The New Mutantshas long been delayed, skipping numerous release dates as Fox switched hands over to Disney. The movie was set to finally hit theaters this spring, but even that got postponed as a pandemic has swept the entire nation over the course of the past few weeks. Despite all that time away from theaters,The New Mutantswill still be a groundbreaking superhero movie that promises to introduce quite a few firsts.
The New Mutantsco-writer Knate Lee recently spoke aboutThe New Mutantsand its long, slow crawl to movie screens. Though we should have seen the movieall the way back in 2018, when it would have opened in April, the story still remains relevant and will help push the MCU and other Marvel superhero movies at Sony in a new direction. Lee says this about the sci-fi horror adventure.
“So, it feels like the perfect time for a superhero movie that’s more intimate and claustrophobic. And we still have so many ‘firsts’: we’re thefirst Marvel horror, we’re the first to feature a gay relationship. Even though we’re late… we still beat everybody.”
Lee is under the assumption that all of these delays have actually been beneficial to the upcomingX-Menspin-off, as it made way forAvengers: Endgame. That’s the biggest movie of all time, literally, soThe New Mutantswill allow the superhero genre to get back to basics in a new and interesting way.
“In a weird way, I think the delay’s been good for us. Last year, I saw the most epic, grand-scale superhero movie ever [in the form of Avengers: Endgame]. You can’t go bigger than that.”
Director Josh Boone agrees with this assessment, having co-written the script with Knate Lee. While there were talks of reshoots, those never actually happened because some of the actors aged out of their roles, and it was impossible for continuity. So what fans will see whenThe New Mutantsis finally released is exactly what Josh Boone had planned from the start.
We’re getting a traditional horror movie withThe New Mutants, and it should be quite unlike anything we’ve seen in the MCU. The movie won’t be tied to the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it will also shy away from any connections to Fox’sX-Menuniverse, which is now defunct as Marvel attempts to move forward with their own Mutant stories.
As of now,The New Mutantsisn’t tied to any cinematic universe. If it proves to be a hit, there could potentially be a sequel. This will be a very interesting one to watch. How this eventually goes in terms of tying various franchises together is anybody’s guess. It’s expected that Marvel willintroduce some of its mutant characters into the MCUbefore giving the world a standaloneX-Menmovie.
The New Mutantsis being called a looseadaptation of The Demon Bear Sagafrom the Marvel comics. It was partially inspired byA Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream WarriorsandThe Shining. We’re also getting the first major same-sex relationship in a Marvel movie with main characters Wolfsbane and Mirage.
The MCU has had gay characters before, but not involved in an on-screen romance.The Eternalswill have a gay major character and a same-sex kiss, andThor: Love and Thunderwill show Valkyrie as being out and proud. But both of those movies, whenever they eventually get release with all the current changes to the entertainment landscape, will be coming in the wake ofThe New Mutants. This story originated atEmpire Online.
