New Warriors

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New Warriors
New Warriors #1 (July 1990). Art by Mark Bagley.
Publisher Marvel Comics Schedule Monthly Format New Warriors (vol. 1): Ongoing New Warriors (vol. 2): Ongoing New Warriors (vol. 3): Limited Publication dates New Warriors (vol. 1): July 1990 - September 1996 New Warriors (vol. 2): October 1999 - July 2000 New Warriors (vol. 3): July 2005 to December 2005 Number of issues New Warriors (vol. 1): 75 New Warriors (vol. 2): 11 New Warriors (vol. 3): 6 Creative team Writer(s) New Warriors (vol. 1): Fabian Nicieza, Evan Skolnick New Warriors (vol. 2): Jay Faeber New Warriors (vol. 3): Zeb Wells New Warriors (vol. 4): Kevin Grevioux [1] Artist(s) New Warriors (vol. 1): Mark Bagley, Darick Robertson, Richard Pace, Patrick Zircher New Warriors (vol. 2): various New Warriors (vol. 3): Skottie Young Creator(s) Tom DeFalco Ron Frenz

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

The New Warriors was originally compiled by writer/editor Tom DeFalco, consisting of the young superheroes Nova, Speedball, Namorita, Marvel Boy, and Firestar, all of whom were once featured in solo series or were supporting characters in more established series. To this mix Defalco added Night Thrasher, an original character to serve as the team's founder and leader. This made them a counterpart 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, the New Warriors agreed to star in a reality television show to fund their team. A fourth series has been announced for summer 2007.

Contents 1 New Warriors (vol. 1) 1.1 Publication history 1.2 Membership 1.3 Fictional history 1.3.1 Origins 1.3.2 Further adventures 1.3.2.1 The Folding Circle and the trial of Marvel Boy 1.3.2.2 Fracturing 1.3.2.3 "Child's Play" 1.3.2.4 "Time And Time Again" 1.3.2.5 "Future Shock" 1.3.2.6 Volume's end 2 New Warriors (vol. 2) 2.1 Publication history 2.2 Fictional history 3 New Warriors (vol. 3) 3.1 Publication history 4 "Civil War" 5 New Warriors (vol. 4) 6 Alternate versions 6.1 New Warriors (MC2) 7 Further analysis 7.1 Funding 7.2 Group parallels 7.3 Trivia 8 Bibliography 8.1 Extended bibliography 8.2 Trade Paperbacks and Digests 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

[edit] New Warriors (vol. 1)

[edit] Publication history

New Warriors
Publisher Marvel Comics First appearance Thor #411 (December 1989) Created by Tom DeFalco Ron Frenz
Roster See: List of New Warriors members

The New Warriors first appeared in issues 411 and 412 of the Marvel Comics title The Mighty Thor. The issues were 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 superheroes. 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, The New Warriors hit comic stands in May 1990. The first issue was written by Fabian Nicieza, drawn by Mark Bagley, and edited by Danny Fingeroth.

To the surprise of its detractors, the comic became 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 of New Warriors 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 with 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 possibility of a New Warriors franchise. Bagley provided cover art with Dave Hoover penciling the interior artwork. The experiment succeeded 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. Nova (vol. 2), a second New Warriors spin-off, again written by Nicieza, was published at the end of 1993. Chris Marrinan remained the regular artist for its entire run. A third spin-off was planned to coincide with the fiftieth issue of The New Warriors where a second team of Warriors would star in their own series. However, Marvel decided that sales were too weak, as the comic industry as a whole had begun to contract. The second Warriors book was scuttled. The second team was rumored to be Bandit's reserve team (Hindsight, Darkhawk, Dagger, Turbo, Alex Power of Power Pack and Lady Sphinx). Despite the decision not to start this second series, a four-issue Justice: Four Balance limited series written by Nicieza, 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 co-create and draw 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 with issue 53. Evan Skolnick, Nicieza's former assistant, followed as writer. Patrick Zircher was brought in to replace Pace as penciler beginning with issue 55.

The loss of Nicieza and the shrinking comic market of the mid-90s took their toll. Night Thrasher was canceled 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 inclusion of the Scarlet Spider on the team. However, sales continued downward until Marvel canceled the series with issue 75 in 1996.

