Where to find it: Disney+ (Streaming October 14 in the US)
What is it, in summary?: A secret, mysterious facility holds mutant teens under the guise of helping them learn to control their new mutant abilities. When latest addition Danielle "Dani" Moonstar arrives, it kickstarts a series of strange happenings. Elements of each teen's traumatic past come to life and terrorize them, and as the teens rally together to fight these monstrous foes, they soon discover that the facility they are being locked in is not at all what it seems.
What do you love about it?: Okay, let me start by saying that I love a good superhero movie. Characters throwing punches or bright lights and coming together because The World Needs Saving Yet Again. Fun, right? Fun!
But then, some time in 2016, whispers floated around about a new superhero movie, a horror-genre superhero movie about a bunch of teens dealing with the trauma and angst of discovering they're not just teens, they're mutants. It was supposed to be a grittier, self-contained, smaller story that wouldn't involve The World Needing Any Saving and instead would focus on character! personal stories! and coming of age! And I went yes, yes please, give it to me, this is what I want, nay, need.
And then a lot (and I mean a lot) happened and the movie came out in 2020 and it f l o p p e d.
I still watched it, and I mean, it was fine. It was still a smaller story, it did have a couple of scary bits, it was cheesy, and more importantly: it had so so so much potential for fic. And the characters! Illyana, Sam, Rahne, Dani and Roberto. They were so interesting. They all had these backstories that the movie dipped into but never really dug into, and they fought with each other, and they formed fire-forged friendships, and hey, by the end they were even a found family, and those parts were really good.
Superpowers meets psychological horror? What's not to love?
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Piggy-backing off my answer to the the last question, I'm leaning towards character backstories, or character-to-character relationships, interactions, dynamics. The teens didn't end up at the facility at the same time, so some of them knew each other better than others, and there's that kind of history that gets hinted at in the movie but never really explored. I'm very interested in the Illyana and Sam friendship. He's not as cautious around her as say, Rahne, and there's this warmth in the way he calls her "Illy" that caught my attention when I first heard it.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: The New Mutants is a self-contained story, so it's really just this one movie. There are a few deleted scenes uploaded on YouTube that didn't make it to the final cut which aren't necessary to the plot, but they do help flesh out the way the characters act towards each other. Since they're deleted scenes, I guess it's up to the author if they want to consider them canon or not?
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Racism (Illyana to Dani during the Enemies portion of their Enemies to Friends journey). Child abuse/sexual assault (implied in Illyana's backstory). And the general spooks to be expected of a PG-13 horror movie.
The New Mutants (2020)
Media: Movie
Approx length: 94 mins
Where to find it: Disney+ (Streaming October 14 in the US)
What is it, in summary?: A secret, mysterious facility holds mutant teens under the guise of helping them learn to control their new mutant abilities. When latest addition Danielle "Dani" Moonstar arrives, it kickstarts a series of strange happenings. Elements of each teen's traumatic past come to life and terrorize them, and as the teens rally together to fight these monstrous foes, they soon discover that the facility they are being locked in is not at all what it seems.
What do you love about it?: Okay, let me start by saying that I love a good superhero movie. Characters throwing punches or bright lights and coming together because The World Needs Saving Yet Again. Fun, right? Fun!
But then, some time in 2016, whispers floated around about a new superhero movie, a horror-genre superhero movie about a bunch of teens dealing with the trauma and angst of discovering they're not just teens, they're mutants. It was supposed to be a grittier, self-contained, smaller story that wouldn't involve The World Needing Any Saving and instead would focus on character! personal stories! and coming of age! And I went yes, yes please, give it to me, this is what I want, nay, need.
And then a lot (and I mean a lot) happened and the movie came out in 2020 and it f l o p p e d.
I still watched it, and I mean, it was fine. It was still a smaller story, it did have a couple of scary bits, it was cheesy, and more importantly: it had so so so much potential for fic. And the characters! Illyana, Sam, Rahne, Dani and Roberto. They were so interesting. They all had these backstories that the movie dipped into but never really dug into, and they fought with each other, and they formed fire-forged friendships, and hey, by the end they were even a found family, and those parts were really good.
Superpowers meets psychological horror? What's not to love?
What sort of things are you likely to request for it?: Piggy-backing off my answer to the the last question, I'm leaning towards character backstories, or character-to-character relationships, interactions, dynamics. The teens didn't end up at the facility at the same time, so some of them knew each other better than others, and there's that kind of history that gets hinted at in the movie but never really explored. I'm very interested in the Illyana and Sam friendship. He's not as cautious around her as say, Rahne, and there's this warmth in the way he calls her "Illy" that caught my attention when I first heard it.
Are there sections of canon (rather than the whole canon) that can be consumed by themselves to fulfil your requests, or that showcase particular characters and relationships?: The New Mutants is a self-contained story, so it's really just this one movie. There are a few deleted scenes uploaded on YouTube that didn't make it to the final cut which aren't necessary to the plot, but they do help flesh out the way the characters act towards each other. Since they're deleted scenes, I guess it's up to the author if they want to consider them canon or not?
Content warnings (ie, rape, incest, racism, gore/violence): Racism (Illyana to Dani during the Enemies portion of their Enemies to Friends journey). Child abuse/sexual assault (implied in Illyana's backstory). And the general spooks to be expected of a PG-13 horror movie.