The New Mutants Originally Connected To The X-Men Films…And Then Apocalypse Hit Theaters
The New Mutants were connected to the X-Men movies?
I think most would agree that the X-Men film franchise was on a positive trajectory going into X-Men: Apocalypse. Sure, there was plenty of criticism lobbed at X-Men: Days of Future Past (mostly how it shouldn’t have starred Wolverine), but between it and First Class, the overall quality of the series was looking good. Based on my time here at the site, I recall the atmosphere being largely positive. Fans were curious how Apocalypse would be weaved into the narrative and wanted to see the world of the X-Men further expand.
Sadly, when X-Men: Apocalypse hit theaters, it was nowhere near beloved. In spite of the good faith audiences had for it going in, it fell flat. And while the film didn’t flop at the box office, its performance made clear that it wasn’t a direction fans were eager to go in for the next installment. And when it came to the development of The New Mutants, the folks at 20th Century Fox took note.
“They really did want it to be different than other stuff,” The New Mutants writer-director Josh Boone told /Film. “They really pushed us to keep it separate from X-Men stuff, even though it’s set in the X-Men universe. We had early drafts that were supposed to be in the same timeline as X-Men: Apocalypse, so it was originally going to be set in the ’80s. Originally, Professor X and Storm were in it, and Storm very much played the Alice Braga role.”
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“Over the course of months, a new studio head came in,” Boone continued. “They said they didn’t want any X-Men movies to take place in the past anymore, as if that was the reason that Apocalypse was bad. [laughs] So we were put in the position where we kind of rewrote it to be set now in a nebulous [point in time], because nobody knew how the movies had turned out. Dark Phoenix wasn’t out yet. Yeah, it’s there – they talk about Professor X and those things, but it doesn’t have cameos from anyone or anything like that.”
So, as it stands, The New Mutants isn’t necessarily modern or period in nature. It’s just…in some unspecified point in time. While there do seem to be nods to the world of X-Men, there isn’t any indication that these nods refer to the film versions of the characters we know. And it’s probably all for the best.
With Dark Phoenix flopping, it’s clear that audiences are ready to move on from the Fox interpretations of the X-Men. The New Mutants is better off taking place in its own pocket universe in some random time.
Are you happy The New Mutants don’t connect to the X-Men films? Let us know your thoughts down below!
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SOURCE: /Film
