Horror and Heroism Abounds In The New Mutants Trailer
Mutants in the X-Men universe have been handled with varying degrees of success over the last decade plus, and regardless of how you feel about the previous iterations, things are certainly heading in a new direction. For proof, look no further than The New Mutants, coming in April of 2018, and helmed by The Fault in Our Stars director Josh Boone. The trailer starts with a tracking shot in the hallway of what looks like a Sanitarium, as a voiceover begins.
The disembodied voice belongs to Alice Braga (Queen of the South, Elysium) who is playing Dr. Cecilia Reyes, who may be the Custodian of the mysterious facility. Dr. Reyes was a member of the core X-Men team in the late 90’s but here plays an entirely different role. She asks Danielle Moonstar, actress Blu Hunt (The Originals) a series of questions, leading up to “Do you know what Mutants are?” Oh, do we ever. Moonstar was an original member of The New Mutants line up, and notably one of the more prominent heroines of Native descent in mainstream comics. Codenamed “Mirage” her powers enable her to manifest a person’s inner fears, and if that sounds more like the premise for a horror movie, it’s not by accident. The film is also to be heavily influenced by “The Demon Bear Saga,” a classic 3-part series by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz. As anyone who’s read the arc can attest, it’s a certainly a darker, more mature story, deliberately distanced from the heroic adventure titles it spun from.
The New Mutants comic made various changes over the decades, in both tone and of course character lineup, but many hold “Demon Bear” to be one of the highlights of comic book storytelling, though it’s focused more or horror than heroics. Illyana Rasputin, played by actress Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Split) is sister to Colossus, which hopefully leads to crossover opportunities as he’s connected to the Deadpool franchise, which features Cable in its sequel. Cable also led a version of The New Mutants in the comics, so there may even be future plans.
In addition to Dani and Illyana, there’s Rahne, played by Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones, Doctor Who), Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things) as Sam, and Henry Zaga from Teen Wolf, and Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, playing Roberto. Comic fans may know the trio better as Wolfsbane, Cannonball, and Sunspot.
In theaters across the United States on Friday, April 13th 2018, The New Mutants, looks to shake up the franchise as we know it, while drumming up some genuine scares in the process. Stay tuned to FanBros.com for more as it develops!
