New Mutants

The New Mutants are a group of teenaged mutant superheroes-in-training published by Marvel Comics. They have been the main characters of three successive comic book series, which were spin-offs of the popular X-Men franchise.

The first team of New Mutants characters was created by Chris Claremont (long-time writer of Uncanny X-Men) and artist Bob McLeod; although the concept for a "X-Men-in-training team" was originated by Uncanny X-Men artist John Byrne in a letter he wrote to Claremont in 1978.^[1] They first appeared in 1982's Marvel Graphic Novel #4 and were subsequently featured in their own title from 1983 until 1991. Also, like its parent title, The New Mutants highlighted interpersonal and group conflict as well as action and adventure, and featured a large ensemble cast. With the end of the first series, the characters were relaunched as X-Force in a new, eponymous series.

The second New Mutants series, launched in 2003, featured a new group of teenage mutants; but unlike the original New Mutants, they were only part of a huge cast of students at the Xavier Institute. At first, they were notable for their drive to become superheroes, but soon rival internal groups played a large role in the series. In 2004, it was relaunched as New X-Men: Academy X, after which the central group was formally dubbed the "New Mutants." In the aftermath of the "M-Day" crossover storyline in late 2005, the remaining students were merged into one junior team, the New X-Men.

The third New Mutants series, reuniting most of the original team, launched in May 2009.

The New Mutants, vol. 1

By the early 1980s, Uncanny X-Men (under the authorship of Chris Claremont) had become one of the comic book industry's most successful titles, prompting Marvel to launch The New Mutants, the first of several X-Men spin-offs.

The New Mutants were teenaged students of Professor Charles Xavier, much like the original X-Men, who had since grown into adulthood. These students, however, rather resembled the "All-New, All-Different X-Men" in terms of ethnic diversity. The original team consisted of:

• Karma (Xi'an Coy Manh), a 19-year-old Vietnamese girl and the team's original leader, who could mentally possess other people's bodies.
• Cannonball (Samuel Guthrie), a mild-mannered Kentuckian and eventual co-leader after Karma's "death," who became nigh-invulnerable when rocketing through the air.
• Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair), a Scot who could transform into a wolf-like creature.
• Psyche (Danielle Moonstar, also called Mirage and Moonstar), a Cheyenne and eventual co-leader after Karma's "death," who could create visual empathic three-dimensional illusions.
• Sunspot (Roberto da Costa), a Brazilian who gained superhuman strength fueled by sunlight and could store solar energy in his body to use his super strength during the night.

The team debuted in Marvel Graphic Novel #4 (December 1982), which continued a plotline from Uncanny X-Men. The group was formed by Professor X when he was under the control of the menacing alien race called the Brood. The youths were intended to be hosts for Brood embryos, but the X-Men returned and set matters straight. The five youngsters remained at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to learn to control their powers.

The series was originally written by Claremont and illustrated by McLeod, the team's co-creators, but McLeod soon passed artistic duties on to Sal Buscema. Claremont gave the series an oddly dark tone, which was heightened with the arrival of artist Bill Sienkiewicz. In addition to very serious depictions of teenage angst and growing pains, the series featured themes of mysticism and psychic boundaries. The New Mutants also encountered a secret society called the Hellfire Club, and began a rivalry with their young apprentices, the Hellions.

The New Mutants initially had a semi-antagonistic relationship with the youngest X-Man, Kitty Pryde, sparked by Professor X's decision to "demote" Kitty to the junior team after its establishment. Though Kitty ultimately proved herself to Xavier and remained an X-Man, she held a grudge against the New Mutants nonetheless, dubbing them "X-Babies." The New Mutants, blameless in Xavier's decision and resenting Kitty's attitude, responded in kind. The animosity softened after the team attempted to rescue Kitty from the Hellfire Club's White Queen Emma Frost, and furthermore after Kitty's friends Illyana Rasputin and Doug Ramsey joined the team (see below).

After the apparent death of Karma, Cannonball and Dani Moonstar were appointed co-leaders. New recruits included:

• Magma (Amara Aquila/Alison Crestmere), a fiercely tempered native of a secret Roman society in the Amazon who could control lava.
• Magik (Illyana Rasputin), sister of the Russian X-Man Colossus and long-time resident of the X-Mansion, an accomplished mystic who could open "teleportation discs" allowing travel to Limbo and from there, any point on Earth.
• Warlock, an extraterrestrial of the techno-organic race known as the Technarchy.
• Cypher (Douglas Ramsey), an otherwise ordinary young man who could learn any language, spoken or written, at an exponential rate, whether it was human, alien, or machine, making him an unmatched computer expert.

In 1986, Professor X was written out of the series. Before he left, he made the X-Men's one-time nemesis, Magneto, headmaster of his school. Not trusted by his students, Magneto struggled in his new role and eventually joined the Hellfire Club.

In 1987, the series was turned over to writer Louise Simonson and illustrator Bret Blevins. Simonson's run was controversial, as Magma was written out of the book, Cypher was killed off, new characters Bird-Brain and Gosamyr were added to the team, and Magik was de-aged back to childhood. Simonson also folded the X-Terminators, a group of young wards from X-Factor, into the New Mutants.

The X-Terminators added to the team were:

• Rictor (Julio Richter), a young Mexican who could create shock waves.
• Rusty Collins, a pyrokinetic wanted by the U.S. government.
• Skids (Sally Blevins), a former Morlock who could project a force field around her body.
• Boom-Boom (Tabitha Smith), a teen runaway who could create "plasma bombs."

