The director and stars of The New Mutants don't think the film's characters would fit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The X-Men are now finally under the control of Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios, but the final film from Fox's X-Men franchise has still yet to be released. The horror-tinged X-Men movie generated plenty of excitement when the first trailer debuted in 2017. However, the film has gone through multiple delays and Disney's acquisition of Fox and still not been released.
Instead of hitting one of its previously set release dates, New Mutants is now scheduled to hit theaters in late August. Although director Josh Boone originally had plans to make a trilogy of films, the future of New Mutants remains unclear. Even before seeing the movie, many fans have hoped that if New Mutants lives up to the potential of the first trailer that it could become part of the MCU. The film boasts a talented young cast that includes Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt, and Henry Zaga as the X-Men characters, but New Mutants' team doesn't think they'd fit with the MCU.
Screen Rant had the opportunity to speak to the cast and director of New Mutants as part of Comic-Con@Home, and we asked them for their thoughts on how this movie and its characters could work in the MCU. After creating a movie that is mostly separated from even Fox's other X-Men movies so it can stand on its own, it is difficult for those involved to picture any of the New Mutants as part of the MCU.
Charlie Heaton: It's hard, because I think kind of what Josh is saying, this really feels so in its own world. It's really hard to see them stood next to [MCU heroes]. They just don't compare. These are kids doing the best with what they have
Josh Boone: It would be really weird in this movie if Wolverine showed up. They're sort of in their own tonal space, and the aesthetic space is sort of its own thing. So, it'd be weird and interesting to see them kind of with other characters. But to me, if fans love it, we'd certainly love to make another one.
The reasons given for why New Mutants wouldn't work with the MCU are understandable, and at this point, the likelihood of the movie joining the shared universe is low. Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios had no involvement in developing New Mutants, and it doesn't appear that this changed during post-production once Disney bought Fox. We don't even know how the movie does or doesn't reference Fox's X-Men franchise either, so there's a chance that it wouldn't work in the MCU from a canon perspective anyway. Plus, New Mutants is going for a darker horror tone that the MCU hasn't touched, with Feige even backing off claims that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will be a scary movie.
That said, almost every argument for New Mutants not fitting in with the MCU are prime examples of why it could be great for them to merge. The possibility of New Mutants becoming part of the MCU would mean Feige has a group of young mutants that could be used to introduce the concept to the MCU in some capacity - all while keeping rising stars like Taylor-Joy and Williams in the fold. New Mutants would also be the first step for Marvel into the horror genre and add more tonal and stylistic differences between MCU films and franchises. This isn't to say that The New Mutants will be part of the MCU at some point, but if the movie is a success, then who knows what the future will hold, especially if Boone wants to try and make future installments in the MCU.
