X-Men: New Mutants

**X-Men: New Mutants** is a 2011 superhero film set in the Marvel Media Franchise, the eighteenth film in the universe. It is also a sequel to *X-Men*. The film stars Karl Urban, Ian Somerhalder, Ellie Kemper, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sam Claflin, Brie Larson, Shailene Woodley, Ben Foster, Billy Magnussen, Rebecca Romijn, Adam Driver, Toby Kebbell, Keira Knightley, Jeremy Irons, and Richard Jenkins and was released worldwide on December 23, 2011. The film ran 144 minutes and grossed $1.045 billion on a $378.5 million budget.

## Plot

3 years after the events of *X-Men*, Professor Charles Xavier teaches a school of "Mutant" children, humans whose genes were enhanced to give them superhuman abilities. Xavier teaches the students while his other teachers, Logan/Wolverine, Scott Summers/Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Ororo Munroe/Storm, lead the X-Men, a team of Mutants that stop other mutant threats. The four train Bobby Drake/Iceman, a cryokinetic, Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat, a girl with intangibility, Warren Worthington III/Angel, a man with wings, and Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, a teleporter. Xavier learns of a young girl in Mississippi who can absorb the life force and memories of any person she touches. Xavier flies the X-Men to the town where they find her hiding her from her family.

Mystique, a shapeshifting evil mutant, leads her Brotherhood of Mutants, comprised of Pietro and Wanda Maximoff/Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, Pietro has super-speed while Wanda has "magic", and John Allerdyce/Pyro, a pryokinetic, to the prison that Erik Lensherr/Magneto, Mystique's leader and an old friend of Xavier's, is being held in. The team breaks him out and Magneto leads the team to Mississippi. In Mississippi, the X-Men encourage Rogue to join the school. However, while Rogue is packing, Mystique disguised as Wolverine, attacks her, leading her to believe that Xavier was lying and they want her dead due to her dangerous abilities. Magneto finds Rogue and she joins him. The Brotherhood leaves with Rogue, returning to New York City.

Xavier and the X-Men also return to New York, frustrated that Magneto got to her first. Jean visits Rogue when none of the Brotherhood is with her and learns what Rogue thinks of them. Jean makes Rogue realize that Mystique was disguising herself. Rogue escapes with Jean and returns to the mansion. However, Magneto refuses to let Rogue get away and decides to lure her away. Pyro attacks the mansion, getting into a fight with Bobby, where it is discovered that Pyro was in the school before Mystique recruited him a year ago and he left. Storm and Wolverine manage to capture Pyro and the X-Men interrogate him to learn where the Brotherhood is hiding. However, suddenly Cyclops reveals he is Mystique and kidnaps Rogue after rescuing Pyro. Xavier learns Cyclops is with the Brotherhood after being kidnapped in between events.

Wolverine, Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, Angel, and Storm go to retrieve Rogue and Cylops, while Jean, Iceman, and Xavier stay to clean up the mess that Mystique and Pyro made. The X-Men land on Genosha, an island that Magneto found where the Brotherhood is hiding. They discover Magneto plans to copy Rogue's DNA and cross it with Mystique's to create a machine that shapeshift into anything it touches, along with's memories and personality. Rogue is severely weakened by the event, which causes her to not be able to try and escape. Wolverine decides to give his powers to Rogue, as she can also absorb the powers of a mutant, by touching her, which energizes her. Rogue and the X-Men fight off the Brotherhood, but discover their Jet was destroyed by Scarlet Witch.

Magneto imprisons the mutants and reveals to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch that he is their father. Xavier discovers the X-Men have been captured and sends Jean and Iceman alone to Genosha to rescue them. Jean is almost caught by Pyro, but she convinces him she is Mystique and manages to release Wolverine and the others. However, Magneto has already gotten his DNA and has begun the process. However, Iceman manages to freeze the machine and Pyro, in a split-second decision, melts the machine to a puddle. Xavier gives up on trying to arrest the Brotherhood and orders the X-Men to just escape. Returning to the mansion, Iceman believes there is still good in Pyro and wants to redeem him. Magneto gives Pyro one more chance to prove he is not an X-Man or he will be killed. Meanwhile, Shadowcat, Angel, Iceman, Nightcrawler, and Rogue are officially labeled X-Men.

In a mid-credits scene, Logan and Susan Storm, the Invisible Woman, arrive on a strange land where they find Hank Pym. In a post-credits scene, Jean once again releases the Phoenix.

## Cast

* Karl Urban as Logan/Wolverine
* Ian Somerhalder as Scott Summers/Cyclops
* Ellie Kemper as Jean Grey
* Jada Pinkett Smith as Ororo Munroe/Storm
* Sam Claflin as Bobby Drake/Iceman
* Brie Larson as Rogue
* Shailene Woodley as Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat
* Ben Foster as Warren Worthington III/Angel
* Billy Magnussen as John Allerdyce/Pyro
* Rebecca Romijn as Raven Darkholme/Mystique
* Adam Driver as Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver
* Toby Kebbell as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler
* Keira Knightley as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
* Jeremy Irons as Erik Lensherr/Magneto
* Richard Jenkins as Charles Xavier/Professor X

## Production

A sequel to *X-Men*was put into development in January 2009 after the success of the first film. Urban, Somerhalder, Kemper, Smith, Irons, and Jenkins all signed six-film contracts, including *X-Men*. Smith appeared in *Black Panther: Origins*, with *X-Men: New Mutants* being the third film on her contract, while *X-Men: New Mutants*was the second film on the contracts of the other five actors listed before. Romijn signed a five-film contract, with this film being one of the films on her contract, while Claflin and Foster signed on for two additional *X-Men* films, *New Mutants* and the untitled *X-Men 3*. Casting began in June 2009, with the roles of Rogue, Shadowcat, Pyro, Quicksilver, Nightcrawler, and Scarlet Witch, while a release date of July 15, 2011 was announced. Brie Larson and Shailene Woodley were cast as Rogue and Shadowcat, respectively, in August, while Adam Driver and Keira Knightley were announced to have been cast as Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in October. The following February Toby Kebbell and Billy Magnussen rounded out the cast as Nightcrawler and Pyro, respectively. Filming began in June 2010, while the release date was post-poned to December 23, 2011 to allow more than 3 weeks in between this film and *Iron Man 3*. Filming concluded on September 28, 15 months before the film was released.

## Reception

### **Box office**

X-Men: New Mutants earned $241.1 million in the North America and $804.6 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $1.045 billion.​

### **Critical reception**

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 33% based on 259 reviews, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though it's visuals and cast has good promise, *X-Men: New Mutants*fails to perfect the great plot and stakes that the original did so well." Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating to reviews, gives the film an average score of 45 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was a "B+" on an A+ to F scale.