Doreen Green is all about using her super powers to help people as Marvel Comics' Squirrel Girl. That drive has led her to perform some extraordinary feats including taking down such high profile villains as Doctor Doom and Thanos and serving as nanny and bodyguard to the daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones-Cage. These days Doreen is looking to help herself and others by furthering her education and attending Empire State University.

In the opening issues of their new ongoing series "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl," writer Ryan North and artist Erica Henderson kicked off this new chapter in their protagonist's life that saw her make new friends and take on, quite literally, her biggest foe yet: Galactus. Now they're following that up with an arc that expands Squirrel Girl's supporting cast and finds her delving into the divine world of the Asgardian Gods as she teams up with past and present Thors to take on the sinister machinations of the Squirrel God, Ratatoskr.

Villains Tremble as North Kicks off "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl"

CBR News spoke with North about the storyline that finds Squirrel Girl having to confront a mind-controlled team of Avengers, his protagonist's growing circle of college friends, the real Ratatoskr of Norse mythology, and the joy of having Deadpool deliver his book's expositional info.

CBR News: Ryan, it's been awhile since we chatted about Squirrel Girl. Let's start by talking about the supporting cast you've surrounded Doreen with, beginning with her roommate, Nancy Whitehead. It feels like Nancy's role in the book is both that of confidant/friend and someone who helps ground Doreen. Is that what you were aiming for? What inspired her creation?

Ryan North: I love Nancy! She's based on a friend of mine, a woman who has this -- I want to say "megaconfidence"? -- that I really respect. She's a person who isn't afraid to share what she's thinking, who doesn't think, "Oh no, what will this person think if they find out about I did X or think this about Y?" And it's great! It's so grounded. And against someone like Doreen I think it works really well, especially when you're in the Marvel Universe, which is a crazy place to live. I thought someone like that and someone like Doreen could get along really well, despite being very different in a lot of ways.

In "Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" #6 the super powered supporting cast grew as you revealed that Doreen's classmates Tomas Lara-Perez was the hero known as Chipmunk Hunk and Ken Shiga was Koi Boi. What kinds of roles will they have in "Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" going forward? Will they be occasional gueststars or is it, as Nancy says in issue #6, she's the Xander and Doreen is developing her own "Scooby Gang?"

I think they'll be around in some way or another! I like the idea that there's all these rhyming-named animal-powered heroes out there and Squirrel Girl has no idea. Though after Chipmunk Hunk, Koi Boi and Bass Lass, that may be almost it!

Squirrel Girl, Koi Boi and Chipmunk Hunk first teamed up to take on the might of the rampaging Hippo. So in "Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" Doreen isn't just tangling with villains from Marvel's A- and B-lists, but C-list as well, correct? Do you have an affinity for characters like the Hippo because you certainly seemed to enjoy writing him?

So far she's beaten:

a) Kraven

b) Whiplash

c) Some bank robbers

d) Galactus

e) A giant robot dinosaur

f) Mysterion, and

g) Hippo the Hippo.

So she's been all over the place, power-class wise. I see her as someone who'll help people out and she's not gonna care if they're being hassled by a C-list or an A-list character, so that's why her victories have been against these people from all over. Also, I really like all the great villains Marvel has in their stable, clearly just waiting -- waiting -- for Squirrel Girl to beat them.

Hippo was a lot of fun because he's a newer character and he's really just this tragic guy. He gets evolved into a humanpotamus and has no idea how he's supposed to live. It's hard to see him as a bad guy!

You filled readers in about the Hippo's past via Doreen's Deadpool trading card set, which has been a fun little exposition device. What inspired the idea for the cards? And is there a chance Doreen will cross paths with Deadpool in the near future? Do they have any sort of established history together?

In her previous appearances they've fought (and Squirrel Girl won) so there's a history there, but also a lot of respect, I think. Deadpool knows what side his bread is buttered on.

Doreen's Deadpool cards actually originated in the "GLX-Mas Special" from 2005! Dan Slott gave her these "Iron Man Vs Series Battle Cards", and I was like, "Dan, I am going to steal that idea because it's brilliant." Only I switched them to Deadpool because, no offense to Iron Man, but Deadpool seemed more fun, and I'm really into the idea that he's publishing these cards on his own somewhere. He just takes some time off to make his own little cards for everyone he knows. Adorable.

