The Mutants

***The Mutants*** is a superhero film, based on the X-Men comics by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. The film is a sequel to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Black Panther II and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. It is the thirty-second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was released on February 12th, 2023.

The movie is co-written and directed by Chloe Zhao and stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Charles Xavier/Professor X, Daniel Radcliff as Hank McCoy/Beast, Emma Stone as Ellie Braddock/Pyslocke, Freema Agyeman as Ororo Munro/Storm, Giancarlo Espositon as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto, Sean Daniels as John Grey/Marvel Boy, Taron Egerton as Logan Howlett/Wolverine, Christian Serattos as Lorna-Dane Lehnsherr, Chloe Grace Moretz as Sophie Summers/Cyclops, Will Smith as Nathan Essex with Sarah Paulson as Monica Rappacciini and Jim Carrey as George Tarlton.

## Synopsis

Following the collision of the Earthly Plane and Quantum Realm, in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, caused by Kang the Conquerer's arrival to the former. An awakening has begun on Earth, about 10% of the people of the planet have found out they carry a gene which activated due to the sheer energy Kang brought with him. Now the people are scared, they want answers, history begins to repeat itself as a new race emerges in Marvel Studio's *The Mutants*.

## Plot

Following Kang the Conquerer's arrival to the Earthly Plane and the Illuminati's departure into space to track him, the Earth is left in a chaotic state. About 10% of the population has began to mutate due to a dormant, and previously undetectable, gene which they have been carrying their whole lives.

Hank McCoy works under his mentor, Charles Xavier, researching the mutations closely. While at a U.N. conference in New York City, they meet George Tarlton, who is also closely examining the awakening; Tarlton, who unaware that both of them are also mutants, invites the two to join AIM; his company which researches human evolution and advancements. They consider it but before they can answer he asks them to come and see his facility and work before deciding.

Although the two are unsure about joining a big corporation, they know that Tarlton has previously done great work in helping the world recover from the Blip. They decide to hear him out and go to his facility where they meet Ororo Munro, a representative from Wakanda who is also curious in Tarlton's work. George gives them a tour and they are impressed with what they see. Suddenly, the facility's alarm goes off and the building goes into lockdown, Tarlton gets his assistant, Monica, to escort them to a safe room while he investigates.

Tarlton finds out Weapon X has escaped containment and is loose in the facility, worried that others might discover what he is doing, he orders it to be recaptured. The four almost make it to the safe room but they are cut off by Weapon X, who is revealed to be a man named Logan. Logan attacks the guards and kills them before going for the trio, Hank manages to wrestle Logan down but the latter gets the upper hand and is about to kill Hank before Charles reaches into his mind and knocks him out, however, the pain Logan is already feeling in his mind also attacks and harms Charles. Tarlton finds them and orders Logan to be locked away, Charles demands answers as does Ororo, George states that Logan hasn't been well since the awakening and that George is trying to fix his mind

