Marvel Rising: Initiation poster. Photo courtesy of Marvel and Twitter.
The Women of Marvel panel at San Diego Comic Con has a tradition. They as everyone interested in working in entertainment to stand up, and look around at the community of people around them. This year was no exception. It’s the kind of hallmark that denotes the panel’s inclusive, family feel. This year, the panel was focused, more than anything else on the upcoming Marvel Rising. On August 13th, Marvel will release a series of animated shorts titled Marvel Rising: Initiation on Disney XD, culminating in a Disney Channel movie in the fall called, Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors.
The interesting thing is the diversity of the new show. Executive producer of the show and movie, Sana Amanat, said that, “Marvel Rising is a big storytelling celebration of the next generation of Marvel heroes, for the next generation of Marvel fans.” The show features heroes of different colors, body types, religions, and mostly female – basically putting it way ahead of the live-action movies – and making it a perfect centerpiece for the Women of Marvel panel, which has always embraced diversity. Amanat also created Ms. Marvel, who is one of the characters in Marvel Rising. Ms. Marvel is a 16-year-old Muslim, Pakistani American. Other characters in Rising are Squirrel Girl, Quake, the Patriot, and Ghost Spider a.k.a. Gwen Stacey.
Those who already love Marvel (and DC) television will be excited to hear that Chloe Bennet from Agents of Shield is playing Quake, Dove Cameron (The Gifted) is playing Gwen Stacey, and Ming Na-Wen (Agents of Shield) is playing the villain. The first trailer for Marvel Rising: Initiation was released at the panel, showing Ms. Marvel (Kathreen Kavari) and Squirrel Girl (Milana Vayntrub) team up to track down Ghost Spider, who is being framed for murder. It also shows the light fun tone of the show, and highlighting the female friendships that are at the show’s core.
Some of the fan reactions on Twitter to finally seeing superheroes that look like them, may be the best part about all of this.
The fan art to celebrate the event has also been fantastic.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m mad excited for this new phase in Marvel animation. Marvel Rising is exactly what we needed.
To watch the full Marvel Rising: Initiation trailer, click here. For a clip of Squirrel Girl and Ms. Marvel meeting Ghost Spider for the first time, click here.
