The Gifted's X-Men Connections Explained
Following the success of Legion on FX earlier this year, 20th Century Fox is expanding the television reach of their X-Men franchise with The Gifted on Fox this fall.
The new series is said to exist in its own timeline and follows a family that includes two mutant children as they go on the run and meets up with an underground mutant resistance movement.
The trailer for The Gifted debuted as Fox's upfronts presentation and excited fans have likely been poring over it again and again. There's a good reason. The trailer already shows several connections to the X-Men source material and the wider X-Men movies universe.
Let's break down what those X-Men connections in The Gifted's trailer are and what they could mean for the show's future.
Sentinel Services
The Sentinels are some of the X-Men's most iconic villains. Designed by Jack Kirby, the Sentinels have traditionally been robots designed to hunt mutants either for capture to kill.
In a modern update, the trailer shows members of something called Sentinel Services. More details are needed, but this seems like a modern update to the original Sentinel idea. Instead of remotely controlled robots, the Sentinels are a privately funded security form specializing in dealing with mutant threats. Presumably, the operation has significant human, financial, and technological resources.
Humans as Sentinels is unusual, but not unheard of. During the period following the "Decimation" of mutants after M-Day (see the House of M event) the Office of National Emergency stationed Sentinels outside of Xavier's school. Unlike traditional Sentinels, these were mech-like Sentinels with human pilots.
When producer Lauren Shuler Donner confirmed that Sentinels would be in The Gifted, human security forces are almost certainly not what fans had in mind. That's okay though because the trailer also showed us that Sentinel services have some other tricks up its sleeves.
Sentinels
These robots are quite different from the giant, menacing Sentinels that appeared in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
The robots, presumably a form of Sentinel, are relatively tiny and very agile and fast. The design could possibly be inspired by some of the "wild Sentinels" that appeared in Grant Morrison's New X-Men series. However, those Sentinels were self-evolving and used parts from wherever they could find them to change their forms and create new Sentinels. The robots in The Gifted seem clearly designed with a specific plan in mind.
This, of course, will leave fans wondering if the towering Sentinels they're used to will also appear in The Gifted.
Polaris
There were several notable X-Men characters in the trailer for The Gifted, including Thunderbird and Blink, but Lorna Dane may be the most interesting.
Lorna's mutant codename is Polaris. She is also sometimes referred to as the "mistress of magnetism." These names are derived from her mutant ability to control magnetic ways, thereby manipulating metal.
Lorna inherited these gifts from her father, the "master of magnetism" known as Magneto, the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Magneto and Lorna were estranged for most of her life.
While it seems unlikely, the inclusion of Polaris in The Gifted has to have X-Men fans wondering if Magneto could make an appearance on the series as well
The X-Men and the Brotherhood
Helping the case for an appearance by Magneto is the confirmation that the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants both exist in the timeline of The Gifted.
However, as the mutant Eclipse states in the trailer, the status of both groups in the present is unclear. This leaves the narrative clear for Thunderbird's underground movement to be on the frontline of the struggle for mutants' rights.
Again, fans are likely hoping that the X-Men and the Brotherhood may eventually reveal themselves to be still in business and make an appearance. That would be exciting to see, but we're not getting our hopes up too high.
Fenris?
There has been some speculation that two children in The Gifted are a version of the Fenris twins from the Marvel Comics universe.
This remains unconfirmed, but The Gifted family is named the Struckers. The Fenris twins are the children of Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker of the Marvel Comics universe, who also appeared in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The Fenris twins of the Marve Comics universe had mutant powers that allowed them to manipulate energy and fly but only while touching each other.
It would make sense if some changes were made to the names and power sets since the Baron Strucker is a Marvel Studios character.
More The Gifted
MORE THE GIFTED NEWS: The Gifted Star Clarifies Show's X-Men Timeline / The Gifted Star Clarifies Show's X-Men Timeline / Here's How Fox's New X-Men Shows Will Fit In With The Movies / X-Men: Who Are The Mutants In The Gifted?
Family adventure series THE GIFTED, from 20th Century Fox Television in association with Marvel Television, tells the story of a suburban couple whose ordinary lives are rocked by the sudden discovery that their children possess mutant powers. Forced to go on the run from a hostile government, the family joins up with an underground network of mutants and must fight to survive. Written by Matt Nix (APB, "Burn Notice"), directed by Bryan Singer (the "X-Men" franchise") and executive-produced by Nix, Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner ("X-Men: Apocalypse," "X-Men: Days of Future Past," "The Wolverine"), Simon Kinberg ("X-Men: Apocalypse," "X-Men: Days of Future Past"), Jeph Loeb ("Marvel's Daredevil," "Marvel's Jessica Jones") and Jim Chory ("Marvel's Daredevil," "Marvel's Jessica Jones"), the series stars Stephen Moyer (SHOTS FIRED), Amy Acker ("Person of Interest"), Sean Teale ("Reign"), Jamie Chung (GOTHAM), Coby Bell ("Burn Notice"), Emma Dumont ("Aquarius"), Blair Redford ("Satisfaction"), Natalie Alyn Lind (GOTHAM) and Percy Hynes White ("Night at the Museum 3").
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