| New Mutants | |
|---|---|
 Cover ofNew Mutants (vol. 3) #1 (April 2009) by Diógenes Neves. Clockwise from top left: Warlock, Sunspot, Cannonball, Danielle Moonstar, Magma, Karma, Magik, Cypher, and Legion | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The New Mutants (September 1982) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont Bob McLeod |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | Former: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters Ship Current: Akademos Habitat |
| Member(s) | Original: Mirage Cannonball Karma Sunspot Wolfsbane |
TheNew Mutants are a group of fictionalmutantsuperheroes appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics, generally in association with theX-Men. Originally depicted as the teenaged junior class at theXavier Institute, subsequent stories have depicted the characters as adult superheroes (in their eponymous series as well as in related titles such asX-Force andThe Avengers) or as teachers and mentors to younger mutants.
The team first appeared inThe New Mutants (September 1982) byChris Claremont and artistBob McLeod, part of theMarvel Graphic Novelline, followed by theongoing seriesThe New Mutants which ran from 1983 until 1991. Like theX-Men parent title, also written by Claremont,The New Mutants featured anensemble cast, with stories often focused on interpersonal relationships and coming-of-age arcs, blendingteen drama with action and adventure. The title was taken over by writerLouise Simonson, ultimately taking a more action-oriented focus under artistRob Liefeld, who relaunched the characters asX-Force following the series' end.
Since their inception, severalNew Mutants series have been published, either focusing on the continuing adventures of the original lineup, new groups of young mutants, or some combination of both. Individual characters have appeared invarious film, television, and other media adaptations of the X-Men franchise, while most of the original lineup of the New Mutants was featured in the 202020th Century Studios film ofthe same name.[1]
By the early 1980s,The Uncanny X-Men (under the authorship ofChris Claremont) had become one of the comic book industry's most successful titles, prompting Marvel editor-in-chiefJim Shooter to launchThe New Mutants, the first of severalX-Men spin-offs.X-Men editorLouise Simonson recalled "Neither Chris [Claremont] or I really wanted to do it. We wantedX-Men to be special and by itself, but Shooter told us that if we didn't come up with a new 'mutant' book, someone else would."[2] The name was a modification ofStan Lee's original name for the X-Men, "The Mutants".[2]
The New Mutants were teenaged students ofProfessor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and wore matching uniforms, much like the original X-Men, who had since grown into adulthood.[3] These students resembled the "all-new, all-different X-Men" of their era in terms of ethnic diversity.[4]
The original team consisted of:
The team was intended to debut in their own series. As the first issue was nearing completion, Shooter ordered it to be reworked into a graphic novel so thatMarvel Graphic Novel could make its deadline for the next issue. Thus, the New Mutants debuted inMarvel Graphic Novel #4 (December 1982), which continued a plotline fromThe Uncanny X-Men. Despite this, the graphic novel missed its shipping slot by two weeks due to artistBob McLeod'shoneymoon.[2]
In addition to very serious depictions of teenage angst and growing pains, the series featured themes ofmysticism. The stories also relied on wilder, more far-fetched premises than were typical ofX-Men at the time, shaping into more of ascience fiction andfantasy series than the superhero coming-of-age comic it had been touted as in its early days.[3] Locales included demonic dimensions, alternate futures, and an ancient Roman civilization hidden within theAmazon rainforest. The New Mutants also encountered a secret society called theHellfire Club, and began a rivalry with their young apprentices, theHellions.
