Sadly, it's becoming clear Marvel Studios will struggle to retcon New Mutants into the MCU. Josh Boone's New Mutants seems to be in line for an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the most unlucky superhero movie. It's been subject to constant delays, and is currently slated to come out on August 28. Nobody's particularly expecting it to release on that date, given the current coronavirus pandemic.
It's actually a real shame. Josh Boone is the kind of director the fans love to get involved with superhero flicks, a fan whose love for the original comics shines through in every interview. Anya Taylor-Joy looks set to shine as Magik, while Maisie Williams is so perfectly cast as Wolfsbane that Marvel artists now seem to be modelling the comic book version on her. There's been some hope Marvel will retcon New Mutants into the MCU, adding a greater range of tone and style into the franchise. In theory, such a move is possible; mutants could simply be rare in the MCU, explaining why they haven't turned up yet.
Unfortunately, it's increasingly looking as though Marvel would struggle to pull that off. Such a retcon would only work if there were only a small number of mutants in the world, and if some of the more prominent ones - say, the likes of Charles Xavier and Magneto - were yet to become active. But Josh Boone has recently confirmed New Mutants does refer to Professor X, and potentially even to the X-Men as well. "Yeah, it’s there," he noted in a recent interview. "They talk about Professor X and those things, but it doesn’t have cameos from anyone or anything like that."
Disney released New Mutants' opening scene and an extended trailer at Comic-Con@Home, and the new footage makes things even more difficult. It included a clip of an ominous graveyard, likely connected to the mutant research institution the kids are being held in. It was clearly intended to be a mutant graveyard, and the people buried there were completely dehumanized, referred to only with a number. It's unclear just how many mutants have been laid to rest there, but the brief shot showed graves numbering up to 139. Clearly New Mutants is set in a world where mutants are fairly common, even if they are still hated and feared.
Sadly, it's becoming clear it will be very difficult indeed for Marvel Studios to incorporate New Mutants into the MCU. That, in turn, means it's unlikely Josh Boone will ever be given the opportunity to make the rest of the trilogy he'd originally planned. However good the film may be, and however well received, Marvel will most likely want to move on from the Fox era and get set to introduce their own version of mutants.
