the latest cut of New Mutants reportedly excises any reference to previous FoX-Men films.
Further reporting suggest this is specifically being done to facilitate introducing mutants and the X-Men to the MCU through this film, thus the reason for the film's additional delay. The same report also indicates this latest cut is testing very well.
Josh Boone’s The New Mutants has recently made its way onto the list of rumored upcoming MCU movies. Kind of. FandomWire reports that in Disney’s latest cut of TNM, all references to Fox’s X-Men universe have been axed. Allegedly, this was done so that if Kevin Feige decided he wants it to be part of the MCU, there are no continuity issues. If true, this is interesting for many reasons. Before we dive into that, however, I have to ask myself; how likely is it that this rumor is true? Frankly, I don’t buy it. Kevin Feige has stated on more than one occasion that they are not planning to introduce mutants into the MCU for several years. This directly contradicts that. More than that, Dark Phoenix, the other Fox X-Men movie released by disney, tanked hard. It was a massive commercial failure. No superhero movie had flopped that hard since the god-awful Fan4stic. Disney allegedly even blamed bad third quarter earnings on Dark Phoenix’s extraordinarily underwhelming performance. It wasn’t even a terrible movie but it wasn’t great either. It was also rumored very recently that Disney is unimpressed with New Mutants, considering it to have very limited box office potential. Editing and reshoots may have changed their opinion, but at the end of the day, the core movie is still the same. Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness is also potentially a factor. TNM looks to be the first superhero horror movie, and the trailer honestly looks more in line with something like Insidious than anything in the MCU. Scott Derickson, director of Doctor Strange 2 claimed at SDCC that it would be the first scary movie in the MCU. Releasing New Mutants in the MCU instead of leaving it as exists now, the last remnant of a dead franchise, would invalidate that statement. This may not seem like a big deal, but as of right now, it’s horror-inspiration is one of the only details we have about the film, plus it was publicly announced at the biggest nerd gathering of the year. So when you consider all of this, it makes the inclusion of The New Mutants into the MCU very unlikely in my opinion. I just don’t trust that Feige would put a property he did not oversee into the spotlight of the MCU. Look at Venom. Look at everything over at Marvel Television. If they won’t put The Defenders in the final fight of Avengers: Endgame then I seriously doubt they would include a movie they received secondhand into their beloved world.
But just for fun, and in case I’m wrong, let’s say the rumors are true. The New Mutants are going to join the greatest franchise on the planet. What would this mean? For one - Deadpool and other X-Men properties will be introduced sooner rather than later. We could have another phase restructuring situation on our hands, similar to the Inhumans-Spidey switch up from a few years back. Assuming it was a hit, and if Feige has faith, you best believe it will be, We could see that “Mutant-centric film” (confirmed in development by Feige at SDCC) hit the big screen as early as late 2022. Deadpool could make his MCU debut much sooner than expected. The New Mutants could become the trilogy that it was intended to be. It would also mean that the post Infinity Saga MCU would have a lot of horror going on. Blade, The New Mutants, scary Dr. Strange, and Moon Knight would pave the way for a frightening, supernatural future filled with darker, edgier (in a good way) stories. This would open up the door for characters like Man-Thing, Elsa Bloodstone, Deadpool’s wife ( a succubus ) and many more. This rumor becoming a reality would also make the eventual inclusion of Venom, Morbius, Carnage (all coincidentally horror themed) and all of Sony’s characters into the MCU someday a lot more plausible. If we really have lost Spider-Man, (there has been no official statement from Marvel Studios or Sony Pictures, he is not lost yet, trust no one. ) The New Mutants may be how we bring him back. Sony desperately wants to join their fledgeling SMU (Sony’s Marvel Universe) with the much more beloved and critically acclaimed MCU. Feige and Co. have allegedly been very opposed to this, but if they can accept New Mutants into the fold, then why not Venom and his amazing friends? Sony joining Marvel Studios would increase our MCU output to 4+ marvel movies a year. New Fox could also potentially be used to bolster productivity, bringing that number even higher. While I seriously doubt it happens, including TNM in the MCU would have huge implications.
The last thing I should mention is that in 2020 we only have 2 MCU films coming out. We have had 3 movies a year for the past 3 years, and considering that Disney acquired another studio that was known for making marvel movies, the change seems odd. Marvel Studios does have a lot on it’s plate with all of their upcoming Disney + content, but in 2021 we revert back to 3 movies. The New Mutants was confirmed for a 2020 release date before Black Widow and The Eternals were even confirmed. Could it have been planned for a MCU release since acquisition, explaining why we only have 2 other MCU movies next year? Maybe. But probably not. But still maybe.
I really can't imagine that being the case. Sounds like a fake rumor to me.
I believe the reason there's only two Marvel movies next year is that they didn't want to give too many Endgame details away based on set photo leaks, etc. And plausibly to give the audience something of a rest period after the end of the Infinity Saga.
I'm fairly certain Marvel's 2020 slate was finalized before the FOX acquisition was, and there's no way they'd have planned their slate around an acquisition being finalized in time for them to assume control of a movie they were essentially uninvolved in. Especially considering that the deal was original expected to take a lot longer to go through.
Concerning Dawn of X: the covers for New Mutants we've seen so far make me think that the mutants can't all be pod people, if any are, because Karma clearly still has her prosthetic leg, and it'd be strange if that was preserved after cloning or whatnot.
There is no way with how Marvel plans things out they are going to do this. With everything we have seen from Kevin Fiege in the past this is just not how he does business. Marvel is not going to build the future of their franchise on a movie they had no hand in crafting. Total fake story.
I get removing the Fox ties to make its own separate entity. I can't see the MCU depending on this movie to lead off its X-men line. Does anyone think this is the movie marvel wants to introduce mutants with? If it was a really good movie then maybe I could see it happening but they have so many question marks. My guess is that they have made it a stand alone thing and if it does well enough they could possible bring back some of the characters in the MCU,If it does poorly it stays in it pocket universe by itself.
Good to hear that the cut seems to be getting a favorable response.
(The culling of references to previous movies really reminds me of the waffling the Transformers movie series people did over whether Bumblebee was a prequel or a reboot to the earlier movies, with the final decision being "reboot.")
Doctor Strange: "You are the right person to replace Logan."
X-23: "I know there are people who disapprove... Guys on the Internet mainly."
(All-New Wolverine #4)
Disney is reschedule more Fox releases, but not word on New Mutants. The Kingsman prequel was bumped from February to September.
https://deadline.com/2019/11/disney-...na-1202787773/
But Maisie Williams did unfollow the New Mutants Movie Instagram account a few days ago, so... that doesn't look like a good sign.