In 1989, Simonson crafted a saga in which the team journeyed to Asgard, the home of the gods of Norse mythology. The storyline wrote Dani Moonstar out of the series, as she joined the Norse pantheon as one of the Valkyrie.

Sales of the series had slumped for several years, but took a sharp upturn after Rob Liefeld took over the penciling and co-plotting chores at the end of 1989. A new mentor for the group, the mysterious mercenary Cable, was introduced, further helping sales. Over the next year, several longtime team members were written out or killed off. When Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza, who wrote dialogue based on Liefeld's plots, took over as writers of the final three issues of the series, they included several harder-edged characters:

• Domino, Cable's pale-skinned, black-garbed mercenary lover.
• Shatterstar, a swashbuckling warrior from another dimension.
• Warpath (James Proudstar), the younger brother of slain X-Man Thunderbird and a former Hellion, an Apache who possessed super strength and speed.
• Feral (Maria Callasantos), who possessed a bestial temperament and appearance.

The New Mutants was cancelled in 1991 with issue #100, but the new platoon-like team formed by Cable continued in X-Force, a successful series (whose first issue sold approximately one million copies) that would continue until 2002, and feature a variety of the former New Mutants cast.

Collected editions

The New Mutants has been reprinted in several trade paperbacks, some containing specific story arcs (such as the "Demon Bear Saga" by Claremont and Sienkiewicz), and some collected as part of a larger crossover of the various X-titles. Only in 2006, however, did a chronological reprinting of the series begin, with the commencement of The New Mutants Classic series of trade paperbacks.

The New Mutants, vol. 2

The second incarnation of the New Mutants debuted in 2003 with an ongoing series of the same name, written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir. The series featured a handful of the dozens of mutant teenagers attending the Xavier Institute, as well as their instructors, which included various X-Men as well as former members of the original New Mutants (Dani Moonstar, Karma, Wolfsbane and Magma).

The featured group of students were only formally dubbed the "New Mutants" with the series relaunch as New X-Men: Academy X in 2004, and the reorganization of the Xavier Institute student body into various training squads. The New Mutants, advised by Dani Moonstar, were:

• Prodigy (David Alleyne), the team's co-leader, who can utilize the skills and knowledge (but not powers) of those near him.
• Wind Dancer (Sofia Mantega), the other co-leader, who can create winds, fly via said winds, and eavesdrop over distances by conducting air vibrations.
• Wallflower (Laurie Collins), a shy girl who generates pheromones that usually cause people near her to match her moods, although she has learned to control this.
• Elixir (Josh Foley), who can heal himself and others as well as inflict damage.
• Surge (Noriko Ashida), who absorbs electricity which she can release as blasts, or use for super-speed, but requires mechanical gauntlets to prevent overcharge.
• Icarus (Joshua "Jay" Guthrie), who flies on red, angel-like wings, heals rapidly, and possesses a very beautiful singing voice.

Another such group, advised by Emma Frost, were known as the "Hellions" and, like their predecessors, were the arch-rivals of the New Mutants.

After M-Day, the cataclysmic event that decimated the world's mutant population, only 27 of the 182 students enrolled at the Xavier Institute retained their powers. The New Mutants and the other training squads were disbanded, and the remaining students were folded into a single junior team, the New X-Men.

Collected editions

New Mutants, vol. 3

In May 2009, a third volume of New Mutants was launched. The series is written by Zeb Wells and pencilled by Diogenes Neves with many original characters returning to form a new field team for the X-Men. The team is a reunion of sorts for the original cast from the first volume and consists of Cannonball, Dani Moonstar, Magma, Sunspot, Karma, and Magik, and spun from events from the limited series X-Infernus.

The Return of Legion

The series opens with Shan and Dani investigating the possible case of a mutant in Westcliffe, Colorado. Shan meets a little girl and they are both in trouble as an axe comes through a door behind them while a hand turns the doorknob. Meanwhile at the X-Men's new HQ Magik returns, battle scarred, from the future and is met with hostility by the mutants that she dealt with in Limbo during the Quest For Magik storyline. Cannonball and Sunspot step in to defend her while Magik subsequently faints, muttering, "They'll be almost dead by now." In the X-Brig, Magma brings soup to the recently blinded Empath of the Hellions. They begin to talk when Sam calls Amara to the Med Bay due to the return of Illyana. Beast checks her out while the remaining former New Mutants discuss whether or not it is her due to her acting strange. Roberto then explains that both Beast and Cerebra say she is the real Illyana. Sam requests to create a new team consisting of himself, Amara, Roberto, and Illyana to find Dani and Shan as Magik believes they are in trouble. They get their uniforms and a jet and begin to travel to Westcliffe. Magik's strange behavior continues when she tells Amara that she knows Shan and Dani are in trouble because a year later Amara told her and blamed her for not being here to help, which was the reason Magik traveled back. Magik also questions whether Amara still loves Empath and even offers to reverse the blinding done to him by Pixie. She then believes that Amara prefers Empath to be helpless and offers to reverse it and keep it their secret. Upon arriving in Westcliffe, Magik sees a picture of the girl Shan was with earlier on a missing poster. This has a bad effect on Magik as she likens it to when she was abducted by the demon Belasco. Magik and Amara go to speak with the girl's parents while Sam and Roberto go to a bar. They are met with a less-than-warm welcome and eventually get into a fight. They then find Shan tied to a chair in the back room of the bar looking catatonic. Meanwhile, Magik and Amara go to the house of the parents of the girl, Marci. There Magik figures out clues the future Amara had given her and they know they are in the right place. They are met with resistance by the parents but eventually get to the basement where Marci is being kept. In the basement is a large box. Magik and Amara hear Shan's voice from the box, which they report back to Sam who does not understand as he was looking at Shan tied to the chair. Amara and Magik open the box and out walks David Haller, the mutant known as Legion.

