Like its parent company Disney, Marvel is slowly gearing up to take over the world. Their ascent to the top began with the ambitious Marvel Studios film universe that kicked off with Iron Man back in 2008. From there, it expanded its reach into ABC with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter before hopping into Netflix with its more grounded, street-level heroes like Daredevil and Luke Cage. So if you’re keeping track, they have general audiences with film and ABC, older audiences with Netflix, so one extra demographic they can exploit more fully lies in the young adult segment.

That’s where Freeform comes into play. For those who don’t know, Freeform is the new iteration of ABC Family that launched last year. Rather than focus on the whole family, they have shifted their focus on young adult, or as they call them, “becomers.” The general idea is that their demographic is experiencing many things for the first time, and are “becoming” the people they will be for the rest of their lives.

Already announced for Freeform is the Marvel series Cloak and Dagger, but don’t think that they plan on their reach stopping there. THR has confirmed that Freeform has made a straight-to-series order on Marvel’s New Warriors, and at the forefront of this ragtag team will be the fan favorite superhero Squirrel Girl. New Warriors currently has Cougar Town’s Kevin Biegel in talks to write the script and serve as showrunner for what’s being sold as a comedy, which would be a first for a live-action Marvel property.

Here’s what New Warriors will be about:

“New Warriors revolves around six young people with powers living and working together. With powers and abilities on the opposite end of the spectrum of The Avengers, the New Warriors want to make a difference in the world…even if the world isn’t ready.”

As implied by the network’s demographic, the series will focus on these characters in their journey to adulthood.

Right now, there is no cast to speak of, but casting is set to begin shortly. The big question on many fans’ minds is who will portray Doreen Green (a.k.a. Squirrel Girl)? You may recall that months and months ago, Anna Kendrick’s name was being floated for a potential Squirrel Girl film (though that conversation never really went anywhere), and it sounds as though both her and Stranger Things’ Shannon Purser (Barb) are at least in the conversation — at least according to Karey Burke, exec vp programming and development at Freeform.

When asked about the potential for those actors playing Squirrel Girl, she stated:

“Those names have come up! This network has made a lot of stars and we’re in a unique position with Squirrel Girl and Marvel. The character is such a calling card. I’m interested to see if name actresses feel right for it.”

Who would you like to see play Squirrel Girl? Let us know in the comments down below!

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SOURCE: THR