While development continues on the planned female-led movie reboot, The Walt Disney Company has announced that it is bringing The Rocketeer to the small screen with a new animated series set to air on Disney Junior.
The Rocketeer is being executive produced by Nicole Dubuc (Transformers: Rescue Bots) and is targeted towards young children aged 2-7, with each episode including two 11-minute stories.
The series “follows Kit, a young girl who receives a surprise package on her birthday revealing that she’s next in line to become the Rocketeer, a legendary superhero who has the ability to fly with the help of a rocket-powered jet pack. Armed with her cool new gear and secret identity, Kit is ready to take flight and save the day with her gadget-minded best friend, Tesh, and airplane-mechanic uncle, Ambrose, who join her on epic adventures.”
“We are very excited to introduce The Rocketeer to our young Disney Junior audience,” said Joe D’Ambrosia, Disney Junior’s SVP Original Programming. “The vast storytelling found in the original comic books provides the perfect opportunity to create an exciting new adventure series told from a young girl superhero perspective that the whole family can enjoy together.”
Created by writer and artist Dave Stevens, The Rocketeer comic book launches in 1982 and served as a homage to the old Saturday matinee serials. Disney adapted the comic books for the big screen in 1991 with director Joe Johnson’s The Rocketeer.