Self is excited to see Warlock on the big screen!
The Hollywood Reporter revealed today that the upcoming X-Men spinoff film New Mutants has brought in Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, the writing team behind YA adaptations The Fault in Our Stars and The Spectacular Now. In May 2015, director Josh Boone was said to be co-writing the film with Knate Gwaltney, but that appears to have changed.
Neustadter and Weber have also written such films 500 Days of Summer, The Pink Panther 2, Paper Towns, Me Before You, and The Masterpiece.
According to the article, the movie "will focus on the angst-driven adventures of a diverse group of teens that include Native American Danielle Moonstar, Scots girl Wolfsbane, Brazilian ladies man Sunspot, a Kentuckian code-named Cannonball, and Russian teen Magik. Also in the mix will be an alien named Warlock."
For those not familiar with the Marvel Comics characters, here's a brief rundown of the team:
- Cannonball (Samuel Guthrie), a mild-mannered Kentuckian and eventual co-leader, who becomes nigh-invulnerable when rocketing through the air.
- Mirage (Danielle Moonstar, originally codenamed Psyche), a Cheyenne and eventual co-leader, who can create visual empathic three-dimensional illusions.
- Sunspot (Roberto da Costa), a Brazilian who gained superhuman strength fueled by sunlight and can store solar energy in his body to use his super strength during the night.
- Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair), a Scot who can transform into a wolf-like creature.
- Magik (Illyana Rasputin), sister of the Russian X-Man Colossus, an accomplished mystic who can open "teleportation discs" allowing travel to Limbo and from there, any point on Earth.
- Warlock, an extraterrestrial of the techno-organic race known as the Technarchy.
Created in 1982 by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod, the New Mutants first appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #4 as another team of young mutants brought together until the supervision of Professor X while the X-Men were off in space fighting the Brood. After the group received their own monthly series from Claremont and McLeod, the book shifted to a darker tone with the arrival of artist Bill Sienkiewicz. In addition to very serious depictions of teenage angst and growing pains, the series featured themes of mysticism and psychic boundaries. The stories also relied on wilder, more far-fetched premises than were typical of X-Men at the time. Locales included demonic dimensions, alternate futures, and an ancient Roman civilization hidden within the Amazon rainforest. The New Mutants also encountered a secret society called the Hellfire Club, and began a rivalry with their young apprentices, the Hellions.
Sunspot has already appeared in live-action, played by Adan Canto in the 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past.
New Mutants will most likely arrive in theaters sometime in late 2017.