Though the title of The New Mutants suggests a fresh start, it sounds like the film might well be the final installment in a cinematic universe that hasn’t been new in a long time, with a recent report alleging that the Josh Boone-helmed flick will be the last cinematic release of the X-Men franchise before Marvel Studios hits the reset button.
In light of the impending Disney/Fox deal, leaker Daniel Richtman has relayed intel that the X-Men universe will be calling it quits after Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants, with all other projects, from Gambit to Doctor Doom, reportedly getting the axe. Richtman also mentions that while the planned X-Force movie isn’t “officially” dead, it’s unlikely at this stage that the film is still going to be made under Fox.
Though these claims are yet to be confirmed, they wouldn’t be all that surprising. From around the time that X-Men: Apocalypse came out in 2016, a lot of fans have grown weary of the adventures of Professor Xavier and his peers, and many welcome the reboot that the merger is expected to bring.
That being said, you can expect some heavy backlash if the X-Force film is ultimately canned, especially after the commercial and critical success of the first two Deadpool movies. But given the family-friendly image that Disney maintains, it’s hard to get a read on what their plans for the Merc with a Mouth might be.
In any case, if the rocky journeys taken by Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants are anything to go by, then the X-Men universe might well go out with a whimper rather than a bang, but perhaps we should reserve our judgments for when Dark Phoenix hits theaters on June 7th, 2019, followed by The New Mutants on August 2nd.
