When X-Men: Apocalypse hits screens this summer it will mark the end of the second trilogy of films based around the mutant superhero team. While Fox has several X-Men related properties in various stages of development for new movies, they are all based on solo characters or spinoff groups. We don’t know anything about when we’ll be seeing anybody from the main team again. Now, it looks like we may see some of them sooner than we thought, in the planned New Mutants film.
The New Mutants is currently the last film in the slate of announced X-Men films. It doesn’t even have an official release date yet. The team is traditionally made up of younger mutants at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters who are still learning to control their powers in order to become X-Men. As such, there does tend to be a lot of crossover between the two teams in the comics. IGN asked Simon Kinberg, the lead producer behind the entire X-Men franchise, if we might see something like that happen in the films as well.
"Traditionally, the New Mutants have some characters that cross over from the mainline X-Men movies. As we are going, I would say it's likely that you will see some familiar faces."
Since any planned continuation of the proper X-Men franchise would likely be set post New Mutants, this makes some sense as it would keep at least a few members of the team on the screen and help reinforce the idea that all of this is part of a single universe. Even if it’s done as a mostly supporting role, similar to how Colossus was used in Deadpool, the idea that the X-Men is a cinematic universe is still a relatively new idea, even though there have been several films in the series, so every little bit will help. At this point we don’t know how much other X-Men will be part of Wolverine 3 or the oft-delayed Gambit movie. We know Patrick Stewart will be joining Hugh Jackman for his last bow as Wolverine, but beyond that we don’t expect many other characters to join in, as they would draw focus away from the lead. We have no idea what Gambit is planning at this point. The end result ends up looking like most of the X-Men could be taking several years off from the silver screen unless they find places to put them.
Josh Boone is currently working on the script for the film, which he will also direct. The project is being described as feeling like a YA story, which will make it fairly unique among superhero films, and the antithesis of Deadpool.
Which X-Men would you like to see help launch the New Mutants?
