The New Mutants (2020) location is an alternate reality Earth TRN414. All events take place in a closed space isolated from the outside world, reminiscent of a psychiatric hospital. In order to avoid problems, five unusual Inhuman teenagers are forcibly placed here.
The tape features the characters of the original comics about the new mutants (with slight variations of images): Mirage / Mirage, Wolfsbane / She-Wolf, Cannonball / Cannonball, Sunspot / Sunspot and Magic / Magic. By the will of fate, they find themselves imprisoned in the walls of a special institution – with an impenetrable dome around the perimeter of the territory, bars on the windows and a tracking system. The fact is that the guys still do not know how to manage the abilities they are endowed with. That is why they are dangerous. And not just for those around you. With their uncontrollable superpower, they can harm themselves.
Another character is Dr. Cecilia Reyes. She studies the characteristics of adolescents in order to help them learn how to manage their mutations.
Each of the new mutants in the regular world has become an outcast due to a special gift:
Mirage (Dani) is a ghost girl. With the help of teleportation, he moves freely in time and space.
Magik (Ulyana) wields the magical Soul Sword. Creates holograms – illusions in which the fears of a person are embodied. She reads them from the minds of other people, or from her own.
Wolfsbane (Rane) – werewolf (wolf girl). Turns into a strong and vicious beast only half, while retaining the ability to speak.
Canonball (Sam) generates a large amount of thermochemical energy. This makes him invulnerable and allows him to fly at incredible speeds like a cannonball.
Sunspot (Bobby) controls the energy of the sun: at the moment of absorbing sunlight, it becomes super strong and takes on an unusual black appearance.
Dr. Reyes herself is also a mutant (she can create a force field around herself). At first, it seems that she is completely on the side of the wards: she conducts individual classes and group therapy sessions, wants to protect them from the destructive consequences of the power inherent in them. But it gradually turns out that Cecilia is not at all a “soft and fluffy” aunt-doctor, but a warden of a semi-prison-semi-clinic. And she has her own plans for young mutants: in the future they will become the objects of Professor Xavier’s experiments.
The kids want to get out of here. But events begin to occur around that turn this place into a real house of horrors. Heroes are frightened by toothy monsters with tattoos on their arms; faceless frightening masks suddenly appear; hordes of winged monsters hide in the dark. The main antagonist is Demon Bear Saga, a giant red-eyed bear that draws power from people’s negative emotions.
Against demonic creatures, young mutants actively use their unusual abilities. But in order to escape, the heroes need more than just that. It is important to work in a team, and Dany and her peers are very different. Everyone has their own story, and a lot of problems and negativity are connected with the past.
Dani, Daniela Moonstar – ended up here after the tragedy. The Indian reservation where she lived with her father was destroyed by a tornado. Thanks to her ability to teleport, Mirage is the only survivor.
Ulyana Rasputina. A wayward blonde with a problematic character, a hooligan and a psychopath. She does not part with a toy purple pterodactyl and claims to have killed 18 people. The fears and malice of the “bad Russian girl” are hidden behind rudeness. Because of this, Dani clashes with Magik.
Rain Sinclair. Good and pious Scot. The girl faced violence from the pastor, who was brought up. He tried to exorcise the devil from her. Offended Wolfsbane, afraid to release the beast sitting in her, behaves quietly and meekly. Unexpectedly shows a love interest in Dani.
Sam, Samuel Guthrie. A short and clumsy, ordinary and a little dull boy. The son of a miner from Virginia. He torments himself with thoughts that he caused a collapse in the tunnel where his father died. Canonball uses his powers to punish himself for this. Can’t get rid of the guilt complex.
Bobby, Roberto da Cost. A spoiled young man from a wealthy Brazilian family. Cheerful gouging, similar to a popular athlete. Sunspot does not respond to signs of attention from Ulyana, fearing that the reciprocal emotions will harm her. After all, the “hot guy” in the heat of feelings accidentally burned his girlfriend.
The guys suffer from personal dramas, they cannot overcome internal contradictions, they are trying to get rid of complexes. And sometimes various nightmares from the past visit them. In front of the viewer, there are not superheroes, but ordinary boys and girls who are biting, making tricks, cursing from scratch and … desperately trying to survive.
The meaning of the film is that the teenagers managed not only to defeat the monsters, but also to cope with their own “demons”. As conceived by the creators of the picture, destructive and uncontrollable superpowers are a kind of analogue of The New Mutants growing up. They are associated with their childhood psychological trauma, the characteristics of puberty and the problems of self-identification that are inherent in the puberty period.
