New Warriors: Bio, Origin & History

Name: New Warriors

Founding Members: Nova, Firestar, Marvel Boy, Namorita, Speedball, and Night Thrasher.

First Appearance: The Mighty Thor #411 (December 1989)

Created By: Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz

Did You Know? The New Warriors are considered the younger version of the Avengers.

A Little History

Often appearing as the younger counterpart the Avengers, think New Mutants to the X-Men, the New Warriors have primarily consisted of teenagers and young adults. The New Warriors is the brainchild of Tom Defalco and Ron Frenz and made their debut just before the first appearance frenzy known as the 1990s. The team first appeared, albeit in cameo form, in Thor #411. They made their full first appearance just one issue later in Thor #412.

The original team, Nova, Firestar, Marvel Boy, Namorita, Speedball, consisted of already introduced characters in the Marvel Universe. The only exception to this was that of the newly created Night Thrasher.

The formation of the team comes after Dwayne Taylor or Night Thrasher begins learning and recruiting younger heroes who could help him wage his personal war on crime. This leads him to bring in both Richard Rider or Nova, Vance Astrovik or Marvel Boy, and Angelica Jones or Firestar. 

Their first battle as a team sees the quartet take on the former Herald of Galactus, Terrax. No match for the Herald, the four are quickly joined by Robbie Baldwin or Speedball and Namorita. Ultimately, the sextet defeats Terrax but is uncredited with the win. Instead, the world believes that the Avengers brought the villain to his knees. 

Unaffected by the lack of credit, the five members decide to stay together as a team. Speedball, after hearing the term on the news, dubs them the New Warriors and the rest, as they say, is history. 

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