It is revealed that Shan and Marci are trapped in Haller's mind. They are chased by his many personalities through the mindscape. Roberto approaches Shan in the back room of the bar and is nearly sucked into Haller's mind until Sam punches him away. Shan hides Marci in an attic and is attacked and captured by the personalities. Marci takes control of Legion's body and communicates with her parents who try to protect her from Amara and Magik. While her parents argue about whether or not her father called the X-Men, Marci is set upon by the personalities. One personality with what seems to be super-strength takes the doll, which dictates who is in control of Legion's body, and punches Amara. Another takes the doll and uses an energy discharge to blast Magik through the roof of the house. Marci's mother still thinks that she is Legion. Marci's father knows otherwise and tries to stop her going to Legion. Another personality takes hold and punches through both of Marci's parents. Her father subsequently reveals he did call the X-Men to his dying wife. Magma and Amara recover while Legion flies to find Dani because she is a Fixer, someone who helped fix David's mind previously. Sam interrogates the bartender and learns that Dani is in the local jail. They are subsequently found by the police outside the bar. Sam picks up Roberto and blasts by them. Legion then enters the jail and kills the officer on duty. Legion threatens Dani saying they have many ways to kill her, to which she replies that she has a few herself from behind the jail cell bars.

The personality known as Jack Wayne speaks with Dani and tells her that more personalities have emerged and insults her loss of powers. He even goes so far as to toy with the idea of raping Dani until Roberto and Sam blast through the wall of the prison, kicking Legion through a wall. A quick exchange between Dani and Sam occurs, ending in Sam leaving Dani in the jail cell for her own protection, angering her greatly. The doll is handed to a new personality named Sally, whose powers seem to allow Legion's body to become incredibly muscled. Legion suddenly shouts, "Nobody loves me," causing Bobby to pause and nearly get injured until Sam blasts onto the scene and punches Legion. Yet another personality who has a prehensile tongue, Hugh Davidson, takes over. He begins choking Bobby until Sam saves him. A "good" personality takes over and distracts Sam and Bobby while another Legion forms in Dani's cell and tries to kill her. The one in control is actually sad to do this and even apologizes as it prepares to kill Dani. This newly formed other Legion has its head melted by Magma as she and Magik arrive to save Dani. Sam and Bobby then blast through the cell doors, not realizing the other two had arrived. After Sam powers down, Dani punches him after he apologizes for leaving her there. She then walks out saying she is going to make herself "useful." As she is gone, there is a quick sit-rep among the team ending in Magik leaving to go to the bar where Karma's body is. Sam worries about Legion coming after Dani again just before she returns armed with guns saying that they need to chase Legion. Illyana is warned not to kill any of David's personalities as she touches Karma's body and is dragged into Legion's mind. She arrives, takes out the Soulsword, and demands to see Shan. Jack Wayne taunts her, saying she will not kill any of them because she was told not to. Magik then proceeds to kill 3 personalities, including Jack Wayne.

The main team gets ready to fight Legion and Dani is told to leave by Sam. They get into an argument where Sam calls Dani's lack of power into the argument. Dani gets into a van and drives off. Due to the powers of one of the personalities, Legion sees Dani driving away. In the mindscape, Magik again demands to be brought to Shan. One personality attempts to attack her as they "are many." Magik kills him and says, "You are many. I have many ways to kill you." The other personalities then become more helpful. In the real world, Legion attacks the team with super-speed and uses scrap metal to cut Roberto across the stomach. Magma then traps him with lava. In the mindscape, Magik finds Shan protecting Marci in a pseudo-jail. Marci then leads them to where the real David Haller personality is. A new personality takes over, causing Magma's powers to shut down. Sam then punches him through a wall. Karma and Magik find David in another one of the cells. He is sad to find out that he has been bad again. Marci then tells David that the bad men took her doll Moira; this is a reference to the fact that he was in the care of Moira MacTaggert before. Magik exits the cell and demands the doll. The doll passes into the possession of someone who can turn off Sam's powers, causing him to hit into a car and get knocked out. The doll is handed to a personality who can heal Legion's injured body. Legion's body becomes that of a werewolf which goes to bite Sam before Dani drives the van she drove off in into him. He survives, and a brief fight ensues until Illyana takes the doll and thus control of Legion's body. Later the X-Men arrive where Emma Frost puts the people of Westcliffe under the impression that they were all sick with the flu for the past 2 days. Madison Jeffries then puts a helmet on Legion in order to keep the peace inside his head. Sam thanks Dani for saving him, but she walks away without saying a word. Sam then has a conversation with Scott Summers about being a leader.

