"Tony Stark Is Alive; We Changed That," Writer Defies MCU For New Six-Episode Series - Inside the Magic

It is hard to believe that it has been four years since Tom Holland’s Peter Parker uttered “Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good” during the climactic battle in Avengers: Infinity War (2018). Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark/Iron Man would later sacrifice himself for the greater good, leaving Spider-Man to continue the journey his mentor set him on all those years ago.

The two popular Marvel characters will be back in a six-episode series, appearing in Marvel’s new scripted podcast event, “Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show” from SiriusXM.

Dropping today on multiple podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, “Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show” comes from Marvel Comics writer Ryan North. North has previously worked on Squirrel Girl, real name Doreen Green, writing her first solo comic book series, “The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl”, with artist Erica Henderson. The comic debuted in 2015 before being rebooted to feature the mutant as part of “The New Avengers” initiative.

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The new Marvel podcast features AT&T commercial actress Milana Vayntrub (Other Space, This Is Us). Vayntrub reprises her role as the Marvel Universe’s Doreen Green, AKA Squirrel Girl, for this new project. She voiced the squirrel-talking superhero in the “Marvel Rising” franchise and in the unaired Marvel pilot for the New Warriors series from showrunner Kevin Biegel, which was intended to be a part of Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show” is a direct continuation of the comic book series and, according to the official podcast synopsis, will feature a plethora of characters from across the Marvel Comics catalog. It reads, in part (via Variety):

Squirrel Girl has taken down Thanos and Doctor Doom — but now she faces something far more terrifying… living authentically. The new series follows Empire State University college student, Doreen Green, who has recently been outed as a super hero — The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl!

Hoping to unify her personas in the public eye, Squirrel Girl has created a new student radio show on ESU’s own college station. With the help of her best girl-friend, Nancy Whitehead as producer, and her best squirrel-friend, Tippy-Toe in the booth; Doreen is ready to help more people than ever with her greatest super hero advice…

Rather interestingly, the synopsis then name drops some of the biggest heroes in Marvel Comics and the MCU who will show up in New York:

And when the going get rough, she can always lean on her heroic friends: Iron Man, Spider-Man, Chipmunk Hunk, Koi Boi and Brain Drain.

Marvel has not revealed in what capacity the iconic Avengers, Iron Man and Spider-Man, appear, but they are both featured heavily in the marketing materials for the podcast series from director Giovanna Sardelli, with original music by Justin Huertas and Steven Tran. Speaking to Variety, North comments on how the podcast is meant to be as accessible as possible for all types of Marvel fans. He said:

“…I know a lot of people’s experience with Marvel has been through the movies. So the three tiers are like, continue the comic, make it accessible to new readers, and also people who have only ever seen the movies, let’s try to make it click with them as much as possible, too. The main idea was, let’s not contradict them if we don’t have to. So Tony Stark is alive, we changed that because I love Tony Stark and I’m not killing him off in the podcast. But everything else is made to make it easy and familiar and accessible.”

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Squirrel Girl, whose mutant power is to communicate with squirrels, was created by Will Murray and Steve Ditko, first appearing in the “Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special” (1991). The character has been part of the Avengers and the Great Lakes Avengers and crossed paths with Jessica Jones and Luke Cage. For more Squirrel Girl stories ahead of the podcast, Marvel.com reveals:

And for fans who want even more of Doreen Green, North wrote an all-new Squirrel Girl vertical comic tie-in which launches today on Marvel Unlimited, Marvel’s digital comic subscription service. The SQUIRREL GIRL INFINITY COMIC one-shot, which is a prequel to the podcast, is now available on the app in the exclusive Infinity Comics format.

As for Iron Man and Spider-Man, the former’s legacy is likely to carry on in the Iron Man spinoff series, Ironheart featuring Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, while the latter is relatively unknown. With the merging of Marvel Studios’ MCU and Sony Pictures’ Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, Holland could show up in either franchise. However, the actor has stated he is looking to try other career avenues and projects sometime in the near future. After Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Holland’s latest feature film was Sony’s Uncharted (2022).

The first episode of Radio Point’s “Marvel’s Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show” is available now wherever you get your Marvel podcasts.

Will you be tuning in to this new Marvel adventure? Let us know in the comments down below!