Marvel’s Teen Heroes Unite as New ‘Champions’

For the past few weeks Marvel has been teasing us with images showing their younger superheroes leaving their teams with the caption “I Quit!” Now we know what those teens are quitting to do. Marvel is reviving the Champions and stocking the team with teen heroes from across the Marvel Universe.

Champions #1 (1975)
Champions #1 (1975)

Written by Mark Waid and drawn by Humberto Ramos, Champions will be a new ongoing title in the fall. The original Champions was a short-lived title from the ’70s that put together an eclectic group of heroes: Angel, Black Widow, Darkstar, Ghost Rider, Hercules and Iceman. And put the motley group in Los Angeles, instead of Marvel’s traditional home of New York. The book lasted 17 issues before being cancelled and left dormant for 40 years.

The new team collects Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man (Miles Morales) and Nova from the Avengers, the Vision’s synthezoid daughter Viv, teen Cyclops from the X-Men, and Amadeus Cho: The Totally Awesome Hulk.

“When we first started talking about names for this group, we tended to go for ‘something something Avengers,’ ” said Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort That always seemed off-mission for me. If they’re cutting the cord, if they’re going off on their own to establish themselves as a thing onto themselves, they kind of need their own name. They are ultimately very socially conscious, very activist-minded, and very positive about being superheroes, so the name had to feel like a really upbeat superhero name.”

 

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