The next issue deals with the aftermath of the case in Westcliffe, Utopia, and the return of Warlock. H.A.M.M.E.R agents fire two missiles on Warlock but they do not explode; after Warlock has touched them, they are given sentience and they do not want to blow up. The comic then cuts to Utopia where Dani is brushing Brightwind, the horse she uses when she has her Valkyrie powers she received from Hela during the Utopia storyline in order to defeat Ares. Cyclops then offers her a teaching job, revealing that Sam has not put her on his team. The rest of the team are then being debriefed by Kavita Rao in relation to the Westcliffe mission. Shan worries about Marci being trapped in Haller's mind with all the others. The comic then shows the inside of Haller's mind now with all the different personalities being separately boxed by the X-Club and Rogue. Roberto then tries to hit on Rogue while the X-Club explains what's being done and how Legion got so many new powers and personalities. Roberto, Amara and Sam leave the lab and pass the danger room as they leave. The doors to the danger room slowly open to reveal Dani who promptly shouts, "Guthrie!" Shan explains to Dr. Rao how they got out of Haller's mind, and reveals that the only way someone could become part of Haller's mind was either through Shan's powers or if Legion is next to the person when they die. The comic then cuts to Sam and Dani in the danger room; while Sam wants to talk, Dani wants to spar. She punches him in the face and they begin to argue about why she is not on the team; she asks Sam what he would do if someone told him he could not die for one of the team. Sam replies, "I'd punch them in the face." The two spar briefly and leave the danger room to get some beers. In Shan's interview, the comic reveals that someone else was in control of Legion when Marci died. It is implied that he abused her in some way, as when Shan looked at him she knew what he had done as though she had done it, and she wanted the memory gone. She then took the Soulsword and proceeded to kill the personality. It is then revealed Magik told Rao that she killed the personality, taking the blame for Shan. Finally, the comic shows Warlock in the ruins of the Xavier Institute where he finds a picture or himself and his friends among the wreckage. He then sees Cypher's grave is empty.

Necrosha

The next arc opens with Professor Charles Xavier asking Danger if he can see his son, Legion. He ponders if he only has bad effects on his students. The New Mutants then join him. He is over joyed to see his young students all grown up and they are happy see him. Outside the recently resurrected Cypher watches the exchange showing his powers to have evolved as now he can read body language and figures out what people are really saying. He is able to find out insecurities and such through this. He is then contacted by Warlock but Selene's objectives override Warlock. His mission is to take out Magma and does so by hiding in her room. He tells her that "They brought me back" and points behind her. Amara looks and Doug knocks her out. He then pulls Amara into the kitchen where the rest of the New Mutants are with a message from Selene. They are all shocked to see him again after so long and attack him after realising Magma has been badly wounded. Using his translation powers he easily dodges and counter attack Roberto, Sam and Magik. Karma then attempts to possess him but it fails. Dani attacks him but she gets beaten. Roberto and Sam try again but again are defeated when Doug throws Roberto into the oncoming Sam. Karma then out thinks Doug and uses all the other New Mutants to attack him. Since there is not method to their movements he is unable to translate it and ends up punched out a window and into the water. The team worry about Amara and realise something is going down all over Utopia. They are quickly silenced as Warlock appears having saved Doug and Sam who had flown out the window under Karma's control. He attempts to fix Doug as he is infected with malicious code. He is then attacked and decapitated by Doug.

Doug throws Warlock's head off Utopia but is attacked by the code Warlock introduced and is freed from Selene's control. As the new virus takes hold the Devil appears. It is then revealed that it is the enemy team of the New Mutants, the Hellions. As Jetstream goes to enter the room Dani thows a knife and closes the door. The door then slices Jetstream in half. Cypher is still dealing with Warlock's code battling the other code that revived him. Tarot's devil reappears and Magik slices it in half with her Soulsword. Jetstream is revealed to still be alive and attacks Doug. The rest of the Hellions appear and try to take Doug away as he screams a plea for help to Sam who is about to teleport away on one of Magik's teleport disks. They then find themselves on a partially destroyed Utopia with the X-Men fighting newly resurrected foes. Karma then tells the others that she thinks that it is the real Doug and expresses anxiety at having left him behind. Colossus is punched towards the team where a funny little exchange between Illyana and Piotr occurs when he warns her about the dead walking as she replies with "We are not ones to talk." Roberto then assists Colossus in defeating their resurrected enemy. Roberto is still worried about Amara while Sam decides to save Doug because "The Hellions want him. That means I want him more." The comic then cuts to Doug being re-infected with Selene's virus. Then the comic shows a small fish turn to yellow energy near Warlock's head signalling that he is not out for the count.

Warlock continues killing sea creatures in order to heal himself, while Bobby runs Amara to the Infirmary. Dani is with them but they are set upon by Feral. Doug is being made evil again by the Hellions when Karma attempts to take control of them. This leads to Roulette admitting she thought that she loved Doug at some point. Sam, Amara and Ilyana are then seen. Feral jumps on Dani and she stabs Feral. Feral then goes for Amara but Roberto rips her arm off. Dani then throws the arm out the window and Feral jumps after it. The Hellions and the New Mutants then begin to fight to save Doug. All of Tarot's cards are defeated by Illyana's Soulsword. She is then knocked off the platform they are fighting on while Karma and Sam try to fight off the rest as Doug remains dealing with the two TO strains in his system. Magik then finds Warlock and purges him of the malicious code. Dr. Nemesis then saves Amara in the infirmary. The Hellions prepare to kill Doug but Warlock returns looking emaciated. He cannot defeat the Hellions so he calls the two missiles he gave life to. They prepare to explode as Warlock grabs Doug and jumps through a teleportation disk. They then explode and kill the Hellions. He then uses Magik's Soulsword to purge Doug of the TO virus completely.

