The New Mutants Concept Art Reveals First Look at Warlock

The New Mutants director Josh Boone planned to introduce Warlock, the alien mutant, in the film’s unlikely-to-happen sequel. Now we have a first look at how the character could have appeared in the movie. On Friday, artist Deryl Braun his first-ever work for a film to his Instagram account. That film was The New Mutants, and the project was designing Warlock for his cinematic debut. Braun writes, “A few years back this gig was my first Movie related work. Thanks again to @ironkladstudios and @jfields217 for this. Will drop some more Concepts soon.” The black and yellow color palette and ear-to-ear smile are unmistakeable carryovers from Warlock’s look in the comics. Take a look below.

Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz created Warlock for Marvel Comics. The character debuted in New Mutants #18 in 1984. Warlock is a member of the alien race called the Technarchy, who are shapeshifting, cybernetic beings. They survive by infecting organic matter with a techno-organic virus, transforming the subject into something a Technarch can consume. Warlock earned the label “mutant” because he developed a sense of compassion foreign to others of his kind. Warlock fled from ritual combat with his father, the Technarch ruler Magus, eventually landing on Earth and befriending the students at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.

In March, Boone discussed plans for The New Mutants‘ sequel, which involved growing the team with Warlock and Karma, two core team members in the comic books. “Karma was always going to be the villain in the second movie that would be absorbed into the group by the end,” Boone said. “We had always wanted to bring Karma and Warlock into the second one when we couldn’t do it in the first one.”

He also touched on why another New Mutants character, Magma, didn’t show up in the first movie and didn’t seem to factor into the sequel plans. “For us, we wanted that initial core team [for the first movie],” he said. “We just couldn’t swap out Illyana. We felt like there was no reason to do [the movie] if we couldn’t bring that character to life in the first one, wapping out for someone like Magma, [who] I don’t feel fits very well in the kind of movie we were gonna make. I’ve got Bobby already. We tried to make a team that made sense.”

After a series of release delays, The New Mutants is now playing in theaters.