaired New Warriors pilot. The unauthorized behind-the-scenes collection of images and videos gives us our clearest look yet at Vayntrub performing as Doreen Green, including her massive practical tail, and a closer look at the puppetry behind her squirrel minions. Theler said Marvel banned the cast from taking pictures or video on set, but that didn’t stop the shutterbug from secretly documenting his journey into the MCU. His post also features a very detailed glimpse of Night Thrasher’s costume, the superheroic vibes surrounding Cleveland, and some light footage of the team performing non-heroic community service as Keith David looks on from a park bench.
New Warriors Already Have a History With Reality TV
Despite its title, New Warriors was actually a combination of two tonally different Marvel comics. The show took characters and elements from both The New Warriors comic that featured Night Thrasher, Speedball, Microbe, and Debrii, while Squirrel Girl and Mr. Immortal are card carrying members of The Great Lakes Avengers. The New Warriors from the page were broody and more in-line with X-Forceand DC’s Teen Titans. The Great Lakes Avengers were heroic underdogs that were played for laughs more than pathos. Combining them created a team that could fit into Marvel’s “superheroes-as-workplace-comedy” pitch, but we’ll never quite know how the team dynamics represented the original groups.
The mockumentary format of the show also carried some pre-existing comics baggage. While The New Warriors did have an entire run where they became reality TV fodder, it all ended very badly when their pursuit of ratings led to more and more dangerous confrontations. When the team’s confrontation with Nitro caused the villain to explode, taking out hundreds of people, it triggered the Superhuman Registration Act, the catalyst of Civil War. In the MCU, that honor was given to Scarlet Witch with similar ramifications.
Why Marvel’s New Warriors Never Aired
The show’s disappearance has remained unusually frustrating because it had already cleared so many hurdles that kill most pilots. Freeform gave it a straight-to-series order, the pilot had great word of mouth in the C-suite, and Marvel publicly promised to find it another home after Freeform claimed their schedule couldn’t make room for the freshman series, even though their only options were Disney-based properties like Hulu and Disney+, all of which passed on the genre-bending project. Vayntrub called the cancellation a casualty of corporate restructuring, while showrunner Kevin Biegel alleged a specific Marvel exec killed the potential series for being “too gay”, a claim Marvel disputed.
Whatever the reason, Marvel iced these Avenger wannabes before they could show us what they had. Just seeing Night Thrasher mid-fight, even in a lackluster costume, is enough to make fans truly ask, “What if?!” Milana Vayntrub stayed connected to the Doom-defeating character even after the cancellation by voicing her for the animated series Marvel Rising and the podcast Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show. Vayntrub may not have gotten to make her proper live-action debut, but Theler’s footage finally let us all see she could nail the superhero landing and be a “total poser”.
8 Years Later, Marvel Writer Remembers the Canceled TV Show Whose Hero Would’ve Ended Doomsday In One Minute
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