Prelude to Fall of the New Mutants

The issue opens with a scientist being told someone is returning from "hell." A group of soldiers then return, many of whom are scarred and one has a seemingly demonic hand. The comic then opens on Utopia with Warlock and Cypher being checked for the TO virus by Maddison Jeffries, Dr. Nemesis, Danger, Cyclops and Emma Frost. Danger starts to come on to Warlock, where it is also referenced that Jeffries has feelings for Danger. Warlock then refers to Illyana as Magik 2.0, and Cypher tells Nemesis that he is free of the virus because he "hacked" it or in Cypher's opinion he asked it to. With the danger room destroyed during Necrosha, Bobby is fighting a demon from Limbo that Illyana had teleported in. Eventually Bobby gets caught, and Illyana teleports it out. Shan and Dani appear and ask Bobby to go with them to visit Amara, who was still healing from the events of Necrosha, while Dani tells Illyana that Emma wants to talk to her. Amara is in a huge vat of lava, healing and talking to Sam where they reference that Bobby has feelings for her. Doug comes in to talk to Amara, but Bobby follows in and throws him against the wall. Doug is then told to leave by Bobby after Amara also tells him to leave. Emma is then interviewing Illyana where it is revealed that she is Illyana in body and mind but does not have her soul. The Inferno event is referenced, and Illyana reveals that going back in time to save Illyana from being corrupted by Belasco caused her to cease to exist. She is then returned to life by Belasco but then sent away for not being the real Illyana. She then references that Legion would have killed everyone except Emma, who would kill him if she did not intervene. The comic returns to Doug, whom Amara who wants to leave. She says Doug is not like he was before but then he explains that he is more powerful now. He then says something to a hesitant Amara in a language just for her. She then hugs Doug and welcomes him back. Illyana reveals that she travelled back in time to train them to deal with a threat from limbo that will return the Elder Gods from exile. It is then revealed the threat is the soldiers from earlier and are after the New Mutants.

International Incident

The New Mutants are sent to Japan to take out a boat of Savage Land mutates who are trying to get to Utopia to go to Magneto in the hopes of overthrowing humanity with him as leader. Doug, Warlock and Sunspot leave the plane and attack the boat while Cannonball attacks Sauron who he has a history with. Emma continues to worry about the team and whether or not it's dangerous to have them. Karma cannot take over the mutates minds. It is then revealed that Cyclops is looking for a leader from watching the New Mutants fight from Utopia. The assault team are in trouble until Sam comes as back up. Sam gets slime on his face and attacks Roberto. It is then revealed that a mutate below deck is keeping Shan out. They then reveal that Magneto is on the X-Men. The mutates say they will go home if the X-Men will sort this out with the Japanese government. Emma then says Sam is not the best leader as he had been incapacitated. Cyclops then reveals that he never said it had to be Sam.

Siege Tie-in

The New Mutants are in Las Vegas so Dani can pay off the favour she received from Hela during the Utopia crossover. Dani goes to Hela while the others go gambling. Hela then has Dani go to Asgard during Siege to be her Valkyrie and bring the dead of the immortals to her. Dani asks her what if she says no and Hela says she will revoke the gift and would not have defeated Ares during Utopia. Dani is told not to get involved in the siege and to just get the ghosts of the dead out of there. Dani does not listen and helps the fight. In doing this she leaves the dead immortals at the hands of the Disir. These were previous Valkyries who had been cursed for feasting on dead immortals. While Dani is fighting in the Siege she cannot draw her sword but as the Disir begin to feast on the dead she returns and realises the sword is only to protect the dead from the Disir. Dani kills two of the Disir and the rest leave. She then leads the dead away from the fight while Tyr who was among the dead returns to his body as he is not dead even though he thinks he should be. Dani returns to Hela and is furious with Hela and it is revealed Hela did not want it to happen. Dani leaves and chooses not to join her friends as she feels she is not very lucky.

Second Coming

During the crossover Illyana is sent to Limbo early on and is saved in the Hellbound tie-in by a team led by Sam which featured no other New Mutants. Before this Sam and the other New Mutants fought against The Right and Cameron Hodge. During this Shan gets injured resulting in her leg being amputated and Warlock has to break his vow of not killing in order to save the team. Doug also gets information about Bastions towers. Later after Hope gets onto Utopia she and Dani get in a fight after Dani confronts Cable. Later X-Force Cable and Cypher go into the future to destroy the mastermold. Cypher melds with the mastermold system and overtakes it. As a result all the Nimrods are deactivated. Those not injured also took part in the war against the Nimrod army in the area under the red dome.

Fall of the New Mutants

This arc runs for 5 issues and deals with the limbo soldiers that appeared earlier in the series looking for Illyana.

The issue opens on a meeting between two of the soldiers from a previous issue as well as several government men. An argument ensues over the importance of some unknown children and the taking into custody of Illyana. The guy in charge of the soldiers is revealed to be General Ulysses. He also reveals that he and his men survived 20 years in Limbo on 6 months of supplies and that the children are dead seemingly due to an attack on the base where they were being kept. An argument ensues between the general and one of the government men that results in a soldier with a demonic arm named Doc Noc attacking the government man with the arm against his will. The General is threatened with being "code-blacked" if his team attacks Illyanna. Sam is then shown on Utopia talking with Cyclops having lost his confidence in his leading. As a result, his team is sent on a vacation. Shan is shown in the infirmary with a new bionic leg talking to Hellion, who lost both his hands during Second Coming. Amara and Bobby then tell her that they are going on a vacation. Doug is watching Warlock purge the lifeglow he absorbed from the fight against Cameron Hodge outside where Dani tells them about going on vacation. Illyana is seen talking to Pixie, who is also going on a vacation, about needing her help soon. The team head to a ranch while General Ulysses moves his forces out. Sam stresses the importance of talking about their feelings about what happened with very little response until he mentions he brought lots of beer, which prompts Dani to ask the others to hear him out. There are several little scenes between the characters, including Cypher mentioning that Warlock does not like watching them eat because of what happened against Hodge. Another was between Bobby and Amara further hinting to a relationship, and finally one of Sam and Dani kissing with no explanation as to how they got to that point. Illyana then feels something happening. The soldiers then reach their destination and attack their target, which is revealed to be Pixie, whom they defeat, tie up, and then steal her soul dagger.