* The refusal of the call - They travel to AIM and manage to see some of its work, although, they soon discover that both of them are mutants and just before they reveal this to George, the place goes into lockdown as one of the mutants is on the loose, it turns out to be Logan who is being experimented on. They both decide it is inhumane and leave. Hank wants to leave it all in the past while Charles wants to stop what George is doing. They attempt to make a plea to make it a civil case but are met with resistance by Congressman Grayton Creed who despises mutants as his son Victor killed his wife when his powers emerged, he argues against it and despite Ororo Munro's attempts to fight it, he is successful when Avalanche causes a disaster in Australia, killing thousands.
* Meeting with the Mentor - At his home estate several weeks later, Nathaniel Essex visits Charles and reveals he has been humanely studying Mutants and thinks he can create a cure for them, but, he needs volunteers; while Charles doesn't like this idea, he thinks it is better to suppress the X-Gene and get rid of it for peoples safety, rather than let them be tested on.
* Crossing the Threshold - Charles, Hank and Nate all set out to find mutants which they have heard rumours about, Hank sets off to find Ellie Braddock in New York, Nate looks for Lorna-Dane Lehnsherr while Charles sets off to look for a young boy in Seattle who has telepathically been calling out.
* Tests, allies and enemies -
	+ Hank meets Ellie in a British pub her family run, he talks to her but she denies everything before a bar fight breaks out, she stops it when one of the men pull a gun and she slices it in half with a manifested psionic weapon, someone calls AIM and they arrive, Ellie's parents are killed when they try to stop what is happening and the crisis causes Hank's powers to completely activate, he hulks out in a wolf like state and shreds through the soldiers, while Ellie is grieving, he begs her to come with him and she does.
	+ Nate arrives at the Lehnsherr residence, he speaks to Erik, who is Lorna's father, he attempts to shut out Nate but Nate threatens to call AIM which angers Erik, however, it works. Erik lets Nate in and Nate speaks to Lorna who shows him her powers of Magnetism, he is amazed by this and asks for her to come with him, she considers it and accepts, but, Erik says she cannot as it is not safe, she doesn't listen and Erik ends up lashing out and using his own, stronger magnetism powers to stop it. He loses control and damages the building, which results in AIM being altered, they arrive and the trio attempts to escape, however, Lorna is captured. While Erik is furious, Nate convinces him to come with him as he cant help Lorna alone, he accepts.
	+ Charles arrives in Seattle, he traces the boy and finds an old abandoned apartment complex, he enters and finds the power editing from the door of a room, Charles goes to open it but is thrown back, in his head, Charles speaks to the boy in his mind, he introduces himself and the boy states he is John Grey. John asks Charles to leave, but, Charles states he heard John's cries for help, John realises Charles can read his mind and opens the door. John asks if Charles will hurt him, Charles reveals that he will not, John doesn't believe him but Charles transports him and John inside his mind. He compliments John on how strong a telepath he is, he asks John when he realised he had his powers, to Charles surprise, John states he's had them sine the Decimation. Charles tells John he is special and convinces him to come to his home so he can teach John how to control his powers properly.
	+ Meanwhile, George is realising that his former 100% success rate of his troops is falling due to the escapees, he interrogates Lorna and she reveals a location which George realises is Charles' estate, he sends Weapon-X out to eliminate Charles's allies and bring Charles to him. He also arrests Ororo Munro when he finds out she is in fact a mutant when she blasts a lightening strike out of her hand at someone when they tried to mug her. In her cell she meets Sophie and Alex Summers, they plot an escape. George begins to test on Polaris, doing the same thing he did to Logan, to her.
* Approach to the Innermost cave - As they arrive back at the estate, Charles thanks them for trusting him and explains that Nate wants to run tests on them to help devise a cure for the X-Gene, they all angrily state that they won't take part, Hank is also angry as he wasn't told about this. They all go to leave when Logan arrives and attacks them, they each use their powers to defeat him as he is immortal, eventually they wear him down and Charles puts him to sleep. They realise that George is already turning mutants into his own puppets and that he needs to be stopped, they seek out Ororo to make a case, but, when they realise she has also been detained, they decide they must take action. They interrogate Logan, Charles finds out the alterations to Logan's mind are too painful for him to look into, but, they realise John is accidentally looking through them without coming to any harm. Charles helps John focus and John looks into Logan's mind, eventually they find out what they need to know, John attempts to leave Logan's mind, but, he messes up and wipes Logan's memories by accident, when Logan comes to, he asks where he is and they lie to him and explain that they don't know what happened to him, but, he needs to help them. As they prepare to leave, Erik compliments Charles skills in tutoring John, he says that he would make a good father figure to John before they leave.
* The Ordeal - After arriving at the facility, the group break in and find the holding centre where they see the suffering in front of them, they are all mortified and decide to stop George once and for all, they manage to break out the mutants and are joined by Ororo, Havok, Sophie and a young woman named Blink. In the chaos, John locates George and they find him, Charles states that once the president finds out about this, George will be arrested and AIM will be shut down, George complies and doesn't put up a fight.
* The Reward/Road Block - The group head to whitehouse using blinks powers, as the president arrives back, John numbs the guards minds while Charles and George engage with the president who claims he allowed George to do this, but, sees it has gone too far now. He states that George will be placed under arrest but George interrupts and reveals that won't happen.
* Resurrection - Polaris arrives and attacks the President, the mutants and his guards defend him against Polaris as George escapes with Monica. Erik attempts to reason with his daughter but it doesn't work. Polaris kills the president before being killed by John who shattered her mind while trying to free her, Ororo speaks to the public and states that this was AIMs doing and that mutants are innocent, Monica speaks out and states that Avalanche was also Georges doing as was to sway the public against mutants, while most of AIM is disassembled, George and a small group escape underground to continue their work.
* Return with the Elixir - Charles and the mutants arrive home, he tells them that he cannot convince Nate to give up on his work as he believes it will help, but, they are welcome to go home, John, Logan and Ellie state they don't have a home which Charles tells them they can stay here. Ororo speaks to Charles privately and asks if a few more mutants can stay with him, he tells her that he has a great amount of space and that he will take anyone who doesn't have a home. She tells him she will see what she can do. Erik states he won't be staying here as long as Charles and Ororo want to continue to mix mutants and humans totter.

