After an incredibly eventful timeline of events and in the midst of a global pandemic, The New Mutants finally came out to much indifference. Scoring middling reviews at best, the long-delayed hybrid of a horror movie and X-Men comics left viewers more confused than anything. This was because this adaptation of the X-Men comics' edgy spin-off left them with way too many questions; some more unintentional than others.

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Some of these questions are basic and others will lead fans down some deep, deep rabbit holes, all in service of building a more robust internal logic for this adaptation. Either way, there's a lot about The New Mutants that doesn't make sense and these are just the biggest question marks we have.

10 What Year Is It?

New Mutants What Year Is It

The biggest question many X-Men fans had was "When does The New Mutants take place in relation to the X-Men movies, if at all?" If it is canon, which timeline does it belong to: the original series of events or the First Class one? Some scenes in the film may point to an answer.

At one point, Dani sees a vision of scenes from the mutant laboratory in Logan, but Dani's clairvoyance sees both future and past. A few in-universe references muddy the timeline further: the teens are watching the episodes "Hush" (first aired December 1999) and "The Body" (first aired February 2001) of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which could be reruns or DVDs. Also, Roberto references Professor X by rubbing his temple when asking who Dr. Reyes' "superior" is, meaning the X-Men are active in this chronology. X-Force from Deadpool also seems to exist, given the reference to "the mutants we call heroes today."

9 How Do Dr. Reyes' Magic Bubbles Work?

Dr. Reyes Uses Her Abilities

Dr. Reyes's magic bubbles are the only thing keeping the New Mutants locked inside the facility. She uses it to protect Dani from harm when Illyana tries to take a swing at her and it effectively neutralizes all the mutants at one point.

In the comics, Reyes is an accomplished surgeon who only occasionally aids the X-Men during crucial missions. Her magic bubble is a psioplasmic bio-field she projects, and she feels the pain of anything that hits it. The movie, though, offers no such explanation.

8 What, Exactly, Are Illyana's Powers?

Illyana in The New Mutants

In attempting to pin down Illyana Rasputin's powers, it's difficult to name what she can't do: teleporting, summoning soul swords, turning an imaginary best friend into the real thing, and moving objects to and from herself. She's like a hodgepodge of different mutant abilities, and it's almost impossible to figure out a general identification for her abilities.

How did she get the dragon and sword? Is this the same Limbo that Nightcrawler travels through? Why didn't she use it to escape the facility the way she used it to dodge the Smiling Man? The New Mutants isn't too big in the way of Illyana's backstory, but Anya Taylor-Joy's performance hints at a sequel reveal that probably seemed more attainable in 2017.

7 What's With That Clock?

New Mutants Clock

If you learned your Roman numerals in Latin class, you're probably upset about the "4" in most public clocks, but your guess is as good as any on why some of the numerals in the clock tower scene in The New Mutants are angled inwards and others are angled outwards.

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The trouble seems to start around 6, when the numbers suddenly reverse course. We might be meant to notice the horological oddity, since the door to the roof is through the 6. Whatever the case, the strangeness of the clock face gives the whole facility an unsettling feeling. Either this is a visual clue that something's not right, or the clock's designers really messed up that bad.

6 Why Does Roberto Have a Cell Phone?

Roberto in The New Mutants

At one point, Roberto is shown staring at a photo of his girlfriend on his phone. This may seem normal but Roberto's in an institution meant to isolate the teens from the outside world while they "recover" from their mutant issues. Given the institution's later revelations, a patient having a phone was either a lapse in security or the writers' room. Later, he snatches Dr. Reyes' and demands to know the PIN code so he could use it to make an emergency call, despite emergency calls not needing PIN codes.

That being said, are there two cell phones or does Dr. Reyes have a photo of Roberto's girlfriend on her phone for some reason? And with the film's uncertain time period, should cell phones even exist?

5 Who Is Essex Corp?

Essex Corp briefcase

A big Easter Egg in The New Mutants fans was Essex Corp, a secretive organization that wants to train mutants to be assassins. As X-Men fans know, a mutant by the name Nathaniel Essex aka Mister Sinister uses Essex Corp to do his evil deeds with the guise of legitimacy. At least that's how it is in the comics.

How does Essex fit into The New Mutants' world and what does it want? Is Mr. Sinister present here? So far, they were only confirmed to be running things from the shadows but their actual motivation and plans have yet to be revealed.

4 Why Doesn't Professor X Save The New Mutants?

Professor X Uses Cerebro

While it's hinted by a gesture Roberto makes when referring to Dr. Reyes's "superior," Professor X doesn't appear in The New Mutants. Despite the fact that he has the mutant-locating machine Cerebro, he doesn't seem aware of or- - worse -- interested in rescuing these kids. Why is that?

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All of the traumatic events that led to the New Mutants' abductions wouldn't have made the news, except Dani's supernatural storm that leveled a reservation. If someone had been looking, the Demon Bear storm would have set off alarm bells. Maybe the Essex Corp's facility is protected by whatever prevents Xavier from being able to read Mister Sinister's mind? But now that Fox's X-Men days are over, this question may never be answered.

3 What Did Dr. Reyes Drop On The Floor During the Vet Scene?

Dr. Reyes in The New Mutants

From Dani's bear necklace to Sam's coal, the film showcases objects sentimental to its characters. However, it's not just the New Mutants who have important keepsakes. Similarly, Dr. Reyes drops a token marked with a diamond surrounded by an oval at the film's climactic scene.

It seems to resemble markings on Chris Claremont's early representation of Reyes's employer, Mister Sinister, but this is never made clear. Perhaps this was just a throw-away Easter Egg or it's a confirmation of her real affiliations. What the token really is, though, we may never know.

2 Why Don't Dani's Powers Affect Dr. Reyes?

Dr. Reyes and Dani

Dr. Reyes sleeps at least once in the movie, but she never has any night terrors The aforementioned magic bubble also seems to stay activated even while she's unconscious or asleep. This may or may not explain how Dani's intense fear-mongering powers.

It could be theorized that not only are Dani's powers at an immature stage which means that they can't affect a more trained mutant, but that Dr. Reyes could also protect herself from unintentional psychic creepiness with her powers. After all, she used it to pin five teens to the floor. However, her ability to summon barriers are never implied to be psychic or mental. How exactly do her psioplasmic bio-shields translate to mental barriers that could somehow resist Dani's attacks?

1 Why Does The Demon Bear Look Like That?

Illyana Rasputin fighting the Demon Bear in The New Mutants

The most frightening thing in the movie was how little was spent on the CGI for Demon Bear. Unfortunately, the texturing of the Demon Bear's fur in that final shot suggests that the budget dried up long before a final cut.

Reportedly, director Josh Boone sold the idea of an X-Men horror film as a project that producers could do on the cheap. Critics have compared the Demon Bear's inconsistent aesthetics to that of the comics which had a surreal nightmarish vibe to them, but none of them could explain the rough quality of his theatrical appearance.

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