Disney Says New Mutants Is Part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Marvel fans were surprised this week with the reveal of a brand new trailer for The New Mutants, the horror-inspired X-Men spinoff movie that was meant to be released before the Disney purchase of 20th Century Fox and before Dark Phoenix ever premiered in theaters. But the movie was put on the shelf for a couple of years, and now it looks like Disney is ready to unleash this scary X-Men movie out into the world. But there were questions over whether or not the film was being retooled to be even scarier, to get an R rating, or perhaps even to tie into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Well, we might have our answer.

According to Disney’s official newsletter for the D23 fan club, The New Mutants will be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

UPDATE: Disney has removed the mention of The New Mutants and its connection to the MCU in their D23 newsletter. Click here for more information.

Disney’s official email to fans states: “There’s a seriously electrifying new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it comes in the form of the latest from Twentieth Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment…

“The New Mutants is an original horror thriller set in an isolated hospital, where a group of young mutants is being held for psychiatric monitoring. When strange occurrences begin to take place, both their new mutant abilities and their friendships will be tested as they battle to try and make it out alive.”

Now, this could be a mistake, as the official Disney newsletter might have mixed up a few wires. We all know that New Mutants was under a lot of scrutiny from studio executives even before Disney purchased Fox and took control of the X-Men franchise, with rumors of massive reshoots and rewrites possibly scaring director Josh Boone off of the project. After numerous delays, some fans even doubted that the movie would ever see the light of day.

But Boone surprised everyone this month when he revealed the new trailer and told fans that it’s the version of the film he intended to release nearly two years ago for its original release date.

Does this mean that Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige took a look at the final project and found this to be a great opportunity to introduce mutants into the Marvel Cinematic Universe? It’s unclear at this point, but Disney is at least giving hope that this will not just be a one-and-done adventure, and this could be the first step in the X-Men franchise becoming a prominent part of the MCU.

The New Mutants is set to premiere in theaters on April 3rd.