[edit] Membership

Main article: List of New Warriors members

[edit] Fictional history

[edit] Origins

Night Thrasher meticulously researched a group of young heroes to help him wage a war on crime. Vaguely modeling his team after the Fantastic Four, he decided to recruit three fellow heroes to join him. Night Thrasher himself would be the leader and brains of the operation, akin to Fantastic Four's Reed Richards.

• Richard Rider, previously known as the Xandarian-empowered Nova, was an experienced hero who had seemingly lost his powers. Night Thrasher hacked into the files of the defunct S.H.I.E.L.D. organization to research Nova. After confronting Nova, Night Thrasher was able to reawaken his powers, and Rider felt obligated to join the team. Nova was slated to fill the corresponding role of Fantastic Four's The Thing, due to his sheer power.
• Firestar, a powerful microwave manipulator with ties to the X-Men and the Hellfire Club. Night Thrasher hacked into the Hellfire Club's computer system to determine Firestar's identity. Firestar filled the role of Fantastic Four's Human Torch, due to similar abilities of flight and heat projection.
• Marvel Boy (later named Justice), a telekinetic mutant with ties to the Thing and Captain America. Marvel Boy was recruited following a tip from an informant outside of Avengers Mansion. Marvel Boy's telekinetic power was an analog to the force field powers of Fantastic Four's Invisible Woman.

Almost immediately after meeting, the team faced a crisis: Terrax, a former herald of Galactus, was regenerated from a contaminated soil sample being processed by the fictional corporation Genetech 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 kinetic-energy abilities

The six heroes battled Terrax and neutralized him. In the aftermath, the Avengers arrived and unintentionally stole the credit for Terrax's defeat, leaving the young heroes bitter and determined to make a difference where their elder contemporaries have failed. ^[1]

[edit] Further adventures

The newly created team gets involved in a fight between Thor and Juggernaut,^[2] helping Thor to send the Juggernaut to another dimension. In the team's second issue Night Thrasher's past comes back to haunt him as the brother and sister team of Midnight's Fire and Silhouette is introduced. Next, the corporation Genetech hires the Mad Thinker to gather information on the New Warriors in order to create their own superhumans, resulting in their battle with Genetech's team of superhumans, Psionex. ^[3] The Warriors travel to stop a superhuman named Star Thief that is destroying space launches, with Namorita, Marvel Boy and Firestar ending up on the Moon with the Inhumans. The Team minus Night Thrasher travels to Brazil to rescue Speedball's mother from an environmental terrorist group and battle the Force of Nature. Night Thrasher stays behind to patch things up with Silhouette and confronts The Punisher. Upon the Warriors return to New York, their headquarters (the Ambrose building) is trashed in a battle with the Hellions for the claim of Firestar. ^[4]

Their next adventure involves the transforming of the world into an alternate one, at the whim of Meryet Karim, the second Sphinx. This is undone by the New Warriors Nova, Marvel Man (Marvel Boy's alternate counterpart), Firestar, and Dwayne Taylor (who is not Night Thrasher in this reality). ^[5] The New Warriors, together with a few Psionex members, the Fantastic Four, and the Silver Surfer, fight a revitalized Terrax some time after. ^[6] Around this time, Silhouette joins, and the New Warriors meet Avenger Rage and solo hero Darkhawk. The Left Hand has also began collecting random superpowered individuals for a team he named the Folding Circle, one member being Silhouette's brother Midnight's Fire.

[edit] The Folding Circle and the trial of Marvel Boy

Eventually, Night Thrasher discover that Andrew Chord, his legal guardian since the death of his parents, has been betraying him and the Warriors for some time, and the following confrontation results in Chord's attempted suicide. In an investigation, the team face a moral dilemma over a cocaine shipment, and Night Thrasher leaves the team in search of answers, bringing him in contact with the Folding Circle. ^[7]

Returning home after a particularly tough battle against Gideon, Marvel Boy accidentally kills his father when his father attacks him (as he has done in the past). Marvel Boy is arrested and found guilty of negligent homicide, while Firestar reveals her love for him. ^[8]

With previously unrevealed abilities, Tai (Thrasher's surrogate mother) confronts and seemingly kills Silhouette. Silhouette survives and assembles the remaining New Warriors. The New Warriors visit Chord in the hospital, who survived his suicide thanks to Tai's power. He reveals that he killed Night Thrasher's parents because of a mystical pact in the past, the origins of that pact lying in Cambodia. The group recruit Rage and Darkhawk. They encourage Rage to help them steal an Avengers Quinjet to travel to Cambodia, where the Folding Circle has already arrived.