The man who was attacked in the previous issue by Doc Noc is revealed to be General Combest. It is revealed that after the Inferno crossover that Ulysses was given his job by Combest to deal with the mutant problem. Combest also reveals they gathered a group of mutant weapons. These were the children he mentioned in the last issue. The children are revealed to be the babies used to open the portal during Inferno. The government secured the babies, and Combest hoped that Doc Noc would be able to weaponize them to use them against the other mutants. They also reverse-engineered the portal, built a new one, and used the babies' flesh to open it. The comic skips to when the limbo base called the Hatchery is in place. Some new recruits are being told about the place and were told to turn in all religious icons. One soldier did not and is attacked by one of the many demons surrounding the base and taken away. The comic then shows Doc Noc working on transplanting demon body parts. He is also shown torturing the children in the hopes of causing their powers to appear. Later a team find an amulet with the bloodstones that held Illyana and Pixie's souls was found in the hand of a blonde corpse. It is taken back to the base to be examined by Doc Noc. Shortly thereafter, Witchfire, the daughter of Belasco, appears and demands the return of the amulet as it is part of her inheritance. She then attacks the base with a demon army. Doc Noc loses his arm when a demon attacks him while holding the amulet. He is called to report but can only say they are all dead. Combest blocks off all of the portals except one that needs special technology to find, which causes the feud between him and Ulysses for losing the weapons. The comic returns to the present, where Ulysses is on a helicopter with his team and Pixie. He gets off the helicopter and is shouted at by Combest. Combest then says he should have court-martialled Ulysses for losing the weapons. Ulysses says they do not like to be called weapons, and Combest is killed by something unseen. Just afterward, it is revealed the children are alive and all grown up.

Back at the ranch, Dani and Sam kiss when Illyana realises Pixie has been captured. She transports Warlock to the X-Men to tell them what is happening as he once caused problems there. She then teleports the team to Limbo against Sam's wishes. She speaks to her minions who have captured Witchfire. Witchfire tells them where the men who stole the bloodstone amulet went. They travel far in Limbo over a long period of time and arrive in the military base through a portal. Meanwhile Pixie tries to escape and uses her pixie dust to make the soldiers hallucinate. They plan to use her soul dagger to pull the rest of her soul out of her body. Illyana confronts the military men but is taken down by one of the Inferno babies, who then prepare to attack the rest of the New Mutants.

Doc Noc is shown revealing where all the demons were killed by the Inferno children. One of the children blows off his face while fighting the demons and has it replaced with a way to focus the blasts that come from his face when he uses his powers. The kids blame the New Mutants for being handed over to the government, which causes them to realise that they are the Inferno children. The children then say that once they are done with Illyana, they will kill her. The New Mutants attack the Inferno children and are all defeated one at a time.

Shan makes contact with Face, the mutant without a face. Sam is then shown tied up surrounded by dynamite, while Dani is being tortured in s room close by. The mutant guarding Sam can taste emotions, and Sam's worry for Dani tastes delicious. Pixie's soul is ripped out of her body using Illyana's Soulsword and Pixie's Souldagger. Ulysses plans to use the bloodstone amulet to strike fear in the demons of Limbo. Illyana is thrown into a room with Amara and Roberto. He then asks if Amara will die, and Illyana tells him that she will and that she does not love him as Roberto loves her. Sam continues to worry about Dani, who helps him by saying he is an excellent kisser, taking away the feelings that his captor was enjoying. With the new bloodstone, Ulysses and his men move out to go back to Limbo. Doc Noc then reveals that they are planning to sacrifice the New Mutants to the Elder Gods. Shan is being prepared to be moved, but some of the Inferno children decide to amputate her bionic leg. She talks to Face again and shows him what became of his face. This upsets him so much he blasts all the others around. All the others have left, leaving only Face, Shan and Illyana behind. Illyana then reveals she only came back to save Shan, not the others.

Rise of The New Mutants

This two-issue arc directly follows on from the previous arc and the fallout of it. This is also the final arc written by Zeb Wells since the series' return in '09.

Emma Frost uses Cerebro to try to locate the missing New Mutants. She is unable to do so, but Pixie, Illyana, and Shan teleport into Cerebra and explain that the others have been taken to Limbo. Dani and the rest of the team remain trapped by the Inferno babies, while the soldiers of Project Purgatory prepare to use the bloodstone amulet to destroy Limbo. The X-Men gather and prepare to move out while Shan talks to Illyana. Shan deduces that Illyana is not bringing the X-Men on a rescue mission to Limbo. Illyana then proceeds to use her Soulsword on Shan and leaves her behind as the others prepare to leave for Limbo. Demons gather at the Project Purgatory base, and a trio of leaders tries to negotiate with the soldiers. They are killed, and the demon army attacks. A group of demons attack Dani in her prison and accidentally release her. She then proceeds to fight back using a small knife she was known to carry in the original run of New Mutants. Dani's jailer kills the remaining demons and comes looking for her. Dani then proceeds to shot her with an arrow from a bow she stole from one of the demons. Due to her broken arm, she uses her foot to hold the bow. One of the Inferno babies, Toko, is sent into the army of demons holding the amulet and the final bloodstone. She places the final stone into the amulet. Illyana then arrives at the earth base of Project Purgatory. It is then she realizes the Elder Gods have been released and they proceed to punch through the Limbo portal to get at her. Meanwhile back on Utopia, Shan enters Legion's mind. Legion is scared and tells Shan not to go in there. Shan tells Legion to stand back and draws the Soulsword from inside her. Shan opens a door marked Do Not Enter onto Legion's mindscape seen in the early issues of volume 3. It is then revealed that the Legion that has been in charge is not the real Legion, but another personality. The real Legion is locked up with what seems to be the rotting corpse of Bishop. He then says that Illyana told him previously that Shan would be back for the real Legion.