Karma was dropped from the series after six issues under initially unclear circumstances.The New Mutants #6 ends on a cliffhanger as the building the New Mutants are in explodes, but issue #7 skips ahead several days and opens with the New Mutants grieving the missing Karma, with no explanation for how she was lost.[4] It was not until a flashback by Sunspot in issue #10 that Karma's absence was explained. Adding further to the confusion, while Karma was dropped from the series head roster for the cover of issue #7, she returned to the head roster on the covers of issues #8 and 9, even though she was still gone.[4] After the apparent death of Karma, Cannonball and Dani Moonstar act as co-leaders.[5] New recruits included:
A supplementary series,The New Mutants Annual, began in 1984. These annuals were always written by whoever was the regularNew Mutants writer at the time and often included significant changes to the status quo. These changes were not explained in the parent series, so that readers would have to buyThe New Mutants Annual to follow events in both series.Annual #1 (1984) featured the first appearance of Cannonball's love interest, rock musician Lila Cheney, and was drawn by McLeod. The 1985 annual, which was solicited asThe New Mutants Annual #2 but published asThe New Mutants Special Edition #1 because it exceeded the maximum page count for an annual,[6] saw Mirage inducted into theValkyrior and Cypher and Warlock merging into one body for the first time. A 1987 issue ofComics Feature calledThe New Mutants Special Edition #1 "the single finest New Mutants tale to date and one of the best comics published in the past decade", citing Claremont's penchant for fantasy, artistArthur Adams's depiction of Warlock, and the strong individual development of all the characters.[4]Annual #2 (1986) featured the first American appearance of Psylocke; it, along withAnnual #3 (1987), was drawn by Alan Davis.Annual #4 (1988) saw Mirage's powers dramatically enhanced so that she created physical manifestations of people's fears and desires rather than illusions.Annual #5 (1989) covers the New Mutants' return to Earth after a lengthy stay inAsgard in the main series.Annual #6 (1990) was part of the "Days of Future Present" crossover. It also featured the first appearance (in pin-up form) ofShatterstar, as part of a planned line-up change preview that was ultimately discarded when Louise Simonson left the series.Annual #7 (1991) was the last issue of the series.
Furthermore, in 1990,Ann Nocenti andBret Blevins produced an 80-page issue calledThe New Mutants Summer Special. The special saw several New Mutants (Boom Boom, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, and Warlock) dragged into a world of television, which served as a vehicle for Nocenti to discussmass media theory.
In 1986,Professor X was written out of the series. Before he left, he made the X-Men's one-time nemesis,Magneto, headmaster of his school.[7] Magneto would be the team's longest-running headmaster, holding the position fromThe New Mutants #35 through to #75. Fiercely overprotective of his students, particularly after the events of the "Mutant Massacre" and "Fall of the Mutants", he was increasingly used as an uptightfoil for the adventurous New Mutants, setting rules that they would inevitably break in the interests of helping their friends.
During Simonson's run, Magma is written out of the book,[8] and Magik is de-aged back to childhood.[9] Due to his unpopularity with readers and artists, Cypher is killed off inThe New Mutants #60 (February 1988). Simonson recalled, "He wasn't fun to draw. He just stood around and hid behind a tree during a fight... Every artist who ever did him said 'Can't we kill this guy?' We would get letters from fans about how much they hated him."[2] Simonson also folded theX-Terminators, a group of young wards fromX-Factor, into the New Mutants.[10]
The X-Terminators added to the team were:
In 1989, Simonson crafted a saga in which the team journeyed toAsgard, the home of the gods ofNorse mythology. The storyline wrote Mirage out of the series, as she joined the Norse pantheon as one of the Valkyrior.[11]The New Mutants #64 deals with the team's mourning of Cypher, and includes a scene in which Warlock attempts to resurrect Cypher by taking his corpse out of its coffin and showing it to Cypher's loved ones. Simonson holds it to be her favorite New Mutants story, though she acknowledges that many readers found it too morbid.[2]
A new mentor for the group, the mysterious mercenaryCable, was introduced.[11] Over the next year, several longtime team members were written out or killed off. WhenRob Liefeld andFabian Nicieza took over as writers of the final three issues of the series, they included several harder-edged characters:
The New Mutants was cancelled in 1991 with issue #100, but the new platoon-like team formed by Cable continued inX-Force. That team featured a variety of the formerNew Mutants cast.
