Director Josh Boone’s adaptation of Marvel Comics‘ 1980s favorite The New Mutants is continuing to take shape at Fox, and it’s looking to another ’80s themed nostalgic property to do so. According to The Hollywood Reporter, actor Charlie Heaton, best known as Jonathan Byers from Stranger Things, is officially in talks to join the cast of the X-Men spin-off film as Samuel Guthrie, better known as Cannonball.
In the comics, Sam has the ability to propel himself into the air, and has a powerful energy field that surrounds him while doing so, which makes him virtually invulnerable. Heaton joins Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams as Magick and Wolfsbane, respectively. Also among the cast is Rosario Dawson as mutant doctor Cecilia Reyes.
This adaptation of The New Mutants is going to be somewhat different from the comics, if early reports are to be believed. In the original Marvel stories, the New Mutants were the third generation of students at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, first under the watch of Charles Xavier, and later, Magneto. Unlike the older students, the X-Men, the New Mutants weren’t trained to fight bad guys, but just how to control their powers.
Nevertheless, they kept getting into all kinds of trouble anyway. In this new film, which is being described as more of a horror movie, the kids will find themselves as part of a government facility where they are being studied, and not Xavier’s school. The classic “Demon Bear Saga” from the comics is said to be the movie’s inspiration.
In the comics, Sam Guthrie is a lanky, blonde, super tall and super polite “good ‘ol boy” from the American south. Originally part of a large rural farming family from Kentucky, Sam helped found the team, and was the only member to stay on throughout that book’s entire 100 issue run. When New Mutants morphed into X-Force, he was front and center, and eventually, he became the first member of the New Mutants to graduate to the X-Men proper.
In recent years, he’s found himself as a member of the Avengers. His sister Paige Guthrie is the mutant known as Husk, and she was one of the founding members of the fourth generation of mutant students at Xavier’s known as Generation X. Although Sam is often portrayed as being a bit of an “aw, shucks” Southern stereotype, he eventually grew beyond that and became on of the X-Men universe’s most popular characters. Much like Colossus, he’s often shown to be the big lug with the heart of gold, and is in many ways the heart of the team.
The New Mutants is still looking to cast several members of the team, like Native-American Danielle Moonstar, Brazilian Roberto Dacosta (Sunspot) and the alien shape-shifter Warlock. Filming is set to being this July for an April 2018 release date. New Mutants will be one of three Fox X-Men properties coming in 2018, including Deadpool 2 and X-Men: Dark Phoenix.Â
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Images: Netflix / Marvel Comics
