Fox is moving full steam ahead with branching its X-Men movies franchise out into the world of Television. After the success of Legion on FX, Fox has ordered the first season of The Gifted from creator Matt Nix for the fall 2017 season. Bryan singer will direct the pilot. The Gifted focuses on the Strucker family. Reed Strucker (Stephen Moyer) is in charge of keeping the public safe from mutants, but things change for him and his wife (Amy Acker) when they discover their children are mutants. The Struckers end up on the run and soon join up with a mutant resistance movement. Many of the characters that make up that resistance have a history in the Marvel Comics universe. Here's a who's who of mutants in The Gifted. Thunderbird Balir Redford will play John Proudstar, the Native American mutant codenamed Thunderbird. John Proudstar, an Apache who was recruited by Professor X into the “Second Genesis” of the X-Men in Giant-Size X-Men #1. As Thunderbird, John Proudstar stood alongside Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, Banshee, Sunspot, and Cyclops on a mission to rescue the other original X-Men from Krakoa, the living island. Thunderbird remained a part of the team after the original mission was over, but he did not survive the next mission. In just his third issue of existence, Thunderbird died while stopping the supervillain Count Nefaria. Thunderbird’s mutant powers granted him peak physical abilities, including enhanced strength, speed, durability, stamina, and superhuman senses. James Proudstar, John’s brother, took on his brother’s X-Men persona to seek revenge on Professor X, whom he blamed for John’s death. James later reformed, came to terms with his brother’s death, changed his name codename to Warpath and has become a member of the New Mutants, X-Force, and the X-Men. Warpath’s powers are similar to Thunderbird’s. The character was played by Booboo Stewart in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Polaris Emma Dumont will play Lorna Dane, aka Polaris, the mutant mistress of magnetism. In the Marvel Comics universe, Polaris is the estranged daughter of Magneto. She inherited her father's mutant gifts which allow her to manipulate magnetic waves. Lorna Dane was one of the earliest members of the X-Men, joining before the new class came in with Giant-Size X-Men #1. Her relationship with her father has always been tense at best. She is also the longtime love interest of Havok, the mutant brother of Cyclops, and a longtime member fo X-Factor. Polaris has been off the board of the Marvel Comics universe for some time but will make her return in X-Men Blue #9. prevnext

Blink Jamie Chung will play Clarice Ferguson, the mutant known as Blink. Blink gets her name from her mutants powers. She is able to generate energy stakes that she can throw in order to create a portal that others can pass through and arrive at a far off distance. Blink can also throw the stakes at individuals. If hit, the person will "blink" away to another location. Blink's powers were used for some creative action scenes in X-Men: Days of Future Past, where the character was played by Fan Bingbing. Blink is best known for being one the primary characters in the Age of Apocalypse X-Men event. prevnext

Eclipse Sean Teale, formerly of SyFy's Incorporated, will play a brand new mutant character who goes by the name Eclipse. Eclipse's real name is Marco Diaz. He is described as "a natural rebel compelled by circumstances to cooperate with others, Marcos is a passionate and strong-willed fighter who sometimes lets his emotions overrule reason." As far as mutant powers go, Eclipse can manipulate photons, which most likely translates into some kind of control over light. In the trailer for The Gifted, Eclipse displays the ability to weaponize light into a kind of energy beam. Eclipse remains something of a mystery, but he does seem to be friends with Blink and an ally to the resistance. prevnext

Fenris? The Strucker children, Lauren (Natalie Alyn Lind) and Andy (Percy Hynes White), also present a bit of a mystery for X-Men fans, but there could be a hint in the name "Strucker," though we can only speculate for now. The twins Andreas and Andreas Von Strucker are the children of Wolfgang Von Strucker, the leader of Hydra in the Marvel Comics universe. They are also mutants who were experimented on in utero by Hydra scientist Arnim Zola. The result of Zola’s experimentation was that they could both fly and fire energy blasts but only while in physical contact with each other. The twins, who adopted the name Fenris, followed in the father’s footsteps, joining Hydra and entering a life of full-time villainy. Whether or no the children in The Gifted are actually a version of Fenris remains to be seen. prevnext