Tai finds the Folding Circle and reveals their fathers' origins. Notably, it is Tai that had orchestrated the death of Night Thrasher's parents. As Thrasher confronts Tai, the New Warriors arrive and join him. Thrasher realizes that they are more important to him than his past. The New Warriors (with later help of the Folding Circle) fight Tai, who reveals her plans for world domination. Tai is defeated and sacrificed in a mystical well along with the Left Hand. In the end, Thrasher rejoins the Warriors. ^[9]

Rage is kicked out of the Avengers for his theft of their Quinjet, and therefore Speedball invites him to join the New Warriors. Meanwhile, just having been convicted of his father's murder, Marvel Boy is being escorted to the Vault via a Guardsman-guarded prison van. Nova, Namorita, and Firestar try to free him from the van, but he refuses, determined to serve his sentence. Firestar and Marvel Boy share one last moment and declare their love for one another. ^[10]

Night Thrasher leaves the team to put the Taylor Foundation in order, and Namorita assumes leadership. The team meet Turbo (Michiko "Mickey" Musashi), ^[11] and get involved in the civil war in the country Trans-Sabal. Although they eventually retreat, the actions of the Warriors (most notably Namorita) have not helped the country. ^[12] Meanwhile, Silhouette has gone missing and Speedball's parents split. Speedball moves to New York with his mother to be closer to the New Warriors.

The team faces the new villain Darkling and meet Cloak and Dagger and a second Turbo (Michael Jeffries). ^[13] Marvel Boy adapts to prison life and becomes good friends with the guards, most notably the man who would become Hybrid. Marvel Boy helps find a compromise between the inmates and the Vault staff, quelling an inmate uprising. ^[14] Meanwhile, Carlton LaFroyge (Hindsight Lad), Speedball's new neighbor, blackmails him into giving him Warriors membership after Carlton discovers Speedball's secret identity. ^[15]

[edit] Fracturing

Some time afterward, Namorita gets drunk at a club, picking up a guy for a one night stand. The guy turns out to be Kimeiko Ashu, a former adversary of Night Thrasher. Ashu steals Namorita's address book, allowing him to discover the identities of the rest of the new Warriors. He kidnaps some of the Warriors' family members (causing the accidental death of Rage's grandmother). All but Rage turn themselves in to Kimeiko, but later escape with Night Thrasher's help. Rage kills Kimeiko. The Warriors' family members are freed. ^[16] Afterward, Thrasher justifies Rage's actions in court. Rage is found not guilty per self defense (although Ashu was actually harmless at that point), and is released under Chord's custody (since he no longer has any other family). Namorita decides to leave the Warriors, hoping to break free of the downward spiral in her life, and learn to live with the guilt over her recent negligent actions. ^[17]

Nova proceeds to be attacked by Garthan Saal, who carries an energy source within him that allows the revival of the planet Xandar. It is Nova that carries the spirit that will allow this to happen, and after a conflict between the Warriors, Saal, Firelord, Air-Walker, and a power-mad Nova, Xandar is restored. Nova is promoted to the rank of Centurion Prime and allowed to return to Earth to continue his activities as a superhero. ^[18]

Meanwhile, Namorita faces trouble in Atlantis, and is captured. Her body is undergoing a cellular change, as a result of her being a clone, into a blue-skinned Atlantean. After a conversation with Namor, she renames herself Kymaera and decides to rejoin the New Warriors. Later, Marvel Boy is released on parole, but after anti-mutant attacks on his mother, decides not to rejoin the New Warriors, instead joining Shinobi Shaw and the Upstarts (as planned by him and Thrasher) and renaming himself Justice. ^[19]

[edit] "Child's Play"

Main article: Child's Play (comics)

Soon after, the "Child's Play" arc begins, with the Upstarts going on what is called the Younghunt, a mission to capture all of the surviving New Mutants (who are by then called X-Force) and Hellions. This competition brings the Upstarts into conflict with the Warriors (Firestar is a former Hellion) and X-Force. The Upstarts capture most of their targets, but Paige Guthrie convinces the Gamesmaster to play another game: instead of killing mutants, the Upstarts should try to find and train young mutants like herself. The Gamesmaster is intrigued and cancels the competition. ^[20]

