After the success of rebooting the X-Men, Chris Claremont gave the fans of the X-Men a secondary team that was focused on the new wave of students going to the school. Thus The New Mutants was born, but while this team followed a familiar format and focused again on a group of outcasts, this new team never quite reached the same heights of the mutants before them. In fact, of the team, only a few characters really broke out: Magik who joined a little bit later, Dani Moonstar, and Warlock. So, what happened and why don’t we have more stories of the next generation of mutants?
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More than a Second Rate X-Men
While the New Mutants were a mutant team, they were never supposed to go out into the field despite having matching uniforms that say otherwise. That wasn’t their intended role, at least initially. They were supposed to be students first instead of trying to compete with the X-Men in the field. This filled a really important part of the mutant story. A huge part of the X-Men story that at this point had largely been forgotten was the school element and bringing that back was a huge part of the New Mutants. They were supposed to be kids doing things kids do, just as mutants.
The characters on the New Mutants team also had a lot of interesting dynamics that weren’t present among the X-Men at the time. Magik had the whole aspect of being raised in Limbo and being part sorceress. Sunspot dealt with how his family wealth affected the rest of the team as well as issues with his father. Warlock dealt with being an alien hunted down by his father in a death scenario. The New Mutants had a lot more interpersonal issues compared to the X-Men and it’s something that made them more interesting than the adults and what made them more relatable for readers.
But despite the depth of the characters and how they fit into a much-needed role within Marvel’s mutant world, as their story progressed — including when Magneto came into the picture — save for the standout characters, the team has mostly faded away, leaving a lot of interesting stories untold.
The Next Generation of Mutants Need to Return
Since their original series, the New Mutants have always been fighting to have a book up and running. They always seem to have their own title only for short periods of time while the main X-Men seem to be everywhere both in terms of the number of stories being told but literally where they are within the Marvel Universe as well. The only real aspect of things that feels ignored when it comes to Marvel’s mutants are the stories of the younger generation and that’s a shame. In the world of all the X-titles, we need a more down-to-earth book that could explore those moments with more young adult characters even if they aren’t necessarily on one dedicated team anymore. The original New Mutants characters, even if a little older now, would have a lot to offer. And with what Marvel has on the horizon, the time to bring back the New Mutants is now.
After many years the “weakest” link of the New Mutants has slowly gained more traction. Originally being able to decipher ever language, Doug Ramsey has become the Heir to Apocalypse. Leading an upcoming event to his name in the future, Doug aka Revelation could become the harbinger of the team’s return. Despite having a lot of weird names over the years, Doug has a lot of immense power at the moment that’s untapped. He’s long been a sort of fan favorite of the team and now has some amazing abilities now. It would be fascinating to see how his original team reacts to things and how that could play into the larger store.
The bottom line is this: the New Mutants should have been a much bigger deal than within the world of Marvel’s mutants. For being one of the first spin-off teams they’ve never really been given the time to shine that they deserve.
What do you think of The New Mutants? Let us know down in the comments.
