Skip to main content

Fox’s New Mutants escapes purgatory with trailer teasing a dark take on X-Men

The New Mutants | Official Trailer | 20th Century FOX

20th Century Fox’s X-Men spinoff The New Mutants has existed in film purgatory for what feels like eons, caught in production both before and after Disney’s acquisition of Fox. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, Disney released a new trailer on January 6.

Recommended Videos

Described as “an original horror thriller set in an isolated hospital where a group of young mutants is being held for psychiatric monitoring,” The New Mutants seems poised to take a decidedly more dark perspective on the mutant world. The trailer certainly bears that suspicion out.

Director Josh Boone has taken the superhero savior motif and tilted it on its head, making The New Mutants look very much like a horror movie. Opening with a shot of mutant Dani (Blu Hunt) waking up to an inexplicable rainfall of blood, the trailer immediately suggests there is a dark, dangerous presence that will pervade the film.

As the trailer progresses, we meet Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga), who is “treating” these young New Mutants as both individuals and in group therapy. While some of the teenagers are reluctant to explain how their powers have complicated their lives, others are all too eager to share precisely what their powers can do to themselves and others.

We also get a peek at the facility itself, which looks markedly (and possibly intentionally) similar to the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, the headquarters of the original X-Men. However, it’s made abundantly clear that the young mutants in this story are not at this facility to receive a positive, enriching education. In fact, they’re trapped by an invisible force field around the grounds.

The New Mutants, it seems, will have to learn to hone and control their powers against a terrifying presence (or more than one while imprisoned in what to the outside world may look like an asylum. That’s textbook horror fare and a far cry from past X-Men films.

After years of reshoots and delays, along with fears that Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige would shelve the movie after Disney’s acquisition of Fox, the trailer ultimately proves that Disney is finally poised to give the film a major theatrical release.

With an intriguing young cast that also includes Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, and Henry Zaga, The New Mutants is one of the more intriguing projects to emerge from the Disney/Fox acquisition. Now, close to five years after the deal to make the movie was signed, it’s finally slated to release on April, 2020. Assuming nothing changes.

Nick Perry
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Nick Perry is a freelance writer who bounced from Hollywood to Silicon Beach to pajama pants. His work has been featured on…
7 best X-Men: The Animated Series episodes, ranked
The X-Men and Magneto look on as Professor X departs in X-Men: The Animated Series.

Earlier this month, Disney+ debuted X-Men '97, an official continuation of the fan-favorite cartoon X-Men: The Animated Series. After only two episodes, X-Men '97 has reminded viewers why they loved Marvel's mutant heroes in the first place. The original series was produced in 1992 for Fox Kids' Saturday morning lineup, and it was the first time that Marvel had a show that took its characters and stories seriously. X-Men: The Animated Series depicted a world where the heroes were hated and feared simply because they were born with superhuman abilities. That powerful allegory helped X-Men become a top-selling comic book series before it became a franchise in Hollywood.

Now that X-Men '97 has reignited the X-Men fandom, we're taking a look back at the seven best X-Men: The Animated Series episodes. Although for the purposes of this list, multipart episodes are being counted as a single story.
7. Days of Future Past

Read more
Is Marvel (finally) going to introduce the X-Men into the MCU in The Marvels?
Magneto stands next to the X-Men in X2.

It's only been about three years since the last X-Men movie but already fans miss those merry band of mutants. Sure, the movies weren't perfect, and some, like X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: Apocalypse, were outright bad, but they still had a certain charm, an irresistible nostalgic pull that most people couldn't resist. The Fox X-Men movies were the first true cinematic comic book universe, and they established a foundation that helped the MCU take over the world with 2008's Iron Man.

The Marvels | What Comes Next | In Theaters Nov 10

Read more
10 best X-Men stories ever, ranked
Wolverine, Jean Grey, Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, and Gambit in the X-Men '90s animated show.

The world of mutants and mayhem is rife with some of the best stories among Marvel properties. Professor Charles Xavier and his band of merry misfits often quell the threat against lives both human and mutant despite often being looked upon as different by the general public. Though, Marvel is a world wholly populated with the weird and fantastical, so they shouldn't feel entirely alone.

Still, X-Men characters such as Wolverine, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Beast, Colossus, Magneto, Mystique, and countless others are often at the center of some of the most fascinating dramas in the Marvel universe. And it's high time that the X-Men make a splash in the MCU. Whether in the pages of comic books or on screens large and small, there are countless X-Men stories to eat up any fan's time. But we're here to look at the best of the best.
10. Days of Future Past (The Uncanny X-Men 141-142)

Read more