Back in Limbo, Dani frees Sam, Amara, and Roberto from their prison. Sam prepares to go find the amulet to try to avoid the Elder Gods being released, unaware that it already happened. He gets incredibly angry and flies off to get vengeance. Amara and Bobby see Illyana on a dragon fighting demons. This is the Illyana that teleported in at the start of the series. Amara prepares to run and tell her what went wrong and what needs to be done to make it right. Bobby stops her, and she tries to trick him into letting her go off and hide alone; as a result of this she would die. Amara knows he is right but knows she needs to do it. Bobby then says he is going with her so she does not die alone. General Ulysses realizes the Elder Gods are attacking Earth and tries to command them to turn back. He is then killed by an Elder God, and the amulet is taken. Cyclops asks Illyana how to defeat the Elder Gods, but she simply states defeating the Elder Gods is beyond them.

Elsewhere, Bobby is preparing to make a path for Amara to get to the former Illyana to try to fix things. He powers up and runs into the fray, knowing it will be the death of him. As he falls he says goodbye to Amara and says that he loves her. This results in Magik feeling uncharacteristically sentimental at a time when she is focused on the elder gods. The feeling causes her to she transport the X-crew to the point where Bobby is about to be killed enabling Colossus to rescue him. Some of the Inferno babies and Doc Noc attempt to escape on an underground train. Sam flies straight through the train car, effectively killing everyone on board. Dani finds Cypher with the girl who took control of him. Earlier having been playing a strange instrument, it is revealed the machine plays magic. As a result, Doug was able to play a spell to free him from the girls' power and to remove her mouth, effectively killing her powers. Bobby then sacrifices himself to help Amara, being overcome by many demons. At this time, he also tells her that he loves her and goodbye. Illyana is talking to Cyclops when the real Legion appears in Limbo. Inside his head the good Legion, Shan, and Marci are protecting themselves from the chaos of Legion's mind, where Shan tells Marci not to worry because Illyana knows what she is doing. Legion then destroys the Elder Gods and the amulet, giving Illyana back the bloodstones. He then returns everything in Limbo to as it was before the Elder Gods were released. Back on Utopia it is revealed that Bobby is still alive as are Amara, Warlock, and Doug. Elsewhere, Dani questions Sam about if he caught up to Doc Noc and the babies. When he remains silent, she asks him what he did. He stays silent and walks away, leaving Dani distraught. Illyana returns Pixie's soul dagger and soul gems to her. Pixie then asks if Illyana got hers back and if it means Illyana is a real girl again. Illyana cryptically says she hopes to act like it does, if nothing else. Shan then talks to Illyana about how Legion got back to Earth. All Illyana does is give her a knowing look. Shan also asks if Illyana let the Elder Gods be released in order to get her vengeance. When Illyana says yes, Shan tells her she has to tell the others. Finally Shan asks what she gave Legion in return for helping her, to which Illyana replied, "Everyone wants to come home, Shan. Even the worst of us." Illyana goes to her brother and tells him she is as she once was, whole and his little snowflake once more. Shadow is thrown on this statement by the look on Illyana's face as she hugs her brother.

Age of X

Age of X is a crossover with X-Men: Legacy involving vol. 3 issues #22-24. These issues were written by Mike Carey. The story revolves around a separate reality, created by one of the many Legion's personas, where Xavier never created the X-Men, the mutant population was either imprisoned or killed and a small part of survivors is hiding in a fortress built by Magneto. They are the hunters of Fortress X. When Legacy escapes from the brig, and again when Magneto is suspected of betrayal they are the designated team for the mission.^[2] The roster is almost the same as the Heroic Age one missing Cannonball, who is the leader of the mutant forces devoted to protect the fortress, and Magik who is imprisoned by the storyarc's foe. The team consist of the following members.

• Cypher - Cypher was easily captured and imprisoned in a prison somewhere on the Pacific Coast. Cypher later escaped and joined up with Magneto. Going by the name Warlock, he is shown to possess techno-organic powers similar to him.^[3]
• Dust
• Karma - Her leg is mechanical as after the Second Coming arc.^[4]
• Magma
• Danielle Moonstar - The leader and the tracker of the team,^[4] nothing is known about her mutant powers in this reality.
• Sunspot - Goes by the name of Eclipse.^[4]

Unfinished Business

Once reality is restored following the events of Age of X, the New Mutants and the rest of the X-Men are returned to Utopia with their memories - both those real and those false - of the lives they lead, the people they were, and the pain they suffered in Age of X still intact. Cannonball and Karma both temporarily step down from the team to recover from their psychological and physical damage, and Cyclops places Magik under permanent arrest for her recent actions in Limbo. Cyclops then names Moonstar as the new leader of the New Mutants - now consisting of just Moonstar, Sunspot, Magma, Cypher, and Warlock - and charges the team with the new mission of tying up the X-Men's loose ends. Their first assignment: To find and bring home X-Man, Cyclops' son from an alternate reality who was last seen during Dark Reign.

