Right now, Marvel Rising is on fire. In addition to Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron, a new special that will focus on the hi-tech teen hero Ironheart, three more Marvel Rising specials are coming, and each one will highlight on a new Marvel superhero.
Marvel Rising is a now well-established animated series that stars a diverse cast of characters and focuses on the next generation of Marvel heroes. At WonderCon, Marvel Animation showed the upcoming Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron special, which focuses on Riri Williams, and released a trailer for the special online.
After the Heart of Iron premiere, Marvel Senior Vice President of Animation and Family Entertainment Cort Lane announced three additional shorts that were already in production.
The upcoming specials will focus on Shuri, America Chavez and Ghost-Spider, who might more familiar to comics readers and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse viewers as Spider-Gwen.
Marvel Rising: Battle of the Bands will focus on Gwen Stacy (aka Ghost-Spider), who previously appeared in Marvel Rising: Initiative. Judging by the title, it looks like Gwen's band (which features various other Marvel characters including Mary Jane Watson) will be involved in the special, along with some superhero action.
The second, Marvel Rising: Operation Shuri, will feature Shuri, the younger sister of Black Panther, as she asks the Secret Warriors for help on an important mission. The trailer reveals Shuri's design, but little else.
Finally, Marvel Rising: Playing with Fire will focus on America Chavez discovering a secret about about her family. America has already appeared in the Marvel Rising series, so this will be a chance to further explore a fan-favorite character, her mothers and the rest of her family in a LGBTQA+ positive story.
Lane also said that Marvel Rising specials will feature an original villain. No details were added, but it seems inevitable that fans will have a taste of what is to come in the coming months.
The series has found success on both YouTube and the Disney XD cable network. The first special, Marvel Rising: Initiation, has been seen over two million times on YouTube alone, with the follow-up, Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors, being viewed 2.9 million times.
The brand has been incredibly successful with its target audience, as it targets superhero-loving female fans and highlights diverse heroes from traditionally under-represented demographics. With these additional specials in the pipeline, Marvel Rising fans can rest easy knowing that the future is going to be super.
Starring Sofia Wylie (Ironheart), Ming-Na Wen (Hala), Kim Raver (Captain Marvel), Dove Cameron (Ghost-Spider), Tyler Posey (Inferno), Chloe Bennet (Quake), Cierra Ramirez (America Chavez), Milana Vayntrub (Squirrel Girl), Kathreen Khavari (Ms. Marvel), Kamil McFadden (Patriot), Dee Bradley Baker (Lockjaw/Tippy-Toe), Mick Wingert (Iron Man) and Melanie Minichino as (A.M.I.), Marvel Rising: Heart of Iron will premiere on Wednesday, April 3rd on Marvel HQ.