NYCC: Marvel Rising Panel

The minds and voices behind Marvel Rising stopped by New York Comic Con to give fans an inside look at Secret Warriors as well as a tease of what's to come in Chasing Ghosts and Heart of Iron. Stars Kathreen Khavari (Ms. Marvel), Milana Vayntrub (Squirrel Girl), Kamil McFadden (Patriot) and Tyler Posey (Inferno) joined Marvel Animation SVP Cort Lane and VP of Content and Character Development Sana Amanat on stage to discuss the project and answer some fan questions.

The panel opened with a clip from Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors, which had debuted on Disney Channel and Disney XD just a week prior. In it, Ms. Marvel and Inferno found themselves trapped in a cell on Hala the Accuser's ship. Hala ordered them to kill one another in order to prove themselves superior warriors. Ms. Marvel, however, had other plans. With some quick thinking, she staged a fake fight with Inferno, who knocked out a surveillance drone with his fire powers. Using her polymorph abilities and an unsecured vent, Ms. Marvel was able finagle the door open, allowing them to escape.

"When [Kamala] comes into her powers, I think it's, 'Can I be this hero I've always wanted to be?' I think it is what keeps her going too," Khavari shared. "Kamala does really, really well under pressure... Her self-doubt turns off... That impulse of hers is so great."

"Carol Danvers is... doing everything that Kamala wants to do. She is a virtuous person, and Kamala has those virtues too," she added. "Captain Marvel... gives Kamala permission to be herself." According to Khavari, Carol sends a very specific message to Kamala: "You have your own unique about you that no one else has. Bring that to your table! ... Be you. That's enough."

Another Secret Warriors clip revealed the first time Squirrel Girl and Ms. Marvel met Inferno. The superhero besties were training in the park when they heard a hot dog vendor cry out about a thief. They instantly leapt into action, with Squirrel Girl literally ripping her sweatsuit off to reveal her costume underneath. They pursued Inferno, who had been marked as the thief. Fortunately for them, he tripped, allowing them time to catch up. "Guy covered in squirrels says 'whaaat,'" Squirrel Girl said, eliciting a "What?" from Inferno. She then sicced her squirrels on him, making him scream.

"I did all those stunts!" Vayntrub joked. "We're all about authenticity here at Marvel."

"I love every time I can reference my nutsack. I think, 'Eat nuts, kick butts!' If you ever accidentally mix it up, it gets really confusing. I try to concentrate when I'm saying it," she said with a laugh.

"It's kind of like Ms. Marvel, where she has so much potential that she's excited to use and bring to fruition," she explained. According to her, Squirrel Girl wants "to make the world a better place. That drives her to pursue justice."

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A third clip put Inferno in the spotlight. It took place soon after he stole America Chavez's motorcycle. After successfully fighting her off, he decided the bike wasn't worth the trouble and stashed it in an alleyway. No sooner had he done this, Exile showed up once again to try and capture him.

"Inferno kind of has a little bit of a past, partly due to him not being able to hone in on his powers," Posey explained. "It kind of creates issues for him. He doesn't trust himself with the powers, and that makes him untrusting of other people. It makes him hard to fall in line and be a good guy. He's got trust issues! Poor guy."

"He's got a great influence, with the lead females of the show. Everyone in the cast! It's mostly just the females, sorry. They're non-judgemental of him," he continued. "They're very accepting of him... The fact that they're so forgiving and non-judgemental... that kind of persuades him: 'Maybe I can be a hero and not burn things down.'"

The next clip sent Patriot into action. In the wake of Inferno and Exile's fight, a building had collapsed, trapping innocent bystanders inside. With a little help from Ms. Marvel, Patriot managed to save a mother and her baby from the wreckage.

"I feel like his partnership with Quake and the other females of the show, they teach him that not everything is black and white and sometimes in order to the right thing you have to be in that gray area," McFadden shared.

Asked about his favorite character interaction, he revealed, "Definitely Squirrel Girl, because she's super touchy and just to see his reaction... to have a character like her, who shows all of that, she makes him a little uncomfortable. I think that's where you get those moments of comedy."

"I definitely nerd out and I think it's okay to nerd out... It's been really amazing to see the story evolve... We believe in all these characters. We know how important they are," Amanat explained. "We're bringing everyone in, and Rising is a celebration of that fact... I feel like it's really exciting and inspiring to see this cast... For me, it's the characters and it's the people behind them and that's what really makes Marvel so inspiring and so special."

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Lane also offered an update on Ghost-Spider, who starred in the Initiation shorts but did not appear in the Secret Warriors animated feature. "Exile, if you're watching closely, is the person who helped Sheath escape," he revealed. "So [Ghost-Spider]'s been chasing after Sheath, which leads us to our next short... We find her in the middle of her hunt. There are some complications" that involve Exile's return.

Following that, Lane unveiled a never-before-seen clip from Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts, the next short to come out of the project. The clip wasn't quite finished; while the animation and voices were done, no sound effects had been completed at the time. It opened as Ghost-Spider observed Sheath, the Inhuman who killed her best friend Kevin, from a distance. As Sheath went on the move, so did Gwen, swooping down from the rooftops with the help of her web gliders. A short battle ensued, ending with Ghost-Spider crash-landing in the basement of a bodega. She had to get out of there quickly, as the bodega owner moved to call the police and cash in on the reward on her head.

Fortunately, Sheath didn't make it far. Ghost-Spider tracked the villain to a warehouse, where she discovered the Inhuman wasn't alone. Exile had joined Sheath, meaning Ghost-Spider was outnumbered two-to-one -- but not for long. With a little help from Lockjaw, the Secret Warriors teleported into the warehouse to fight Exile, only to discover Ghost-Spider and Sheath there as well.

Lane also weighed in on Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron, which will air sometime after Chasing Ghosts. Heart of Iron, which will introduce RiRi Williams' Ironheart, will feature two additional characters as well: "Even Iron Man shows up, with Ming-Na Wen returning as Hala."

The panel opened up for Q&A from fans, and one attendee asked after the possibility of Moon Girl showing up in Marvel Rising. "I can't comment... Who knows? But, you know, I can mention... there is a Moon Girl series in some stage of development. And that's all I can say!" Lane teased.

Lane also teased the possibility of a Marvel Rising soundtrack. "We are creating more song, so it's something that is possible," he shared. "Some of them are originals. We're still in production of so much, but the relevance of pop songs... is not lost on us."

Another fan wanted to know if any X-Men could join the team in the wake of the Fox/Disney deal. "That's an excellent idea," Amanat said, to which Lane agreed, "Anything is possible. I think that's a wonderful idea."

During the Q&A session, Amanat also revealed that the project has featured all female writers on the scripts so far.

Marvel Rising: Chasing Ghosts stars Dove Cameron as Ghost-Spider and features the return of Tyler Posey as Inferno, Chloe Bennet as Quake, Cierra Ramirez as America Chavez, BooBoo Stewart as Exile, Milana Vayntrub as Squirrel Girl, Kathreen Khavari as Ms. Marvel, Kamil McFadden as Patriot, Skai Jackson as Gloria Grant, Dee Bradley Baker as Lockjaw/Tippy-Toe, Steven Weber as Captain Stacy, Tara Strong as Mary Jane Watson and Amanda C. Miller as Sheath.