[edit] "Time And Time Again"

Shortly thereafter, the original Sphinx returns, stealing a portion of the power held by Meryet Karim whom the New Warriors had earlier encountered in New Warriors (vol. 1) #10-13 and plans his revenge against the Warriors, transporting away its eight active members (Night Thrasher, Nova, Kymaera, Justice, Firestar, Speedball, Silhouette and Rage) to different places in the time-stream. In response, Hindsight Lad and Bandit gather a new team of Warriors (Alex Power - Powerpax, Cloak and Dagger, Darkhawk, Turbo) to go and rescue the others. They succeed and the two teams of Warriors combat the Sphinx together, who is eventually beaten by himself as he is shown the truth of his very being by Veritas, the embodiment of truth. He merges together with Meryet, accepting his fate and their love, as they return into the time stream and relive their lives, in the hopes of not making the same mistakes again. ^[21] In New Warriors #51 the team is restructured as the Mad Thinker again advises the team, especially on the difficulties of growing up as individuals as a team. The main team are the six original founders (Thrasher, Nova, Firestar, Justice, Kymaera and Speedball) as well as Rage, while Hindsight Lad, Dagger and Alex Power become reserve members. Bandit and Silhouette leave the team.

Later, they face the Psionex team again ^[22] and travel to the country of Zäire, where the team is captured by the Soldiers of Misfortune and Nova has to call in the reserves, Powerpax and Turbo. The mission is largely a success, but Kymeara is brainwashed and teleports away along with the villains. ^[23] Afterwards, Night Thrasher and Rage leave the team after a falling out over their absence on the team's previous mission, and the team also fights an enraged Namor, who eventually decides to help the team in their search of Kymeara. ^[24]

The Warriors help out with a UN peace conference, help out Nova, who has lost his powers, and Turbo and Alex Power (not wanting to be called Powerpax anymore, but later to accept the codename Powerhouse) become full members while Hindsight Lad becomes simply Hindsight. Night Thrasher and Rage decide to start training Psionex. ^[25] Next, the team involves themselves into "Maximum Clonage", fighting and capturing Helix, and the Scarlet Spider joins the team afterwards. ^[26]

The team face Psionex again, now with Night Thrasher leading the team, and also deal with a young girl Rina Patel ^[27] (who hangs at the team's HQ until she later joins), who seeks out the Warriors after she's had a vision of their future, involving the death of Speedball (who has also been experiencing trouble with his powers lately). ^[28] They are almost able to retrieve Kymaera from the Soldiers of Misfortune, but fail. ^[29] The team next had to deal with an impostor Scarlet Spider after the real Scarlet Spider replaced Spider-Man. ^[30]

[edit] "Future Shock"

Eventually, Rina's visions become reality as the team is met with the Guardians of the Galaxy, searching for Speedball, a seeming time anomaly, before disappearing again. The Sphinx then also returns, citing the same reasons, and kills Speedball. Another player, Advent also comes into play, killing all of the Warriors but Timeslip. Advent is a time-traveler, trying to alter time so that the future will be molded to his own wish. His son, Darrion Grobe seeks to stop him, and creates a duplicate of Speedball's body from when he was trapped in the kinetic dimension during "Time And Time Again", so that he can travel to the first alteration point, leaving the actual Speedball in the kinetic dimension, meaning that Darrion Grobe replaced Speedball from New Warriors (vol. 1) #50 and onwards. Instead of dying, the New Warriors are transported to the year 2092, where they have seven minutes to save themselves before reality is unmade and stop Advent. Meanwhile, the Sphinx takes care of Advent in 1996, thereby stopping Advent in 2092 as well. The New Warriors are lead into the kinetic dimension by a hologram of Darrion Grobe, and with the help of Timeslip and the real Speedball, are able to return their proper time ^[31].

[edit] Volume's end

Later, a rogue faction of Hydra reveals that it has been living in the team's basement for even before the team moved in, but they are stopped by the combined actions of the Warriors and the Avengers (who learned that the repairs of the team's HQ were actually funded by the Avengers, through some clever messing with documents by Hindsight). In the end, the team is allowed to continue their operations without having to repay the Avengers ^[32]. Helix and Turbo (Michiko) both decide to leave, but before Turbo can do so, a man called Dan Jones appears, to reclaim the Torpedo suit the Turbo's wear. Dan Jones is in fact the last Dire Wraith Volx, an enemy the Warriors fought against earlier and who killed the other Turbo (Mike) as she claims the suit, as well as kidnapping Friday (the Kymellian spaceship who not only is an ally of Power Pack, but also of the Warriors in which they have used for transportation).

