The New Mutants movie would’ve worked better as an origin story, says the original comic book’s co-creator. The Marvel Comics mutant team spun off from
The X-Men first appeared in 1982. Almost thirty years later in 2020, the New Mutants finally made their way to the big screen in a film from 20th Century Fox.,Unfortunately Fox’s
New Mutants movie seemed cursed from long before it ever arrived on screens. Originally set to be released in 2018, the Josh Boone-directed movie didn’t make it to theaters until August of 2020. By then the film had become a punchline for its numerous delays, and when it did come out it predictably under-performed, grossing just $49 million against a budget of $67-80 million. Critics weren’t very kind to the movie either, and it currently holds just a 35% score on Rotten Tomatoes.,Related: New Mutants: Why The Fox Marvel Movie Has Had So Many Delays,Suffice it to say that
The New Mutants did not kick off the
X-Men revival some fans were hoping to see it launch. But for his part, the original comics’ co-creator Bob McLeod thinks he’s pinpointed what went wrong with the movie version of his mutant team. Appearing recently at Phoenix Fan Fusion (via
/Film), McLeod explained where he thinks the movie’s story went so wrong:,Instead of an origin story properly introducing its largely-unknown characters to moviegoers,
The New Mutants presented a self-contained horror-oriented story that failed to please
X-Men fans or horror audiences. This approach was “
interesting” according to McLeod, but he still thinks the film whiffed on really presenting the New Mutants the way they were intended. Even visually the film missed the mark according to McLeod, who remarks that “
none of the characters look the way I designed them to look.” He does however praise the film’s depiction of Magik, a character he did not create, who was played in the film by Anya Taylor-Joy.,Indeed the presence of rising stars like Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams and Charlie Heaton was supposed to help sell
The New Mutants to younger audiences, but unfortunately the cast wasn’t appealing enough to bring in moviegoers. It also didn’t help of course that the movie was dropped in theaters amid the COVID pandemic, at a time when people were staying away from multiplexes in droves. Perhaps McLeod has good points about the movie’s story, and it would be better had a greater effort been made to explore the origins of its various characters. However, it could also be argued that origin stories of comic book characters are themselves tired, and that it was actually wise for
The New Mutants to avoid going down that somewhat predictable route. Ultimately, the film feels like an interesting but flawed attempt at freshening up the tired
X-Men franchise, and it probably wouldn’t have mattered to its box office had the seemingly-doomed movie done what McLeod now suggests.,More: What The New Mutants Movie Characters Looked Like In The Comics,Source: /Film