The group begins their search in an abandoned H.A.M.M.E.R. Facility that's being excavated by Captain Steve Rogers and Victoria Hand. Rogers convinced Moonstar that the Avengers have already searched the facility, and there is no one here. However, as the Mutants leave, Cypher claims that there is in fact someone here, but he does not want to be found; reality is being warped in the facility. The Mutants manage to work past the warp, and find the Sugar Man and his mutates holding X-Man hostage.^[5] Sugar Man has been holding X-Man in the Omega Machine, a device that Norman Osbourne built to open portals to other realities, hoping that X-Man will open a portal to Sugar Man's home reality. Moonstar, Sunspot, and Magma battle Sugar Man and his lackeys, while Cypher and Warlock try to release X-Man from the Omega Machine. Eventually, X-Man uses all of his will and power to open a portal to Sugar Man's home reality, hoping that Sugar Man will now leave him alone. Sugar Man attempts to escape through the portal, but he is stopped and defeated by the New Mutants. He is taken into custody from Steve Rogers, his lackeys are moved to get their artificial powers removed, and X-Man is taken to Utopia. There, it is revealed after using his abilities to open the portal to Sugar Man's reality, X-Man's powers were mostly burnt out, and he now only has telekinesis. Cyclops welcomes X-Man to Utopia, hoping he will make it his new home.^[6]

Moonstar calls in her old friend Gus Grim, a Native American Cognitive Therapist from Colorado known for his work in the Cheyenne communities, to help her "damaged" teammates. She first brings him to see Nate Grey, but Grim never talks to Grey, and instead recommends that Moonstar let him battle something "real" in the Danger Room so Grey can push himself. Grim then talks to Cannonball, who has put himself under psychiatric observation in a secure ward. Grim believes that Cannonball took himself out of a leadership position because he was too afraid of failing, and that he is still capable of leading if he was simply willing to put aside those feelings. He then goes to see Karma, who has stayed out of the field to be with Face, a sense deprived mutant whom she shares a psychic bond with. Grim tells Karma that there are any number of telepaths or empaths who could engage with Face, and the fact that she wants to do it alone is selfish of her. Lastly, Grim is taken to see Magik, who is imprisoned because of her reckless actions in Purgatory. Before they can talk, however, Grim collapses as three demons from Purgatory burst from his body to rescue Magik; Magik has no intentions of leaving, however, as she wants to stay to regain her life and the trust of her friends. The demons are then killed by Danger using a protocol designed by Doctor Strange for just such an occasion. Grim recovers from this ordeal, and Magik explains that the demons used his body as a Trojan Horse to get into Utopia to rescue her.

As Grim gets ready to leave Utopia, Moonstar fears that his experiences have put him off from doing regular sessions with her teammates, but Grim is surprised that Moonstar would even want him to do more sessions after how hard he went into her teammates. Moonstar explains that what Gus was doing is exactly what her teammates need; they're X-Men, and the life of an X-Man is too quick to spend time sitting around moping. Grim agrees to do weekly sessions, and he leaves Utopia. In the Danger Room, X-Man has turned off the safety protocols, and he is quickly getting overwhelmed. Thankfully, he is saved by Hope, who up to this point had refused to even meet X-Man due to his connection with Cable. She offers to teach X-Man some non-power based combat techniques that Cable taught her, and X-Man agrees as the two begin training. ^[7]

Fear Itself

Danielle Moonstar encounters Hela in Las Vegas, and is transported to Hel. When her teammates try to follow her using forbidden magic, they instead end up in Hell, where they encounter Mephisto, who offers transport the team to Hel, for a price.^[8][9]

X-Men: Regenesis

Collected editions

Other versions

Rahne of Terra

The graphic novel Rahne of Terra, by Peter David, is set in a heroic fantasy universe in which Wolfsbane's counterpart is Princess Rain of Geshem. Members of the royal household include her lady-in-waiting Tabby (Boom-Boom), the knights Robert (Sunspot), Samuel (Cannonball) and Richard (Riktor), and her Prince Consort, Douglas (Cypher). None of them have the powers of their counterparts, although the knights have magical items that duplicate their effects.

New Mutants: Truth or Death

In 1997, a three-issue reunion series written by Ben Raab and illustrated by Bernard Chang, New Mutants: Truth or Death, featured the young New Mutants traveling forward in time to meet their older, jaded selves in X-Force.

Ultimate X-Men

In Ultimate X-Men, the Academy of Tomorrow (previously called New Mutants) is founded by Emma Frost. They are loosely linked to the X-Men via Emma Frost's professional relationship with her former lover and teacher Charles Xavier. This Academy accepts any talented students, regardless of their genetic status.

The team is headed by a non-telepathic and more pacifistic version of Emma Frost and headed by field leader Havok. Members include Havok's girlfriend Polaris, Cannonball, Cypher (a human genius), Northstar (the current boyfriend of this universe's Colossus), Sunspot and Shinobi Shaw (Emma Frost's current boyfriend and secretly part of the Hellfire Club). Former members include Karma, Angel, Colossus, and Beast.

In other media

• The animated TV series X-Men: Evolution (2000–2003) featured a group called the New Mutants who, like their comic book counterparts, were a junior team living at the Xavier Institute concurrently with the X-Men. The team featured Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Magma, Boom-Boom and Sunspot. Other members, such as Iceman, Jubilee, Berzerker and Multiple Man were not New Mutants in the comic book series, but were featured in other X-Men comics. Conversely the character of Doug Ramsey was mentioned in the series bible as a friend of Kitty Pryde, but was never seen on screen either as Doug or Cypher.

• New Mutants is the name given to the 'race' of Mutants on the television show Mutant X.

References

External links

• MDP: New Mutants at the Marvel Database Project
• X-Men Diaries article on the original Hellions and New Mutants
• The Demon Bear Saga
• X-Men comics at Marvel.com