Marvel animation has its hands full in Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors, as the film introduces a number of new characters, Cort Lane, Marvel’s senior vice president, animation and family entertainment, explains making sure the audience has a chance to connect with each new character. The feature-length animated film not only offers a more diverse group of characters, but it may also introduce some new characters to certain audience members, like Ms. Marvel, Squirrel Girl, and America Chavez. That’s a tall order for any movie, but Lane says the film had a very simple approach to making sure each new character got a fair shake.
Fans who don’t regularly read Marvel’s monthly titles are already likely aware of the new Ms. Marvel or even Squirrel Girl, but other characters, like Patriot, America Chavez, or Inferno may have slipped past them. Secret Warriors, then, is the perfect opportunity for Marvel to make that introduction, and perhaps get a new generation of fans excited about this diverse lineup of characters.
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Lane spoke with Screen Rant ahead of the movie’s premiere and he discussed the approach the writers took in not only introducing these characters in the story, but making sure they had an impact as well. Lane said:
“Because we approach the story in this feature in a couple different ways and then our writer pitched this something where we introduced them one by one. So we get to know a little bit about them each, at a different time, as opposed to throwing them all in together. Let's say we had Captain Marvel brings them together as a team and then over time we get to learn more about them. No, we wanted to introduce them one by one and even in the shorts, we start out getting to know a little bit more about Kamala and Doreen and Patriot and his perspective in his work with S.H.I.E.L.D. and Quake and her emotional conflict about being Inhuman. So we take time by focusing on each character one at a time so that kids can emotionally connect with them. Each of the characters has an interesting story to tell.”
The results are interesting. Patriot is defined primarily by his relationship with Quake and his role in S.H.I.E.L.D., while America gets a short flashback explaining her inter-dimensional origins. It will be interesting to see how younger audiences react to these newer characters and if their appearance here raises their profile among Marvel obsessives.
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Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors premiere Sunday, September 30 on Disney XD.