With the help of the Thinker, Night Thrasher and Rage are also capable of rescuing Namorita from the Soldiers of Misfortune, while the Warriors bundle forces with Garthan Saal to stop Volx, which almost costs the life of the ship Friday. During the adventure, Firestar asks Justice to marry her, which he happily agrees to. Night Thrasher, Rage and Namorita join their former teammates, thanks to the Thinker, and Garthan Saal sacrifices himself against Volx, transferring his powers to Nova. Eventually, the reunited New Warriors defeat, although at the cost of Timeslip's powers, who sabotages the power neutralizer Volx meant to use to rid every superhuman on Earth of their powers. Turbo decides to use the suit to continue on in Mike's honor, and Alex Power decides to leave the team, deciding that Power Pack could've defeated Volx without nearly destroying Friday. Night Thrasher, Namorita and Rage rejoin the Warriors as old grudges are mended and the team has come full circle. ^[33]

[edit] New Warriors (vol. 2)

[edit] Publication history

A short-lived relaunch began in 1999 and ran for 11 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.

[edit] Fictional history

Speedball tries to assemble a new team after they disbanded between the first and second volume, but initially fails until Nova and Namorita show up to cheer him up, and they are called in to fight Blastaar, and they are quickly aided by Turbo, Justice, Firestar, Bolt and new hero Aegis. Although Justice and Firestar decline to rejoin the team, the other heroes agree to reform the New Warriors ^[34]. Shortly thereafter, they fight the Eugenix group, who try to kill Namorita for being a clone ^[35].

They next involve themselves in a gang war on behest of Aegis, a gang war that leads to their headquarters being destroyed and being ambushed by the villains Heavy Mettle, hired by Joe Silvermane, formerly Blackwing). They move into a new HQ, a firehouse supplied by a firefighter called Dalton Beck, who is actually the villain Firestrike, as a ploy by Silvermane so that he can attain Turbo's suit ^[36]. They also team up with Generation X to stop the new villain Biohazard ^[37]. After an adventure in the subway, Turbo decides to trust Dalton with her secret identity, and Firestrike hesitates, but eventually decides to not kill Turbo. She uncovers his identity as Firestrike accidentally, but he surrenders and assists the Warriors in apprehending Silvermane ^[38].However,the two lovers are forced to split up as Beck enters the Federal Witness Protection Program.

In Seattle, Night Thrasher and Iron Fist fight the Hand, and are able to kidnap Iron Fist, and therefore Night Thrasher calls in the Warriors to help him. They are able to find Iron Fist and their opponent the Junzo Muto, but the ritual of stealing Iron Fist's powers has already been completed. Junzo initially defeats them thanks to their lacking teamwork, but finds his match in Night Thrasher. Fatigue strikes however, and the Warriors are forced to retreat ^[39]. They next face the rogue sentient Iron Man and are promptly defeated, before the rogue Iron Man armor sacrifices its existence to save tony Stark from dying. ^[40].

In the last issue of the series (New Warriors (vol. 2) #10) the team (minus Nova and Speedball) travels to Olympus, brought there by Hercules, and meet Zeus. Aegis is accused of stealing his magical breastplate by Hercules, but it was in fact a gift by Athena. During the following battle with Hercules, Aegis proves his worth and he is accepted by both Hercules and Zeus. Bolt also decides to reveal his being sick with the Legacy Virus to the team, and in the last pages, Night Thrasher, seeing the good the Warriors having been doing lately, decides to return to the team. He is happily accepted.

[edit] New Warriors (vol. 3)

[edit] Publication history

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.

[edit] "Civil War"

Main article: Civil War (comics)

The most recent version of the New Warriors, which included Night Thrasher, Speedball, Namorita, and Microbe (Nova was in space as part of Marvel's Annihilation storyline), were last seen taking part in a televised fight with a group of supervillains which included Nitro, Speedfreek, Cobalt Man and Coldheart. During the fight, Nitro exploded killing hundreds of people in Stamford, CT, including most of the New Warriors and possibly his fellow villains. This was the start of the Marvel Civil War story arc.

