What’s New Mutants’ relation to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? New Mutants was intended as part of the Fox X-Men franchise that started all the way back in 2000. The universe was being expanded with projects such as Deadpool, X-Force and New Mutants on the big screen and the likes of Legion and The Gifted on TV. Filming on New Mutants ended as far back as September 2017, but Fox delayed release several times, citing reshoots and their desire to release Dark Phoenix first. Ultimately, Fox ended up being purchased by Disney before either film saw the light of day and the Mouse was then responsible for releasing Fox’s finished films, some of which (New Mutants included) were given later than planned release dates.

Unlike Dark Phoenix, New Mutants isn’t a direct sequel to any existing X-Men movie. With Disney reportedly making their own changes to the film and mutants set to be worked into the MCU at some point in the near future (as confirmed by Kevin Feige at 2019’s San Diego Comic Con), it has been suggested that New Mutants might be reworked into the MCU, and used as an entry point for bringing mutants to the franchise. These suggestions gathered more steam when reports emerged in mid-2019 that Disney had purged any connection to the Fox X-Men series from the film.

A new trailer reveals that New Mutants does indeed appear to be set away from the franchise it originally took place in, with the central cast apparently unaware that mutants even exist. This is a stark contrast to the X-Men movies where the presence of mutants is so widely known it becomes a major political issue. But while New Mutants does now look to be free from Fox’s past efforts, it is not currently part of the MCU.

Neither Disney nor Marvel Studios had an input into the New Mutants cast, director or its overall story and, despite the switch of studio, the Fox logo remains emblazoned all over the movie’s marketing. Furthermore, the credits will reel off a host of Fox producers that have no attachment to Disney. Not only would Kevin Feige and his employers be loathe to connect the MCU to a different company in any way, making New Mutants an MCU movie could create issues further down the line if any of the film’s characters pop up elsewhere, since outside creatives were responsible for developing this particular batch of mutants. Lastly, the addition of mutants into the MCU will be a major step in the franchise’s history; there’s very little chance that this moment will occur in a movie inherited from another studio and kept in a dark cupboard for several years, especially with Black Widow coming out the very next month.

With that said, it’s easy to see why Disney might want to distance New Mutants from the X-Men movies, considering Dark Phoenix was such a monumental bomb. Evidently, the acquisition of Fox by Disney has killed any interest in the previous franchise, and fans are now just waiting for Wolverine and co. to turn up in the MCU. Consequently, it makes sense for New Mutants to be presented as an entirely self-contained X-Men story, with no connection to Fox or Disney’s other properties.

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