Literary scholar Ramzi Fawaz emphasizes the significance of the original run. He argues that in contrast to the original X-Men stories,New Mutants "radically reassesses the concept of the 'mutant superhero.'" For example, Fawaz writes that mutant powers are re-envisioned as traumatic experiences of shame. He argues that this is a response to the fragmentation of social liberation movements in the 1980s. He writes that "Like the social movements of the 1980s that destabilized instrumentalist understandings of politics,The New Mutants recast the figure of the superhero as a contingent political actor detached from an assumed role as a purveyor of liberal ideals."[12]
| New Mutants (Training Squad) | |
|---|---|
 The New Mutants fromNew X-Men: Academy X #2 by Randy Green. From left to right: Danielle Moonstar, Surge, Prodigy, Wind Dancer, Elixir, Wallflower. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | New X-Men: Academy X #2 (August 2004) |
| Created by | Nunzio DeFilippis Christina Weir Keron Grant Randy Green |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | Xavier Institute for Higher Learning |
| Member(s) | Danielle Moonstar (advisor) Elixir Icarus Prodigy Surge Wallflower Wind Dancer Wither |
The second incarnation of theNew Mutants debuted in 2003 with an ongoing series of the same name, written byNunzio DeFilippis andChristina Weir.[13][14][15] The series would continue for 13 issues, until June 2004.[16] Following the end ofGrant Morrison'sNew X-Men,New Mutants was then relaunched asNew X-Men: Academy X.[14][17][15] The series featured a handful of the dozens of mutant teenagers attending theXavier Institute, as well as their instructors, which included variousX-Men as well as former members of the original New Mutants (Karma,Magma,Danielle Moonstar, andWolfsbane).
The featured group of students never refer to themselves as "the New Mutants" before the series relaunch asNew X-Men: Academy X in 2004, and the reorganization of the Xavier Institute student body into various training squads. The New Mutants, advised by Dani Moonstar, were:
Another such group, advised byEmma Frost, was known as theHellions and, like their predecessor, was the arch-rival of the New Mutants. Whereas the originalNew Mutants series revolved around battles with world-threatening menaces,New Mutants volume 2 focused on the characters' personal relationships and struggles with controlling their powers.
After "M-Day", the cataclysmic event that decimated the world's mutant population, only 27 of the 182 students enrolled at the Xavier Institute retained their powers. The New Mutants and the other training squads were disbanded, and the remaining students were folded into a single junior team, the New X-Men.[24]
| New Mutants | |
|---|---|
_1_cover.jpg) Variant cover toNew Mutants (vol. 3) #1 byBob McLeod. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | New Mutants (vol. 3) #1 (2009) |
| Created by | Zeb Wells (writer) Diógenes Neves (artist) |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | Utopia 1128 Mission Street,San Francisco |
In May 2009, a third volume ofNew Mutants was launched.[citation needed] The team is a reunion of the cast from the first volume, consisting ofCannonball,Karma,Magik,Magma,Danielle Moonstar, andSunspot.
The reunion is spun from events from the limited seriesX-Infernus. Magik shows up at the X-Men headquarters in San Francisco, claiming to be from the future and warning that Dani Moonstar and Karma are in danger. Once tests show that Illyanna is not an imposter, Cannonball leads a rescue mission with her. They are joined by Magma and Sunspot.[25] They end up taking onLegion.
In a later issue, Warlock returns to Earth[26] and Cypher reappears alive, under the control ofSelene. After Warlock frees him from Selene's control, Cypher joins the team.[27][28]
During "Siege",Hela empowers Dani (now going by her old codename Mirage)[29] as a Valkyrie to bring the souls of the fallenAsgardians to her.[30] During "X-Men: Second Coming", Karma loses her leg after being stabbed byCameron Hodge.[31]
Magik leads the team toLimbo as part of her plan for revenge against the Elder Gods.Cyclops has her imprisoned for her actions.[32] When the X-Men split in the "Schism" storyline, the majority of the team sides with Cyclops and stays on Utopia, while Cannonball and Karma side with Wolverine and leave to join the newJean Grey School for Higher Learning.[33]
Cyclops tasks the remaining team with closing off some of the X-Men's 'unfinished business', and they ultimately recruit:
A six issue mini-seriesThe New Mutants: Dead Souls was launched in March 2018, written byMatthew Rosenberg and pencilled by Adam Gorham.[36] The new team is a corporate-sponsored squad employed by former New MutantKarma, who has inherited the multinational Hatchi Corporation. The team consists of other former New MutantsMagik,Wolfsbane,Rictor, andBoom-Boom, alongside:
The team investigated paranormal and magical threats, ultimately realizing Karma had sent them on a hunt for her brother Trân Cao Mạnh, whose soul had escaped her body and was seeking a way to restore his own.[37] The series ended on a cliffhanger, where Karma, Magik, Wolfsbane and Strong Guy, along withMirage, were infected by theTransmode Virus viaWarlock.[38] Rosenberg carried the unresolved plot threads across to his contemporaneous run onUncanny X-Men, folding the remaining members of the New Mutants team into theX-Men, led byCyclops.
