Marvel Champions I Quit

It has been said time and time again that children are our future. But in this day and age where start-up culture and youth movements are reshaping the way we think about business, technology, activism, and entertainment through the internet and social media, these “children” are actually our present too and they’re not waiting until they’re all grown up to make a difference. Similarly, while dealing with all of the above, an astonishing assemblage of young heroes from the Marvel Universe are looking to redefine what it means to be a superhero in the aftermath of ‘Secret Wars’ and ‘Civil War II’ without being one of the major players like Captain America, Iron Man, or Thor just yet. Marvel Champions #1 cover

Following a few teasers featuring the younger generation of heroes proclaiming “We quit!”, Marvel Comics announced this week that they will be launching a brand new flagship series this October titled ‘Champions’ from the superstar duo of Mark Waid and Humberto Ramos. In this new ongoing title, a supreme teen team consisting of Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Nova (Sam Alexander), Viv Vision, Cyclops (young Scott Summers), and the Totally Awesome Hulk (Amadeus Cho) unite under a classic name from the past to make a better future. These all-new, all-different Champions will break off from their former teammates, mentors, and missions to prove to the world that superheroes are still valuable and relevant in modern society. 

Since the House of Ideas has a long tradition of depicting the world around us, it’s a no-brainer for them to explore the emergence of a youth movement in our culture. But rather than delivering your classic team comic with your threat of the week, the award-winning Waid went on to say in an interview with Marvel.com that the Champions won’t exactly be dealing with super villains per se:

“Editor Tom Brevoort and I have drawn the line in the sand by saying that if the Circus of Crime shows up by issue #4, we have failed. Though certainly super villains roam the Marvel Universe in abundance and many will no doubt cross paths with our heroes, the primary job of the Champions is not to punch criminals; it’s to deal with common-people problems in ways that the bigger super-groups aren’t built to.”

It’ll be really interesting to see these young bucks branch off on their own this fall as The Champions find their own way in this world while being very socially conscious, very activist-minded, and very positive about being superheroes. But until then, what do you think about the new team debuting in the Marvel Universe later this year? Are your surprised that the company is positioning this book to be the flagship series in their line? How do you feel about the awesome line up both on the page and behind the scenes? And do you think that there’s a crossover with the Young Avengers or any other teen heroes in store down the line? Let us know what you think in the comment section.

horizontal lineDespite being a “professional writer”, Ben likes run-on sentences far too much. For more of his attempts at being funny and the occasional insightful thought, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.