The real legacy of the New Mutants is actually the series is paved the way for. Late on in the first volumes run, as it left the seventies and entered the late eighties and early nineties, there was some major upheaval in the line-up: the old group were tossed out in favour of the explosive keltomaniac Boom Boom, swashbuckling Shatterstar and assassin Domino. At this point the book began to segue from New Mutants to X-Force, a commando team of mutants that included a lot of young heroes, lead by Cable. Already the X-Men films have dipped into time-travelling weirdness a couple of times, so theres every chance they might introduce Cyclops and Jean Greys son from a dystopian future. With a glowing eye, robotic arm and huge machine guns, Cable was the most nineties of comic book heroes, and New Mutants went from mystical interior drama to big budget action flick overnight. Which doesnt sound much like Josh Boones speed, but hey, maybe theyll kick him to the kerb for the sequel and hire Neveldine and Taylor instead...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
