2018 is going to be a big year for X-Men fans. 20th Century Fox has slated three new mutant-based blockbusters for release over the course of next year, and we’re given a fresh look at the first one: The New Mutants.
It’s no coincidence that the first teaser for the film, written and directed by Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars), comes to us on Friday the 13th. According to Boone, The New Mutants is “a full-fledged horror movie set within the X-Men universe. There are no costumes. There are no supervillains.” To that end, the movie sets up a “haunted house” like scenario where a group of young mutants just discovering their powers are trapped in a facility and must confront their terrifying new abilities as well as the sins of their past.
(Read: Logan and Comic Book Movies Return to the Source)
Fittingly, the mutants at the center of the story have some pretty atypical powers. Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones fame plays Rahne Sinclair, aka Wolfsbane, whose powers make her essentially a werewolf. Stranger Things star Charlie Heaton plays Sam Guthrie, aka Cannonball, a Kentucky teen who can propel himself forward at great speeds while creating a protective “blast shield” around his body. There’s also Anya Taylor-Joy (Split) as Magik, brother of the X-Man Colossus with the ability to teleport through time and space — as well as some demonic sorcery. Henry Zaga (13 Reasons Why) is Sunspot, who actually appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past played by Adan Canto, while Blu Hunt stars as Danielle Moonstar/Mirage, a Cheyenne mutant with the ability to manifest someone’s worst fears or desires as psionic illusions.
It’s quite an unusual bill of characters, and you can see why Fox was willing to take such a risk with the story given these particular power sets. Of course, as the trailer above demonstrates, it seems to be less about their powers and more about the horror angle — with Alice Braga’s Dr. Cecilia Reyes at the center of it all.
The New Mutants is set for an April 13th, 2018 release, followed by Deadpool 2 on June 1st and X-Men: Dark Phoenix on November 2nd.