Kamala leads the team against the Disir in Champions No. 6
By Alex Widen
Meet Hummingbird, Kaine’s Unofficial Sidekick!
Recent turmoil has struck the Champions at their core, especially Kamala. Aside for Viv Vision, all of the original founders are gone due to their own emotional struggles. Even Snowguard, at best, was the first of their new recruits. While Kamala and Viv have worked with Locust and Patriot before, they’re still getting used to being on a team with Bombshell, Power Man, Pinpoint and Falcon. The young flier also feels overwhelmed, and being taken advantage of as a living beeper.
Image by Marvel Comics
Yet like many sprawling superhero teams, new members replace the old. Former X-Men member Dust has helped fill some ranks left behind by Miles Morales or Wasp. And this issue features another younger heroine, Hummingbird. Created by Chris Yost and Ryan Stegman in 2012’s Scarlet Spider No. 1, Maria Aracely Penalba was a perky heroine of mystical powers and mystery. She spent two years hanging around Spider-Man’s clone Kaine as he became a vigilante in Houston. She even joined him during his brief stint with the last incarnation of New Warriors.
Image by Marvel Comics
But that was five years ago and, like countless “new” characters within Marvel, Aracely’s mostly dropped out of sight. If this current run of Champions, which writer Jim Zub compares to Legion of Super-Heroes, is good for anything, it’s in getting in appearances by newer and younger heroes without merely making them canon fodder. While nowhere near as old as Dust, Hummingbird is a fun character who in theory could work well alongside Kamala and her band of fellow green-horns.
Image by Marvel Comics