Entertainment
Anya Taylor-Joy’s Marvel Debut Deserved So Much Better Than What We Got
With the upcoming release of Avengers: Doomsday, featuring many characters returning from Fox’s X-Men universe, fans are turning to the past to prepare for the highly anticipated superhero blockbuster. X-Men marathons are surging up the Disney+ charts in preparation, but one such film featuring the merry mutants didn’t have the success of the films preceeding it.
2020’s The New Mutants, based on Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz’s iconic comic book run, despite massive fan hype during its whopping four delays over two years, didn’t quite land with many moviegoers and comic book fans. While the casting was fantastic, as is the norm for Fox’s X-Films, the film’s horror elements took over far too much of the narrative and the short running time meant that new viewers couldn’t connect with the characters as much as they’d like to. Even so, the New Mutants deserve a second chance on the big screen, especially with multiple mutants coming out of the woodwork to join the MCU.
The New Mutants Comics Are Iconic
Claremont and Sienkiewicz’s New Mutants comics are a favorite among die-hard X-Men comic fans, most notably the “Demon Bear” storyline, which the film adapted. At the time of the comics’ publishing in the early 80s, the X-Men had been running the same mutant members for several years and the franchise was in need of fresh blood. Claremont introduced a young cast of, well, new mutants, who were designed to eventually take up the mantle of the mainline X-Men.
With all the legions of mutants from the X-Men universe, it’s hard for certain characters to become fan favorites in the ocean of countless characters to choose from. Which is why Claremont’s characters standing the test of time is an impressive stat. The cast of the comics were not only new in terms of their powers and skill sets, but in terms of their personalities as well. Illyana Rasputin AKA Magik, for example, was delightfully unhinged and off kilter, which carried over to Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance in the film.
The Movie Got a Few Things Right
When it comes to casting comic book characters, very rarely does Marvel miss. Even before the rise of the MCU, Marvel films always nailed casting great actors in the roles of famous superheroes. And that started with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in 2000’s X-Men, which millions to this day hail as a perfectly cast character. The New Mutants continued that tradition with a promising young cast, some of whom are now superstars.
One thing fans will agree on when it comes to the movie is the pitch perfect casting of Taylor-Joy as Magik. She’s never given a bad performance and doesn’t start here, perfectly embodying Illyana’s loose screws while still making her likable and entertaining. But even beyond Magik, other characters in the film shine, namely Blu Hunt as Dani Moonstar, who Hunt makes sympathetic and compelling to watch, especially with her groundbreaking same-sex relationship with Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams), which amplified the characters’ bond from the comics in a smart way.
While The New Mutants may have been a disappointment to many, the potential the film had still rings true six years later. The cast of hallmark characters clearly gave it their all and should not be blamed for the film’s misfire. With Marvel resurrecting numerous mutants in the MCU, many believe that these mutants deserve another shot. After all, if Chris Evans can return as Johnny Storm in Deadpool & Wolverine, anything is possible.
The New Mutants
- Release Date
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August 28, 2020
- Runtime
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99 minutes
- Writers
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Josh Boone, Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, Knate Gwaltney, Scott Lobdell, Bob McLeod
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