The New Mutants: X-Men Easter Eggs And Comic Ties Explained

The New Mutants is loaded with X-Men easter eggs and moments from the original comics by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz but it also made some changes from those books and left X-universe threads that we will never see fulfilled.

Now that The New Mutants is in theaters, we can recap the Easter eggs and ties to the larger X-Men universe, as well as the sequel plans which were definitely not very subtle in this movie. We are probably never going to see a sequel to this since Disney acquired Fox and will be hitting the reset button on all of the mutant characters, so we’ve been able to get the inside scoop on a trilogy would have been from the filmmakers. All of that and more is included in our Easter egg recap.

Warning — major spoilers for The New Mutants follow.

Demon Bear

The New Mutants is based on Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkewicz’s Demon Bear comic from 1983. In the books, the New Mutants characters are much more familiar with their mutant abilities by the time Demon Bear comes to town but Moonstar, Cannonball, Sunspot, Magik, and Wolfsbane are all very much a part of that story.

Magma doesn’t make the cut in the adaptation, nor do cameos from characters like Professor X or the Starjammers, but those absences are replaced with Dr. Cecilia Reyes, who didn’t play a part in the comics but for some reason is tasked with maintaining 5 powerful and erratic young mutants, totally solo.

In the words of Deadpool, “It’s almost like the studio couldn’t afford another X-Man.”

Mister Sinister

Dr. Reyes has the kids convinced that she is essentially training them to be X-Men, so one might assume when she refers to her boss and the place they can move on to, it’s Professor X and his School for Gifted Youngsters. That’s what Sunspot thinks, and he says so while rolling around in a wheel chair, which is another reference to Charles Xavier in itself. 

Reyes is working for the Essex Corporation. This is a group run by Nathaniel Essex, aka Mr. Sinister, aka the biggest villain we never got in X-Men movies. The good news of that is Marvel Studios apparently hates using villains that have been used in movies before if the Spider-Man movies are any indication, so maybe he’ll make his way to the MCU?

Mr. Sinister has been teased in previous films, like X-Men: Apocalypse. In Apocalypse’s post-credits scene, we saw that blood samples had been taken from the Weapon X version of Wolverine to try to manufacture more creatures like him.

Logan Ties

This later resulted in Laura Kinney, aka X-23, who we saw in Logan, and The New Mutants looked like it might have tied itself to the facility where all of the kids from Logan had also been locked down and experimented on. When Moonstar connects with the demons of this facility, she sees what looks like the same sort of scenes from Logan where young mutants are trying to be molded into weapons and experimented on.

Once upon a time, X-Men producers Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg said there were plans for Mr. Sinister to appear in Wolverine 3, the movie that ended up being Logan and director James Mangold rejected all of that, so it’s possible that back when Josh Boone was making this movie what feels like 900 years ago in 2017, the plans for an eventual Mr. Sinister were still on the table.

It’s very clear that Nathaniel Essex is out there in this world too. The pin on Cecilia Reyes’s jacket is a clear nod to the red diamond seen on Mr. Sinister’s head in comics.

Comic Nods

There are other nods to the Demon Bear comic, aside from the additional new artwork during the end credits designed by original artist Bill Sinkiewicz. For example, being trapped in a cold winter-y limbo is something which happens to the mutants fighting the Demon Bear and defeating the bear does lead to a warm summer day. Plus, the southern accent they forced poor Charlie Heaton to struggle with as Cannonball was a move designed to keep his dialect accurate to how Claremont wrote it in comics.

Dani Moonstar also spends a big part of the story unconscious. In the book, Dani goes head to head with the Demon Bear early and loses and the doct  ors around her are trying to revive her — not kill her. The relationship with Wolfsbane does play a key role nonetheless, as a psychic bit of communication is ultimately what helps the New Mutants win in the big. 

And when they win, it is not any It: Chapter Two I’m-not-afraid-of-you sort of conclusion like we get when Dani faces her Demon Bear fear in the movie. Magik, launched by Cannonball, is the one to slice the Demon Bear in half, freeing the spirits of those trapped inside of it. When all is said  and done, X-Men hero Storm brings in Healer to rescue Dani Moonstar from paralysis.

Colossus and Kitty Pride

We did get to see Lockheed in action, this is a reference to Ilyana Rasputin’s family tree. Ilyana is the sister of Colossus, a character we’ve seen recently in Deadpool movies, and Colossus dates Kitty Pride. Most often, Lockheed is Kitty Pride’s pet dragon and Magik’s relationship with the dragon comes from spending time with Kitty and Colossus. 

While there were lots of numbers on grave stones, one grave stone in the movie was number 138 — a reference to New Mutants, Vol. 1, issue #38. On its cover: none other than a New Mutants graveyard. Well played.

At the end of the day, The New Mutants followed the overall structure of the Demon Bear comic, but ultimately told its own story with clear plans for future X-pansions. What Easter eggs and references did you catch while watching The New Mutants? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram @BrandonDavisBD! 

Sequels

Because the sequels won’t be happening, director Josh Boone revealed his original trilogy plans to ComicBook.com.

“What we sold to Fox was really a comic book [Knate Lee] and I had made, that showed what all three films would be,” Boone revealed. “So it’s like the first one was always a rubber reality horror movie based on Demon Bear. The second one was always an alien invasion movie based on a Warlock and his dad coming to earth and all that. And then the third one was gonna be Inferno and be more of like a demonic supernatural horror movie. We’ve finally crossed over with the X-Men movies like it does in the comics for Inferno and all that. That was sort of the dream.”