The New Mutants is Fox's final X-Men movie, and while it was hit by countless delays with its original studio, it recently missed its planned April release from Disney thanks to COVID-19. The rights to the X-Men returned to Marvel Studios following the Disney/Fox merger, but the studio is intent on releasing Josh Boone's movie despite it being destined to be a standalone feature.
Earlier this week, it looked like Disney had finally accepted the inevitable and decided to send The New Mutants straight to VOD platforms as it popped up on Amazon for pre-order.
It was pulled just a few hours later, leading to speculation about an official announcement.
Well, that never came, and The Hollywood Reporter now confirm that, "Sources say the long-delayed X-Men film is still planned for a theatrical release." Unlike the rest of Disney's delayed slate, The New Mutants doesn't have a new release date, and with box office analysts predicting it would bomb, who knows when Disney will decide to have it arrive on the big screen.
There aren't a lot of spaces on the release calendar looking ahead to the future, and the longer it takes to come out, the closer it will be to Marvel Studios' inevitable reboot, and Kevin Feige surely won't be happy about that (especially if the movie ends up being poorly received).
Once again, we're going to have to wait and see!
Click on the "Next" button below for some new
plot spoilers and stills from The New Mutants!
The Demon Bear
According to the magazine, "The New Mutants begins with Dani dreaming of a night a mysterious force - later revealed as the Demon Bear - attacked her home on a Cheyenne Nation reservation during a snowstorm." They're shown being pursued through their home, but the monster itself is never actually fully revealed (its just hinted at).
Interestingly, it's not until the end of the film that "[Dani] discovers that the bear casting a shadow across her life is the product of her own troubles psyche."
If this all sounds familiar, it's likely because director Josh Boone is clearly following the comic books!
Magik's Dark Past
The New Mutants is going to be PG-13, but it definitely sounds like it could veer into R-Rated territory.
We've already shared some images of the terrifying Smiley Men (you can check those out by clicking HERE), and it's now been confirmed that they will pursue the heroes through the hospital. However, the reason for their existence is both unsettling and definitely surprising.
"[Drawn] from Ilyana’s tortured past, these 7 foot tall creatures have dangling limbs and hideously grinning faces." According to Boone, "There were things we didn’t want to directly speak about, like sex trafficking, so we found a way to personify them the way a child might remember."
Wolfsbane's Transformation
As you may have noticed in what little we've seen from The New Mutants, Wolfsbane has a "W" branded on her neck. Apparently, we actually see her get that, so the movie is obviously going to delve into the origin stories of these mutant characters.
Here's where things get really interesting, though. It's said that the character's "wolf" form is portrayed with the use of a the same, real-life wolf/dog that appeared in 2018's Alpha.
"Rahne fights the bear in the form of her lycanthropic counterpart, Wolfsbane," according to the magazine. "Maisie Williams wore nail and teeth extensions." Clearly, we'll see a couple of versions of the character in the film, and that's definitely an exciting prospect.
Lockheed
We've been hearing rumblings that the alien dragon Lockheed could make some sort of appearance in The New Mutants, but that's now been confirmed by the magazine. There are still no official images of Illyana's alien friend, but we do know a little more about what he'll be getting up to in the movie.
"Method Studios also brought to life the animated character Lockheed, a little pet dragon who spends much of his time perched on Illyana’s shoulder," the magazine confirms in its feature.
Unfortunately, no further information is revealed about how Lockheed comes into Magik's life. However, we can probably safely assume that it has something to do with the hero's visit to Limbo.
The Hospital
After the aforementioned nightmare Dani Moonstar has, she wakes up to find herself in the hospital run by Dr. Cecilia Reyes. It's then that she meets both her fellow mutant inmates and the doctor.
"Inside the hospital, Dr. Reyes keeps watch on her mutant captives from a central control room, where dozens of old-school cathode ray tube monitors display CCTV feeds from across the entire campus," the magazine explains. "The cameras have the ability to monitor each mutants health including organs/vital signs and they have overlays showing their body systems etc."
Initially, fans suspected that Reyes would be tied to Mister Sinister in some way, but it doesn't sound like she will have anyone pulling her strings when we finally meet her in The New Mutants.
The Villainous Dr. Cecilia Reyes
"Only in the film's final act do the five young mutants realize the potential of their powers in a high-stakes battle against not only their captor, Dr. Reyes, but also the giant demon bear who’s supernatural presence has been growing throughout the film," reads a makeshift synopsis of sorts.
"However, it's just before the bear makes his dramatic entrance Reyes reveals her own mutant power: the ability to create a smothering force field which she throws around Dani and her companions." Brace yourself for spoilers with this next bit, though, as her final fate is revealed!
"Reyes is distracted from smothering the mutants by a snow storm building outside. As the storm closes in, the demon bear bursts through a wall and swallows her whole." Ouch!
This is an awesome shot of Magik, and it's clear that as we follow her story in The New Mutants, Illyana Rasputin will gain control over her powers and become the badass we know from the comics.
As well as the mystical armour which has appeared down Magik's arm, we also see the Soulsword.
We mentioned this above, but as you can see, Reyes is using her powers to try to kill the mutants who have come into her "care." She looks like she's in a bad way here, though.
Reyes was an unexpected choice of villain for The New Mutants, and it will be interesting to see how her motivations are explained here, especially as she's clearly a mutant too.
Demon Bear has invaded this hospital, and it seemingly lies in ruins as a result. It looks like that's Magik the monster has come face to face with, and we're pretty sure she's the one who destroys him.
Time will tell on that front, of course, but Demon Bear definitely makes for a very cool visual on screen.
Sunspot is a fan-favourite character from the comic books, and he's another mutant who is seemingly going to embrace his powers in a big way over the course of The New Mutants.
This is an awesome shot of him powered up, and it's a shame we're not going to see more of these heroes moving forward as they all have a lot of potential on the big screen.