A listing of the Warriors on DestroyAllWarriors.com, a fictional anti-Warriors website created by Hindsight Lad, showed all of the Warriors involved as killed, as well as cameraman John Fernandez. The explosion threw Speedball hundreds of miles into Upstate New York. Although he survived the blast, he was depowered due to a kinetic overload (Civil War: Front Line #1), the two unfortunate men who found his body after the blast were accidentally killed when his body released its stored kinetic energy.

As a result of Civil War, Firestar had decided to retire from superheroing, and Speedball seemed to be depowered, imprisoned, and facing criminal charges for Stamford. However, he has now regained them, but they are now reacted by pain. Because of his part for what happened in Stamford, Speedball has taken the new identity as Penance and joined the Thunderbolts. He, Justice and Nova (in space) as the only active surviving founding members . Former New Warrior Aegis was recently seen in X-Factor #9, escaping from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Superhuman Restraint Unit with the help of Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man.

Also, three former New Warriors {Justice, Silhouette, and Debrii} joined Captain America's Secret Avengers.

Several former members and villains of the New Warriors are featured on the cover of the new series entitled Avengers: The Initiative. Former New Warriors member Justice has been confirmed as having a prominent role in this ongoing series.

[edit] New Warriors (vol. 4)

Joe Quesada has announced that one of the new team books debuting out of Civil War will be the New Warriors, volume 4 ^[41]. Although it has been mentioned that the new team will have one returning member from the original group, (with Speedball confirmed to be joining the Thunderbolts as Penance, this returning member is up in the air), everyone else will be new to the team^[42][43]. Other members such as Rage and Justice have been shown to be part of Tony Stark's Initiative. This returning original member is most likely to be Firestar, since Justice is in the Initiative, Speedball is part of the Thunderbolts as Penance, Night Thrasher and Namorita were killed during Civil War, and Nova is busy in the "Anihilation" storyline. However, it was recently revealed that Nova would be returning to Earth soon, so he is a possibilty as well.

Kevin Grevioux, writer of the film Underworld will be writing the series^[44], with Paco Medina as the artist^[45]. The series will make its debut in June 2007^[46]. The June solicitations for Volume 4 of the New Warriors mentioned a "de-powered mutant named Sofia" which has been suggested as likely referring to Wind Dancer, formerly of the New Mutants Volume 2.^[47] Editor Axel Alonso has further mentioned that the team will be made up of "super heroes you already know, sporting new super hero identities"^[48]

[edit] Alternate versions

[edit] New Warriors (MC2)

In the alternate time line 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.

[edit] Further analysis

[edit] 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 entirety. 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.

[edit] Group parallels

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.

[edit] Trivia

• The team has broken up twice: once in Nova (vol. 3) #1, then reformed in New Warriors (vol. 2) #1, and the other time somewhere before New Warriors (vol. 3) #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.
• An attempt to relaunch the book in 2002 with the characters of Speedball, Rage, Bolt, Turbo and the X-Men characters Skids and Jubilee as college students / super heroes fell through due to legal problems.

[edit] Bibliography

• New Warriors (vol. 1) #1-75, Annual #1-4 (July, 1990 – September, 1996)
• New Warriors Ashcan oneshot (1994)
• New Warriors (vol. 2) #0-10 (October, 1999 – July, 2000)
• New Warriors (vol. 3) #1-6 (July, 2005 - December, 2005)

[edit] Extended bibliography

• Annihilation: Nova #1-4 (June, 2006 - September, 2006)
• Annihilation Prologue (March, 2006)
• 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)
• Speedball The Masked Marvel #1-10 (September, 1988 - June, 1989)

[edit] Trade Paperbacks and Digests

• New Warriors: Beginnings (reprints Thor #411-412, New Warriors (vol. 1) #1-4)
• New Warriors: Reality Check (reprints New Warriors limited series #1-6)
• Essential Nova (vol. 1) (reprints Nova (vo1. 1) #1-25, The Amazing Spider-Man #171, Marvel Two-in-One Annual #3)
• X-Men: Firestar Digest (reprints Firestar #1-4)

[edit] See also

• List of New Warriors issues
• List of New Warriors members

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The New Warriors
• The New Warriors Continuity Conundrum