It was only after I started writing that I realized how well the cards work from a narrative perspective: you can give the reader a character's backstory there in this fun and funny way, and then get on with the comic! Way better than having people show up and say, "Doreen, as you know, when I got turned into a human hippo things changed for me in the following ways:", you know? I recommend all Marvel authors give their characters Deadpool cards; nothing will possibly go wrong.

Let's move on to the latest villain Squirrel Girl is tangling with -- the super powered Girl Squirrel who is connected to the Asgardian Squirrel god Ratatoskr, who I understand is an actual mythological figure. What can you tell us about the Ratatoskr from Norse myth as well as your Marvel U take on him?

So in Norse mythology there's a tree of life, and all these various gods who work around that. And then there's a few mentions -- just a few! -- of this squirrel god, Ratatoskr, who runs up and down this tree of life and basically just talks smack, all "Hey, the guys in the roots said you guys up here in the branches smell," and that struck us all as something really fun to play with, this minor god who just stirs things up all the time. We e-mailed the Thor office and they told us nobody had used Ratatoskr yet and to feel free, and so that's how the actual mythology of an ancient people from centuries ago ended up in our squirrel comic book.

It's not hard to see where that idea of "smack-talking squirrel god" comes from: make them angry, and squirrels can sound like they're shouting just the vilest things at you. One time when I was a kid some squirrels didn't like my grandfather napping on the hammock in our back yard so they shouted and shouted (well, squeaked and squeaked) at him, and when that didn't work they started dropping acorns. He eventually came in when they got him on the forehead.

Anyway, yes, Ratatoskr!

Ratatoskr's involvement means Doreen will be crossing paths with both the current Thor and Mjolnir's former wielder, the Odinson. What do enjoy most about having these characters interact with Squirrel Girl? What can you tell us about their initial dynamic?

Squirrel Girl's a big fan of Odinson and doesn't know he's not Thor anymore, so she's surprised to hear that he's not worthy anymore! But then she meets the new Thor and is really impressed with how she throws a hammer around. For me the more interesting dynamic is between them and Nancy: she's a woman who has written her own "Cat Thor: Cat God of Cat Thunder" fan fiction (it's mentioned in the tiny text beneath the pages in the first issue) so she is big into meeting actual Asgardians.

Asgardian gods, teaming up with Thors, and Doreen being forced to take on the Avengers who have been driven mad presumably by Girl Squirrel's sinister whisperings that you showed us in issue #6 suggests that this might be the biggest "Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" arc yet. What kind of scope are we talking about across issues #7 and #8?

It's big in a different way for sure! I mean, in issue #4 she saved the entire planet from Galactus, and you don't get much bigger than that. But it's not like anyone even knows that went down! So this story, with NYC falling into chaos because of Ratatoskr's influence, gets about as big as it can get -- Squirrel Girl's dealing with a threat that's the opposite of her: someone who makes people worse by talking to them, instead of helping them, and that's not something you can punch to make better, you know?

Henderson Helps "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" Make Her "Marvel Puzzle Quest" Debut

Your collaborator Erica Henderson has a fun style that is reminiscent of Javier Pulido and is perfect for the action and humor of this book. What can you tell us about her takes on some of the big Marvel heroes we'll see in upcoming issues? What do you enjoy most about collaborating with her?

Erica's the best. She's got a great eye for detail and for character. Here's a recent example: Hippo wears this "I'm With Stupid"-style "SKRULL" shirt in issue #6, and that was all her. She figured he'd be the sort of person to shop at a thrift store, and that that sort of dated gag T-shirt would be exactly what you'd find in a thrift store in the Marvel Universe. And it all works -- of course he'd shop there! Of course that shirt would be all there'd be in his size! So it's this whole reasoned, sensible backstory for why a character is dressed as they are, and it's amazing. It gives a depth to the story that's there if you want to look for it, but you can also just enjoy the surface of the funny shirt this guy's wearing.

Finally, "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" seems to be doing pretty well and is resonating with fans. How does that feel? Can you offer up any hints or teases for what you have planned for Doreen later this summer and early fall?

Oh, it's great! I know what we're doing is a little different from what you might expect, and it's been great to see that so well received -- across so many people, too: men, women, kids, adults, teens -- I've gotten pictures of them all enjoying the comic. I love it.

This summer will see Doreen and Nancy (and Chipmunk Hunk and Koi Boi) facing off against Ratatoskr, and then something happens that I'm not allowed to say what it is yet! But it will be pretty crazy. I almost said "nuts" there but, no, just crazy.

"Unbeatable Squirrel Girl" #7 is scheduled for release July 1 from Marvel Comics.