Disney & Marvel had no plans to make The New Mutants part of the MCU

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

THE NEW MUTANTS finally arrived over the weekend and it wasn't a hoax. After a series of delays, the film really opened and can prove that it's actually a real thing. The film opened to $7 million over the weekend which isn't all that bad considering we're in the middle of a pandemic and not all theaters have reopened yet. I feel like after this week is up that THE NEW MUTANTS will begin to be a distant memory so that could be why director Josh Boone is talking the film up while he can and he wants to make one thing clear: this project was always intended to be a Fox Marvel movie because Disney and Marvel had no intention of including THE NEW MUTANTS in the MCU.

Boone has been making the rounds promoting THE NEW MUTANTS and during a recent interview with "Den of Geek" he was asked if there were ever any conversations that took place with the brass at Disney/Marvel Studios about retooling the film so it could be placed within the MCU and Boone had a pretty definitive answer about it:

"No, none at all. I just really finished the process we'd already gotten kind of 70% of the way through before the merger happened. It was nice to have the retrospect of the year where I was off working on [CBS All Access limited series] The Stand and doing other things to come back and look at it, because we sat there and did other little things here and there. I love Marvel movies, but we were a Fox Marvel movie. So it's like as far as what that means or what it means to them, I don't have any ide. We just sort of made the movie we wanted to make at Fox, and we were inherited by Disney. The cast and I would certainly go make another one in a second if we could, and I'd love to see these characters at least carried on in some way because I don't think anybody's got a better young cast."

THE NEW MUTANTS is a spin-off of the X-MEN that is centered on a group of young mutants who are locked in a mysterious facility, just discovering their powers. I can see how at one point they could've considered inserting them into the MCU but, given all the behind-the-scenes issues, delays, and lukewarm reception from critics, I feel like Disney is just happy to have gotten it out so all the chatter can end about the film. The X-MEN are now a part of the MCU and I'm sure Marvel boss Kevin Feige won't be carrying over any of the Fox Marvel connections so it's safe to say that THE NEW MUTANTS don't be welcomed with open arms. When Boone was asked if there was any plan to include them and he says "No, none at all", it seems like the decision was made long before its three-year journey to the big screen. Since those discussions never happened this is now the last Fox-produced Marvel adaptation and an end of the Fox Marvel era. At least it seems to be better received than DARK PHOENIX but maybe that's not saying much.

If it was possible, would YOU have included THE NEW MUTANTS in the MCU and how would you have done it?