‘New Warriors’ Milana Vayntrub Squirrel Girl Photos Resurface From Canceled Marvel Series
Some superhero projects never make it to air, yet somehow keep clawing their way back into the cultural conversation years later. Marvel’s ‘New Warriors’ is exactly that kind of cautionary tale, a show that was fully shot, fully cast, and then vanished into development limbo before a single episode ever reached viewers.
Originally developed back in 2016 as a half-hour comedy for Freeform, the series was meant to introduce a scrappy team of C-list superheroes trying to figure out how to actually become heroes while a documentary crew followed their every move. It was pitched as something close to “Marvel meets The Office,” and for a while, it looked like Marvel Television had something genuinely different on its hands.
Now, nearly a decade after the project quietly died, fresh images have surfaced online offering the clearest look yet at what fans missed. Behind-the-scenes photos and footage shared this week reveal Milana Vayntrub fully suited up as Doreen Green, better known as Squirrel Girl, giving audiences their best glimpse yet at a costume and performance almost nobody had actually seen.
The material comes courtesy of Derek Theler, who played Mr. Immortal in the unaired pilot and posted the collection to his own Instagram account. Theler explained that he had been documenting the project the whole time, despite Marvel reportedly forbidding cast members from taking photos or video on set.
Theler’s post didn’t just include images of Vayntrub in her elaborate squirrel-tailed costume, complete with practical tail and puppeted squirrel companions. It also featured glimpses of Night Thrasher’s costume and lighter moments from the shoot, including scenes of the team performing community service while actor Keith David looked on.
Reflecting on the experience, Theler described what it felt like working on the project at the height of the MCU’s Infinity Saga run. “At the height of Marvel’s epic Infinity Saga run, we shot a comedy about a b-level superhero team tasked with protecting Cleveland, Ohio: The New Warriors,” Theler wrote on Instagram.
He went on to describe how the cast and crew shot the pilot, got picked up for a full season, and genuinely believed they had something special before the project simply disappeared without any dramatic cancellation announcement. That kind of quiet fade-out has made ‘New Warriors’ something of a legend among dedicated Marvel fans who’ve spent years piecing together what little information existed about the doomed series.
Despite the cancellation, Vayntrub never fully lost her connection to the character. She went on to voice Squirrel Girl in the animated ‘Marvel Rising’ franchise, the Unbeatable Radio Show podcast, and more recently in the popular game ‘Marvel Rivals,’ keeping Doreen Green alive in the broader Marvel ecosystem even without a live-action home.
That continuity has fueled ongoing speculation about whether Marvel might eventually revisit the character in live action, especially given how positively fans have responded to these resurfaced glimpses. Theler even leaned into that hope himself, joking in his post that if the Avengers ever need backup against Doctor Doom, he knows a team that might be available.
The other original cast members, including Jeremy Tardy as Night Thrasher, Calum Worthy as Speedball, Matthew Moy as Microbe, and Kate Comer as Debrii, remain part of the show’s small but devoted legacy. For a project that never officially aired a single frame, ‘New Warriors’ has managed to generate an outsized amount of ongoing fan interest.
Whether these resurfaced images amount to nostalgia or something closer to a pitch for revival remains to be seen. Marvel Studios has given no indication that the project is being reconsidered, but the enthusiastic reaction to Vayntrub’s Squirrel Girl suggests there’s still an audience hoping to see her make it to screen eventually.
What should Marvel do with the unaired New Warriors footage?
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