The New Mutants co-creator Bob McLeod opened up about his problems with the film adaptation of his work.
Speaking to /Film, McLeod remarked on the decision to push the property firmly into the horror genre. "I mean, the horror slant is interesting. Because maybe some horror fans would watch it that wouldn't normally otherwise, maybe bring some new fans in," he said. "That's fine. I wasn't totally against that. I didn't think it was the best way to go, but I was just happy that they were making a movie of something I had something to do with, and maybe I would see a little money."
While McLeod had no major issues with the direction the film was taking in terms of genre, the final product was far from his liking. "But you can look," he said. "I don't see anything that I contributed to the book in the movie, except maybe more girls on the team. I mean, none of the characters look the way I designed them to look. And then again, Magik, who I had nothing to do with, looks spot on, like she does in the comics. You know? So that's basically what I had against the movie."
The eponymous team of young heroes first appeared in 1982's Marvel Graphic Novel #4 by McLeod and longtime X-Men scribe Chris Claremont. Consisting of Karma (who was absent from the film), Dani Moonstar, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, and Cannonball, the New Mutants were brought together by Charles Xavier and former ally and former romantic interest Moira MacTaggert. At the time, Xavier was deeply distraught over the frequent deaths suffered by the superpowered students under his watch. Illyana Rasputina, aka Magik, who was portrayed by Anya Taylor-Joy in the film, wouldn't join the team until reforming it herself in 2009's New Mutants #1 by Zeb Wells and Diogenes Neves.
2020's The New Mutants was largely panned by both critics and audiences, which came as a major disappointment to genre fans as it was considered to be Marvel's first proper attempt at a horror film. The series' comparably niche fan base compared to that of other, more popular Marvel properties such as Avengers was something else that was never properly accounted for, according to McLeod.
"Outside of the comic fans, the general public didn't know who the New Mutants were," he explained. "So I really think they should have done an origin story of... Like, the beginning of the graphic novel, I thought was great, the way [New Mutants co-creator] Chris [Claremont] introduced each one of the characters. I think that could have been a good movie, starting the same way we did. But just some kind of more of an origin, introducing them to the public."
The New Mutants is currently available on multiple streaming platforms.
Source: /Film