One year after its initial release date, Fox's The New Mutants film will finally find its way to the big screen in April, bringing Magik, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Cannonball and Mirage to the cinematic world for the first time.
With the latest trailer, fans get a better glimpse at the abilities these new characters have, so let's take an in-depth look into what the members of these young mutants can do.
ILLYANA RASPUTIN (MAGIK)
Magik is the biggest departure from what is known about mutants in relation to past films. While Dark Phoneix addressed the extraterrestrial, the movies did not explore the supernatural. The New Mutants is taking that leap with Magik, a mutant who is also a sorceress.
Her mutant powers allow her to create teleportation disks, which she uses towards the end of the trailer. In the comics, her powers also allow her to travel between different dimensions, primarily Earth and Limbo, a mystical dimension.
In Limbo, Illyana learned to use magic. Her most notable magical skill is her ability to conjure the Soulsword, which disrupts all spells or magical beings. The sword also creates a protective armor around Illyana when summoned, again seen in the trailer. The combination of her mutant abilities and magic makes her a powerful and unique hero for the world of X-Men.
ROBERTO DA COSTA (SUNSPOT)
While the first trailer gave next to no details about Roberto da Costa's powers, this new one mentions that they lead to his imprisonment and shows them at their peak. When the mutants are asked to share their first experiences with their abilities, Roberto says he burned his girlfriend.
As his alias alludes, Sunspot's powers are tied to the sun. He can absorb solar energy in order to make himself physically stronger and more durable. This skill also grants him the ability to fly and use multiple forms of thermokinesis.
His powers are similar to those of the DC hero Starfire; however, like the Fantastic Four's Johnny Storm, when Sunspot uses his abilities, his body undergoes a transformation, which is seen in the trailer. Instead of bursting into flames, Roberto's body turns black with glowing red and yellow accents, similar to an actual sunspot.
RAHNE SINCLAIR (WOLFSBANE)
For many fans, what stands out about The New Mutants is the fact that, like Logan, this movie is tonally different from other X-Men films. The old and new trailers are promoting a scary movie rather than a straight superhero affair, and Rahne Sinclair is what's pushing this film further into the horror genre.
Her ability, known as lycanthropy, allows her to become a full wolf or a human-wolf hybrid at will. In short, she is very close to being a werewolf. However, the key difference is that she is in control of this transformation, and her powers do not rely on the moon phases.
She also gains all the perks of being a wolf when transformed. This includes enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, hearing, smell and vision. Wolfsbane may look like a monster, especially in the context of this film, but she is far from being a big bad wolf.
SAM GUTHRIE (CANNONBALL)
Sam Guthrie's alias is on the nose when it comes to his mutant powers. He's like a walking bomb in the sense that pent up energy can be released from his body, propelling him through the air with great force. This also means that force can cause damage to anyone in the blast radius.
As Sam says in the trailer, the first time he used his powers, people got hurt; however, it seems he survived without any physical damage, which makes sense given his other ability. When using his powers, Cannonball has superhuman durability, which protects him from heavy impacts.
Based on the trailer, it seems that Sam will primarily use his abilities like a force canon, but that doesn't mean he can't take flight as his comic counterpart does.
DANIELLE MOONSTAR (MIRAGE)
Danielle's powers might be the hardest ones to distinguish in the trailer. She acts as a stand-in for the audience, a character who is just learning about the world of mutants and about her abilities. Plus, her powers are similar to those of a telepath, which can be hard to convey visually. Despite this, Mirage does have a few tricks that may have already been seen in the trailer.
Throughout the trailer, fans see strange and horrifying imagery that triggers the New Mutants. While these could be conjurings made by the hospital, some of them could have been made by Mirage, who can project three-dimensional images of people's greatest fears.
Early in the comics, Danielle did not have control of these illusions, and it seems this could be the case for the film as well.
Directed and co-written by Josh Boone, The New Mutants stars Maisie Williams as Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane, Anya Taylor-Joy as Illyana Rasputin/Magik, Charlie Heaton as Sam Guthrie/Cannonball, Henry Zaga as Roberto da Costa/Sunspot, Blu Hunt as Danielle Moonstar/Mirage and Alice Braga as Dr. Cecilia Reyes. The film arrives in theaters April 3.