Hot Damn! 20th Century Fox has been dropping the hammer on us with their X-men properties as of late and this time they’ve done it in the form of The New Mutants trailer that just dropped. This movie is going to be sporting a horror/psychological thriller vibe that we’ve yet to see in the X-men universe, if that doesn’t get you as excited as watching late night Girls Gone Wild infomercials I don’t know what will. With a whole new set of super powered mutants about to be unleashed on our optic nerves let’s take a dive into who The New Mutants are and their origins.

Early Beginnings

The New Mutants are basically the red headed step brothers and sisters of the X-Men, angst filled teens brought together by Professor X to get their shit together and use their powers for the greater good as the first spin off team from the original X-men. This team of mutants are in more of a developmental stage than the X-men, with Professor X filling the Dr.Phil type role for them.

The big difference between The New Mutants and the more classic X-Men is not just their age but more of how these teens discover their powers, which instead of just being born with abilities their powers did not manifest until they were in moments of stress or approaching puberty. With their powers in flux from time to time, it creates a greater dynamic on the team.

I know, pretty much seems like every incarnation of X-men movie we’ve seen so far, right? But, imagine Freaks and Geeks except everyone has super powers and they battle foes in alternate futures, hell-like dimensions and a fucking version of Rome hidden in the Amazon. A lot of The New Mutants battles are more mystic as they often clashed with The Hellfire Club and their offspring The (real fucking creative villain club name) Hellions.

New Mutants Assemble

Like any good group of super heroes this team comes equipped with crazy ass powers, nonsensical aliases, and costumes that Macho Man Randy Savage would be jealous of. The roster of these teen mutants has been in flux over the years with members leaving, dying and graduating to varsity with the X-Men so we’re going to focus on the team assembled for the movie.

Cannon Ball (Samuel Zachary Gutheri)

Cannon Ball spent his youth growing up in a coal mining town in Kentucky trying to help his family by working in the mine, which makes him sound more like an up and coming country super star than a super powered bad ass. He was a founding member of The New Mutants, so naturally he possesses all the redeeming qualities of a super hero along with the ability to fly at mach speeds that generate an impenetrable force field around him

While working hard like any good young Kentucky boy, he finds himself trapped in a collapsing mine shaft. In an attempt to save a fellow worker, he unknowingly activates his powers to get himself and his co worker to safety.

Naturally after this incident Cannon Ball is recruited by the villain Donald Pierce to assault his future team members but after being ordered to kill them, he refuses and goes against Pierce. After doing the right thing, Professor X forgives cannonball for previously trying to destroy him and invites him to join the New Mutants.

Sunspot (Robert da Costa)

The heir apparent to a wealthy Brazilian family, fueled by revenge for a fallen loved one, Sunspot plays off a little like The New Mutants version of Batman. Being born and raised in Brazil, Sunspot pretty much had no choice but to play soccer (side note, fuck soccer! I can’t celebrate a sport that ends in 0-0 ties). During a soccer game against a team full of racists, assholes, an opposing player hits a slide kick or whatever the hell physical contact is called in soccer and this prompts Sunspot to start a brawl.

Once the fight begins Sunspot quickly starts getting his ass whooped which sets off his powers, turning into a black silhouette of solar energy and then he proceeds to beat down the shit head who tackled him. The brawl clears out the whole stadium minus Sunspot’s girlfriend, who stays by his side. Wherever there is a random super powered catastrophe you can bet damn money that a villain’s nosy ass is going to get involved with the source.

After finding out about Sunspot, Donald Pierce attempts to kidnap him but fucks up and kidnaps his girlfriend. All this drama gets Professor X involved and he sends The New Mutants in for help. In the subsequent battle over his girlfriend, she ends up taking a bullet meant for him. After the loss of his girlfriend, fueled with solar rage, Sunspot helps whoop Donald Pierce’s ass and accepts an invite to The New Mutants.

Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair)

Wolfsbane is arguably the most fucked up character on this team. Born in Scotland as an orphan, Wolfsbane became a ward of the church and was left under the care of Reverend Craig, who is a real piece of shit. Wolfsbane later finds out that Reverend Craig is her father and that her mother was a prostitute that died while giving birth to her.

The emergence of her powers differs from the latter members, as puberty brought on her Lycanthropy (just a fancy word for the power to change into a fucking wolf!). Once Reverend Craig found out about all this hocus pocus, he gathered together his Joel Osteen fan club to try and capture Wolfsbane and preform an exorcism to release her of what he believed was the devil. During her escape from the fanatical religious mob she was shot and wounded.

After being wounded, Wolfsbane was found by Moira Mactaggert (she was in X-Men First Class, but you knew that,though right? just checking), who took Wolfsbane in and eventually raised her as her own. Once Moira legally adopted Wolfsbane they moved to Muir Island, a mutant research facility Moira founded. Moira was instrumental in introducing Wolfsbane to Professor X, who later invited her to attend his Institute where she became the very first member of The New Mutants.

Mirage (Danielle Moonstar)

Raised in Colorado as a member of the Cheyenne Nation, Mirage’s powers manifested in the form of a vision of her parent’s death…possibly the worst way ever to find out you have psychic abilities! Almost immediately after her vision, they took a trip into the mountains and just never came back. After the disappearance and presumed death of her parent’s Mirage was sent to live with some nearby friends, where the rest of her powers emerged.

With little to no control of her ability to cast illusions of one’s most primal fears upon them, Mirage was forced to leave her community and live with her grandfather. Once she was in her grandfather’s care, he quickly tried to pawn her off on his old friend Professor X! Not pleased with the news of being sent off to the white man, this set off a vision of her grandfather’s death.

With the vision of her grandfather’s death in her mind, you’ll never guess who shows up!!?? C’mon! one guess!?…..that’s right! mother fucking Donald Pierce. With his Hellfire Club henchmen at his side, Pierce attempts to capture Mirage and ends up killing her grandfather in the crossfire. After her grandfather’s death, Mirage sets out to get revenge and ends up crossing paths with Professor X and The New Mutants, seeing that they want the same thing as her, she honors her grandfather’s wish and joins Professor X and his team.

Magik (Illyana Rasputin)

Magik is absolutely one of the more powerful heroes on the roster and the most intricately confusing! The tricky part about Magik is that she is part mutant part sorceress, which allows her to teleport and travel through dimensions. Magik comes from a powerful mutant bloodline from Russia that includes her brother Peter Nikolaievitch aka Colossus (I always found him a little off putting in the X-men cartoon).

At a young age, she was abducted by the villain Arcade, along with several other mutants in a plan to try and attack Doctor Doom. Magik was eventually rescued from Arcade and brought to the X-Mansion where she meets Professor X. Shortly after her rescue Magik is kidnapped yet again. But, this time by a fucking demon known as Belasco and ends up being raised in Limbo.

While in Limbo, Belasco creates all sorts of weird mystical demon shit to manipulate and control Magik. In a plot to fight back and destroy Belasco, Magik creates the Soul Sword, grows horns, a tail, and fucking fangs! She banishes Belasco from Limbo and then in a boss ass move, takes his servant as her own. After she whoops ass in Limbo, Magik returns to Earth a decade older. But, no time has passed on Earth…..with everyone seemingly cool with the scenario, she joins The New Mutants.

The New Mutants movie is set to be released on April 13,2018.

The cast will include: Charlie Heaton (Cannon Ball), Henry Zaga (Sunspot), Maisie Williams (Wolfsbane), Blue Hunt (Mirage), Anya Taylor-Joy (Magik)

Jonas Brotherly is a comic book/movie enthusiast and dedicated Denver Broncos fan who survived the Brian Griese era. An unapologetic lover of a good conspiracy theory who is willing to go out into the deep end with his thoughts and opinions. Follow on Twitter: @SoBro_JoBro