### Character Plots and Arcs

* Charles - He wants to create a better world for his fellow mutants but needs to step up and realise that not everything can be talked through.
* Beast - Wants to impress his mentor Charles and he ends up needing to have more confidence in himself to do so.
* Ellie - To seek revenge for her parents death but needs to realise there are other ways of grieving and that her new family will help her.
* Storm - She wants to fight for mutants rights but needs to learn to cooperate with others as she's only had herself to depend on her whole life.
* Erik - He wants to get his daughter back but needs to learn to control his anger and powers.
* John - He wants to learn to control his powers but needs to learn to open up and trust others first.
* Logan - He wants to learn who he is but needs to work with people he doesn't entirely know in a world he knows nothing about.
* Nate - He wants to create a mutant cure but needs to help mutants survive before he can continue with his work.
* George - He wants to eradicate mutants but needs to fool those around him first.

## Cast

* Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Charles Xavier/Professor X
* Daniel Radcliff as Hank McCoy/Beast
* Emma Stone as Elizabeth Braddock/Pyslocke
* Freema Agyeman as Ororo Munro/Storm
* Giancarlo Esposito as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto
* Sean Daniels as John Grey/Marvel Boy
* Taron Egerton as Logan Howlett/Wolverine
* Will Smith as Nathaniel Essex
* Jim Carrey as George Tarlton
* Christian Serattos as Lorna-Dane Lehnsherr/Polaris
* Chloe Grace Moretz as Sophie Summers/Cyclops
* To-be-confirmed as Monica Rappaccini
* To-be-confirmed as Avalanche
* To-be-confirmed as Grayton Creed
* To-be-confirmed as Alex Summers/Havok

## Appearances

### Events

* The Westview Incident
* The Multiverse Crisis
	+ The Rise of the Scarlet Witch
	+ Kang the Conquerer's Arrival
* The Awakening of the X-Gene

## Production

* In March 2019, Marvel Studios gained the distribution rights to all remaining characters owned by Fox during the Disney-Fox merger, this including all mutant characters, any characters related to The Fantastic Four as well as several others.
* In July 2019 at Comic-Con, Kevin Feige announced that Marvel Studios were working on a Mutant related project for Phase 4.
* In December 2020; during the Disney investors meeting, Kevin Feige revealed that 'The Mutants' was set to go into production in January 2021 and it would arrive in cinemas in mid 2022, however, as the United Kingdom went into lockdown due to the worsening Covid-19 pandemic, filming was pushed back to begin in August 2021 for an early 2023 release.
	+ The new release date was later announced as February 12th, 2023.
* In May 2022, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau made his MCU debut as Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness while later that year, in July, Freema Agyeman made her MCU debut as Storm in Black Panther II, though, neither were considered mutants at this point.
* In July 2022, at Comic-Con, Kevin Feige revealed that Eternals director Chloe Zhao was to direct the film and that the the cast of the film would see Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Freema Agyeman to return as Professor X and Storm.
	+ Feige also revealed that Taron Egerton was set to play Wolverine, Emma Stone was set to play Pyslocke, Daniel Radcliff was to play Beast, Rosario Dawson was to play Polaris, Giancarlo Esposito was to play Magneto and Will Smith was to play Mr. Sinister. He also revealed that Cylops, Phoenix, Jubilee, Iceman and Kitty Pryde would appear in the film.
* In August 2022; at International Disney Day, Kevin Feige revealed that Sean Daniels and Chloe Grace Moretz had been cast in the film in undisclosed but important roles and that Emma Watson had been cast as Rouge while Christian Serattos had been cast as Mystique.
* In September 2022, a teaser trailer for the film was released, Chloe Grace Moretz was revealed to be playing Cyclops while Sean Daniels was revealed to be playing Marvel Boy, both gender-swapped from their previous depictions in both comics and cinema, it also revealed that the films main antagonist would be A.I.M. and that M.O.D.O.K. would be appearing portrayed by Jim Carrey.