Mirage and Magik Are ‘Sick’ in New Mutants Movie Teasers

Fox has released chilling new teasers for the movie New Mutants, featuring Magik and Dani Moonstar.

Fox’s New Mutants promises to be one of the most unusual superhero films to date. A horror film at its core, the movie features a cast of up and comers that includes Anya Taylor-Joy (Split) as Magik and Blu Hunt (The Originals) as Mirage. With the film due out next April, Fox’s marketing for New Mutants is already well underway. The studio has released several New Mutants teasers through social media already, and that includes a pair of videos that focus on the young mutants Magik and Mirage.

Previously released New Mutants teasers have included major hints about character backstories and/or story arcs in the film. The newest additions to the pile, which you can check out below (via the New Mutants Twitter account), are no different.

The Magik teaser is a particularly fascinating one. Note the text, “They said art would save your soul. They lied.” It’s a homage to Magik’s main story arc in the comics. There, the young Illyana Rasputin was abducted by a Hell Lord known as Belasco. The X-Men rescued her, but she had aged dramatically in Belasco’s realm. Her soul had been torn apart, with a fragment used to fashion the Soulsword. This is still Magik’s trademark weapon, and Fox has already confirmed that she will wield it in the film.

It seems Josh Boone’s version of Magik fancies herself as an artist. It makes sense; in the comics, her older brother Colossus is known for his love of art. He’s most skilled when it comes to traditional art though, reveling in portraits and landscapes. In contrast, Magik’s scrawled images offer an ominous hint at the state of her soul. Also note that her hairstyle has subtly changed, a visual cue to the blunt horns she sometimes manifests in the comics. This really is a chilling teaser, and it’s steeped in X-Men lore.

The clip for Dani Moonstar, who acts under the codename Mirage, is equally fascinating. It shows a single photo and surrounds her with words. In this case, the words offer a real hint of generational divide: “The youth are sick and there is no cure.”

The New Mutants comics have often faced the idea of “fear of youth.” The next generation has always been the subject of hatred and fear, and that seemed to peak in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Marvel tapped into this cultural trend in advertisements for 1998’s “Fall of the Mutants” arc. Promotional art included fake newspaper ads that used the New Mutants, and asked readers: “Do you know what your children are?”

Josh Boone is clearly taking that idea to the next level. Inspired by classic films like One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, he’s envisioned an institution for young mutants who are deemed a risk to society. The haunting words scrawled around Dani are no doubt society’s judgment of these young mutants. Dani’s power allows her to tap into the fears of those around her, and she’ll feel the hatred and fear more than anyone else.

Some fans have actually speculated that Dani will be the film’s main antagonist, her powers flaring out of control. So many teasers have suggested that fear will run amok in this mutant institution, and Dani’s powerset fits perfectly with these ominous hints. If that is the case, the stars of New Mutants are in serious trouble.