New Mutants was relaunched in November 2019 as part ofDawn of X.[39] There were initially two teams who appeared in rotating issues. The first was a reunion of the original New Mutants team, featuringMirage,Karma,Magik,Sunspot,Wolfsbane, andCypher, as well as:
The second team[40] featuredBoom-Boom and, later,Magma, alongside:
These two teams ultimately merged into one under writerEd Brisson, in which they rescued a young mutant from the fictional European nation Carnella and took on the online hate group DOX.[41]
WhenVita Ayala took over as writer, a new team featuring older New Mutants Karma, Magik, Mirage,Warlock,Warpath, and Wolfsbane acted as teachers and mentors to a new group of younger students known as the Lost Club.[42] This new group of students (which at first includes Anole, Scout, Rain Boy, Cosmar, and No-Girl) falls under the influence of and later into conflict with the Shadow King, culminating in an adventure through the astral plane.[43]
In the concluding mini-seriesNew Mutants Lethal Legion, a group of students from the Lost Club join the New Mutants in an adventure that pits them againstCount Nefaria and the Lethal Legion.[44] This includes:
In 1982, the original New Mutants team debuted inMarvel Graphic Novel #4.[45] Originally led by Professor X, and later by Magneto, the lineup gradually expanded to include additional recruits, with subsequent volumes and titles have features a variety of team members and associated characters.
| Character | Real name | Joined in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professor X | Charles Xavier | Marvel Graphic Novel #4 (1982) | Team founder |
| Karma | Mạnh Cao Xuân | Original team leader | |
| Wolfsbane | Rahne Sinclair | ||
| Psyche / Mirage | Danielle Moonstar | Eventual co-leader | |
| Cannonball | Samuel Guthrie | Eventual co-leader | |
| Sunspot | Roberto Da Costa |
| Character | Real name | Joined in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shadowcat | Katherine Pryde | The Uncanny X-Men #167 (1983) | Leaves to rejoin X-Men team inThe Uncanny X-Men #168 |
| Magma | Amara Aquilla | The New Mutants #13 (1984) | |
| Magik | Illyana Rasputina | The New Mutants #14 (1984) | |
| Warlock | The New Mutants #21 (1984) | ||
| Cypher | Douglas Ramsey | ||
| Magneto | Max "Magnus" Eisenhardt | The Uncanny X-Men #200 (1985) | Headmaster (replacing Xavier) |
| Bird-Brain | The New Mutants #55 (1987) | ||
| Firefist | Russell "Rusty" Collins | The New Mutants #77 (1989) | |
| Skids | Sally Blevins | ||
| Rictor | Julio Richter | ||
| Boom-Boom | Tabitha "Tabby" Smith | ||
| Cable | Nathan Summers | The New Mutants #89 (1990) | Leader (replacing Magneto) |
| Warpath | James Proudstar | The New Mutants #99 (1991) | |
| X-Man | Nate Grey | New Mutants (vol. 3) #28 (2011) | |
| Blink | Clarice Ferguson | New Mutants (vol. 3) #45 (2012) | |
| Shatterstar | Gaveedra Seven/Benjamin Russell | Cable #150 (2017) | |
| Longshot | |||
| X-23 | Laura Kinney | ||
| Armor | Hisako Ichiki | ||
| Doop | |||
| Strong Guy | Guido Carosella | The New Mutants: Dead Souls #1 (2018) | |
| Chamber | Jonothon Starsmore | New Mutants (vol. 4) #1 (2019)[46] | |
| Mondo | |||
| Escapade | Shela Sexton | New Mutants (vol. 4) #31 (2022)[47] | |
| Cerebella | Martha Johansson | New Mutants Lethal Legion #1 (2023) | Formerly known as No-Girl |
| Honey Badger / Scout | Gabrielle "Gabby" Kinney | ||
| Character | Real name | Joined in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psyche / Mirage | Danielle Moonstar | New X-Men (vol. 2) #2 | Team Advisor |
