<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Back to front, left to right:Firestar,Speedball, Rage, Silhouette, Night Thrasher, Namorita, Justice and Nova.

The New Warriors is a fictional superhero team owned by Marvel Comics that traditionally have consisted of young heroes. They first appeared in The Mighty Thor #411 (December, 1989). They were created by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz.

The First Team

The original group was lead by the young Night Thrasher, a driven vigilante named Dwayne Taylor, who puts the team together to help him in his war on crime. Dwayne, heir to a fortune, was able to sponsor the team and fullfill his crime-fighting vision. The other original members were Nova (Richard Ryder), Speedball (Robbie Baldwin), Namorita, Marvel Boy (Vance Astrovik), and Firestar (Angelica Jones). Vance would soon change his superhero name to Justice.

There have been three different New Warriors series since then with varying line-ups before the current fourth series. Other notable members over the years have been Rage (Elvin Halliday), Silhouette (Silhouette Chord), Bandit (Donyell Taylor), Turbo (Michiko Musashi), Darkhawk (Chris Powell) and the original Scarlet Spider. Bandit was actually the first Night Thrasher's brother.

A later lineup including Turbo and Darkhawk on the middle and lower right.

Unfortunately, The New Warriors will always be associated with the disaster in Stamford, Connecticut. This tragic event led into the Civil War (Marvel Comics) limited crossover series, and the creation of the Superhuman Registration Act.

The Stamford Disaster

With arrangements to film for a reality television show, the New Warriors (including Night Thrasher, Speedball, Namorita and new member Microbe) go after a group of super villains in Stamford, Connecticut. Unfortunately, one of the villains is Nitro, who can explode at will and then re-form. Namorita accidentally causes him to explode at the worst possible time, killing hundreds of people, including herself and most of her teammates. Only Speedball survives, thanks to his superpower of absorbing an impact force and turning it into kinetic energy.

The public is outraged, and "costumed vigilantes" in general are blamed. Congress passes the Superhuman Registration Act (SHRA) which now requires all costumed heroes to register with a government agency (including their secret identities), and be trained, licensed and regulated. It is hoped that this will help hold superheroes accountable for their actions, like police officers are. The heroes are reassured that their identities will be kept secret by the government. The superhero community is split down the middle by this. Some register and reveal their secret identities, some refuse. Those that refuse don't want to be government controlled and/or don't trust the government to keep their identities secret. The ones that register are then expected to track down and arrest the ones who do not.

Speedball is imprisoned and condemned for the disaster. He gets out eventually by agreeing to comply with the registration act and work for the government. He changes his superhero name to Penance, adopting a painful costume that continually triggers his kinetic power by causing painful impacts with his flesh. In this new identity as Penance, he has joined the government run superhero team Thunderbolts, a team consisting mostly of ex-super villains trying to find redemption (or at least work on the right side of the law) and has since had his own mini-series in which he struggles to deal with his guilt over the Stamford disaster.

The "New" New Warriors

The "New" New Warriors

Sometime later, a new group of New Warriors is formed. This group first appears in the fourth New Warriors #1 (June, 2007). They are unregistered vigilantes who don’t believe in the SHRA, and are determined to fight crime on their own terms, without government sanction. The group is headed by a mysterious new Night Thrasher, and a group of mostly mutants who lost their powers when at the end of the House of M limited crossover series, when the Scarlet Witch made her life changing wish for “No more mutants”.

Truly, what’s an ex-mutant supposed to do with all their superhero training and experience, now that they have no powers? For these young people, the New Warriors is an answer. Thanks to Night Thrasher’s sponsorship and leadership, most of the de-powered members get by using reverse engineered technology and their X-Man training.

The New Warriors are illegal heroes, capturing criminals while avoiding being captured by sanctioned superheroes like The Mighty Avengers and the Thunderbolts.

Besides the new Night Thrasher, new members are Wondra (formerly the mutant, Jubilee), Blackwing (formerly Break), Decibel (formerly Chamber), Tempest (formerly Angel), Ripcord (formerly Stacy X), Skybolt (formerly Redneck) and Phaser (formerly Redneck).