With ‘Deadpool‘ hitting theaters next year and Ryan Reynolds playing the famous Merc With A Mouth, Fox is looking to the comic book which spawned him as its next mutant hit, ‘The New Mutants’.  Debuting in 1982, ‘The New Mutants’ was a return to the foundation of the X-Men, adolescents just discovering that they are gifted/cursed with mutant powers that make them outcasts from society.  (Deadpool debuted in issue #98 in 1991, as a villain before becoming so popular he gained his own comic as an antihero.)

Fox announced plans to produce a movie based on ‘The New Mutants’ earlier this year with Josh Boone (‘The Fault In Our Stars’) as the director.  There hasn’t been a ton of news about the project, but Boone himself just tweeted the following update:

Boone co-wrote the script with Knate Gwaltney.  About a month ago, Boone posted on Instagram what looked to be a completed script, but apparently it wasn’t quite finished yet.  And technically, it still isn’t as this is a first draft, which will have to be approved by Fox.  (And judging by recent debacles with ‘Fantastic Four’ and ‘Gambit’ expect them to have plenty of feedback.)

2003 New Mutants – (l-r) Elixer, Prodigy, Surge, Wind Dancer, Wallflower, Icarus and mentor Danielle Moonstar

At this point, Boone hasn’t even revealed what iteration of the team he will use.  Several characters have passed through their ranks including three that have already appeared on the big screen, in ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’— Sunspot (Adan Canto), Warpath (Booboo Stewart) and Blink (Fan Bingbing).  In the comics, other notable members include Danielle Moonstar (sometimes known as Mirage), Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Magik and Warlock among many others.  In 2003, Marvel Comics published a new version of ‘The New Mutants’ with a new generation of adolescent heroes-in-training.  With dozens, if not hundreds, of students having enrolled at the Xavier Institute (or the Jean Grey School, as it is now known), Boone and Gwaltney had plenty to choose from.

Producer Simon Kinberg previously expressed:

“We’re so excited to explore this new part of the X-Men universe, and so excited to do it with Josh, who is uniquely suited to tell this story about young characters.”

After scoring a hit with ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ based on a bestselling YA novel, Boone should be able to bring a believable dose of youth to this film.

What do you hope to see in a ‘New Mutants’ movie?