| Wind Dancer | Sofia Elizabeth Mantega | ||
| Wallflower | Laurie Collins | ||
| Prodigy | David Alleyne | ||
| Surge | Noriko Ashida | ||
| Elixir | Josh Foley | ||
| Wither | Kevin Ford | ||
| Icarus | Joshua Guthrie |
| Character | Real name | Joined in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anole | Victor Borkowski | New Mutants (vol. 4) #14 (2020) | |
| Honey Badger / Scout | Gabrielle "Gabby" Kinney | ||
| Rain Boy | Carl Aalston | ||
| Cosmar | Natashia Repina | ||
| Cerebella | Martha Johansson | Formerly known as No-Girl | |
| Escapade | Shela Sexton | New Mutants (vol. 4) #31 (2022) | |
| Leo | Leo Eng |
| Character | Real name | Active in | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brightwind / Darkwind | The New Mutants Special Edition #1 (1985) | Danielle Moonstar's Steed | |
| Gosamyr | The New Mutants #67 (1988) | ||
| Artie Maddicks | The New Mutants #77 (1989) | ||
| Leech | |||
| Copycat | Vanessa Carlysle | New Mutants, Vol. 1 #98 (1991) | |
| Feral | Maria Callasantos | The New Mutants #100 | |
| Glob Herman | Robert Herman | New Mutants (vol. 4) #3 (2020) | |
| Maxime | |||
| Manon | |||
| Galura | Gabrielle Diwa | New Mutants (vol. 4) #21 (2021) | |
The 1991 graphic novelWolverine: Rahne of Terra, byPeter David, is set in aheroic fantasy universe in whichWolfsbane's counterpart is Princess Rain of Geshem. Other denizens of Terra include Rain's lady-in-waitingTabby (Boom-Boom), the knightsRichard (Rictor),Robert (Sunspot), andSamuel (Cannonball), and the peasant boyDouglas (Cypher). The Terrans all duplicate the powers of their counterparts in one way or another.[48]
In 1997, a three-issue reunion series written byBen Raab and illustrated byBernard Chang,The New Mutants: Truth or Death, featured the young New Mutants traveling forward in time to meet their older, jaded selves inX-Force.
Here the New Mutants consist of X-Ceptional, who can explode permanently, Riches, who turns whatever he touches to gold, Minerva, who can manipulate reality, and Riches' sister Rags. Riches kills Professor X and takes over the world. Rags begins a relationship with Gambit, and Minerva goes to pure idea. X-Ceptional grabs Riches and explodes, killing them both.[49]
InUltimate X-Men, theAcademy of Tomorrow (previously called New Mutants) is founded byEmma Frost. It is loosely linked to the X-Men via Emma Frost's professional relationship with her former lover and teacherCharles Xavier. This Academy accepts any talented students, regardless of their genetic status. The team is headed by Frost and field leaderHavok. DuringUltimatum, the Academy of Tomorrow is destroyed in a terrorist attack byMultiple Man.[50] Former members includeAngel, Beast,Cannonball,Dazzler,Karma,Northstar,Polaris,Sunspot, andCypher.[51]
The New Mutants, based on the first comics incarnation, appear inX-Men: Evolution, consisting ofBoom-Boom,Cannonball,Magma,Sunspot,Wolfsbane,Berzerker,Iceman,Jubilee, andMultiple.
Aself-titled film adaptation of the New Mutants was released on August 28, 2020. The film was directed byJosh Boone, with a script written by Boone and Knate Gwaltney, and starsMaisie Williams as Rahne Sinclair / Wolfsbane,[52]Anya Taylor-Joy asIllyana Rasputin / Magik,[53]Charlie Heaton as Sam Guthrie / Cannonball,[54]Blu Hunt asDani Moonstar / Mirage,[55] andHenry Zaga as Bobby da Costa / Sunspot.[56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]
