The New Mutants director Josh Boone confirms Disney has no plans for the X-Men spinoff to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Based on the comics by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod in the early 80's, the long-awaited New Mutants movie has suffered numerous delays since it was filmed over three years ago, but has finally made its way to theaters. After movie theaters took a hit from the coronavirus shutdown, Disney intended for New Mutants to be the movie that will usher audiences back to theaters. The film earned the biggest opening-day box office since U.S. theaters have reopened.
The New Mutants focuses on five gifted teenaged mutants played by Anya Taylor-Joy (Magik), Maisie Williams (Wolfsbane), Charlie Heaton (Cannonball), Blu Hunt (Mirage) and Henry Zaga (Sunspot). The five are taken to a secret lab in an abandoned asylum where they must escape using their newly discovered powers. Boone intended for the film to go a different direction from most superhero movies, making it more of a thriller with horror elements. The movie was meant to be the first of a trilogy that would follow the same horror tone, but the plan was nixed after facing constant delays in major part due to the Disney-Fox merger. Since Disney's 2019 acquisition of Fox in a $71.3 billion deal, fans have eagerly awaited for Fox's X-verse to exist in the same universe as Disney's Marvel superheroes. However, Disney does not seem to be discussing that idea for the time being.
In an interview with Den of Geek, Boone confirms that Disney has not had any plans to incorporate the New Mutants into the MCU. When asked if there have been any creative talks with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige about the possibility of retconning The New Mutants into the MCU, Boone said:
"No, not 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 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."
Though there was speculation New Mutants could join the MCU, it isn't surprising to hear this is the case. With the exception of Deadpool, Disney reportedly plans to reboot all of the X-Men characters as the property finally becomes part of the MCU. For that reason, it was always unlikely New Mutants was integrated into Disney's massive franchise. Marvel Studios obviously has their own ideas for the direction they want to take the X-Men in, and it's easier to just wipe the slate clean and start fresh. Right now, Disney is starting to develop movies based on the Marvel titles they inherited from Fox (including Fantastic Four), so it'll be interesting to see what they decide to do.
Also, it's worth mentioning The New Mutants has not received positive reviews, despite being such a highly-anticipated film. The general consensus is that it's a generic comic book adaptation that doesn't leave much of an impression. The comic's co-creator McLeod even blasted The New Mutants for misspelling his name in the credits. Based on the movie's horror tone and negative reviews, it's hard to say how The New Mutants would fit into the MCU if Feige and his team decided to bring them in. It can be argued that the young mutants would be a great addition as it'd be a new style for the MCU, but instead, Boone's film exists in its own world.
Source: Den of Geek