Just Stating Facts: The New Mutants’ Magik Should Join The MCU (But Probably Won’t)

When I finally got around to watching THE NEW MUTANTS in December I was already bummed because I had not seen it on a big screen in theaters – probably the first (but not even the last that month). But even though I watched it at home, I really loved it. I’ve watched it about 4 times, including once with director Josh Boone and artist Bill Sienciewicz’s commentary track – probably the best commentary track of the year. I think Boone’s weird, committed Sam Fuller meets Kevin Williamson-esque vision of mutants is one reason I come back to the film. I actually kind of love this film – and its a top 5 Fox Mutant-verse film for me. The other reason I’ve come back to this film so many times already is definitely Anya Taylor-Joy’s Ilyana Rasputin aka “Magik”.

In fact I really enjoyed the performance, the character and even the film so much that my mind started spinning. And as it spun, I eventually came to the conclusion that it would be a shame to let Anya Taylor-Joy’s Magik end with THE NEW MUTANTS. We’re in a new phase of the MCU, one where the multiverse appears to be a possibility. Could Magik join our current MCU? I think she should. It probably won’t happen – but hear me out. Here’s my reasoning.

A History of Magik

Magik is a very original character in the comics. She is the sister to two other mutants including Piotr “Peter” Nikolayevich Rasputin aka Colossus. She was abducted from the Rasputin family farm in Russia by Arcade at a young age and brought to the US to help a collective headed by Doctor Doom defeat the X-Men. She is eventually rescued by the X-Men and given a place to stay at the Xavier’s School, and becomes roommates with and forms a bond with Kitty Pryde.

That’s when things get tragic. As when the X-Men are lured into a trap by the demon Belasco and into his “world” of limbo – an alternate reality that Belasco controls, Ilyana is kidnapped by Belasco and his servant Sym, where she is “corrupted” systematically. Each corruption is signified by a drop of blood which forms a gem on an amulet which will eventually open a door for Belasco to enter “our world” or “our reality” and conquer it. While in limbo, Magik is both protected by and fights against (it gets confusing at times) friends from her universe that have alternate versions in this one – including Storm and Kitty Pryde. Both however, are radically different in both character and appearance from those she knew as a child. This only adds to her increasing alienation while being held captive. She ages and she ultimately spends about a decade there – learning the ways of the mystic arts from Belasco and from the books in his library. She eventually learns enough to defeat Belasco with his own teachings (and creating her iconic “soulsword” weapon and armor in the process) and through his library when combined with her inherent mutant abilities. Like many abusers, Belcasco did not see what he was creating any further than his own intentions. Magik banishes Belasco and takes charge of limbo – and the universe essentially lives inside her now, which she can use to manipulate and augment her previous teleportation powers. When she returns to “our world”, just a few minutes have passed, though she has aged ten years and is now an older teenager, much to the surprise of the X-Men team.

Upon returning to our world, Magik is extremely powerful – an Avengers level power as Mysterio might say – and has mutant abilities and has been schooled in the mystical arts by both Belasco and limbo’s version of Ororo Munroe, and possesses and has mastered all of those associated abilities. In fact, when she returns to our world from limbo after defeating Belasco she acknowledges that she can either save the world or destroy it.

Magik further finds her footing as someone who will save the world and not destroy it in the Demon Bear saga as she branches off from the tradition X-Men upon her arrival back in our world and teams up with these new recruits. This was freely adaptated in Boone’s THE NEW MUTANTS this year.

Magik is not Scarlet Witch

I’ve floated my theory out there about why I think Magik should join the MCU and some have argued that Magik is too similar to Scarlet Witch, and that her joining the MCU would be repeating a character. Wrong. Even if she had similar powers to Scarlet Witch (she doesn’t – Scarlet Witch can manipulate chance and probability to create energy charges and warp reality while Magik controls an alternate universe living inside of her, has the ability to teleport and is a master of the mystical arts both light and dark), she is far from the same person. Magik is a mutant and would be a mutant in the MCU. Wanda Maximoff is not, at least as she is currently written in the MCU. But what does that mean? Sure it means that Magik can eventually tie the X-Men into the MCU but it also means that she inherited her powers through very specific means – both literally and genetically and through the abduction.

Beyond that, Maximoff’s character has been tied for better or worse, in both comics and on film, to Vision. Much of her story is a reflection of that relationship. Largely due to the episode in limbo, Magik is a purposeful loner, a person literally out of time. And even though her brother is Colossus and also an X-Men member and presumably available to her – Magik remains alone, because of the inability of others to understand just what hell she went through in limbo with Belasco – and an inability to explain it. 

And looping back to that origin story in limbo with Belasco, the more important issue here is that Magik is unlike anyone currently in the MCU or in comic book movies in general. Like many X-Men, she has a dark past but hers is even darker than most mutants. Clairmont’s story is one clearly of abuse and empowerment. Magik is the victim of abuse and has overcome that to escape limbo – and eventually much of her powers manifest because of that abuse. This is something that was very original in the comic book genre when it was originally told – and is still original even now. Magik is someone with great psychological depth. I don’t think it’s a mystery as to why she hasn’t been adapted before. This kind of complicated psychology is not usually the grounds for a CBM or even a CBM side character.

And seeing her as a survivor is something that really connected to me. I’ll be honest – I was also a victim of abuse as a kid. It profoundly changes you, and hopefully, one day, empowers you – but is also just THERE. Child abuse is a formative and damaging experience for so many and to see Magik turn the abuse around, but also live with it and ultimately empowering her is powerful and complicated stuff. Maybe this would not work in the MCU – where things are a bit more black and white and far less grey — and far less dark. But I think it’s worth a shot.

One big final difference between Magik and Scarlet Witch (and even other Omega level X-Men like Jean Grey) is that Magik is in complete control of her powers. People have argued that she isn’t as powerful as Scarlet Witch or Jean Grey – and they might be right on that – but she most definitely has better control of her powers the either. In fact it has already been hinted at that Magik will eventually go on to become the next Sorcerer Supreme after Doctor Strange relinquishes the title some time down the line. This could also be good for the MCU as they are always trying to set up the “next generation” of heroes in the current generation (see heroes like Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Yelena Belova in the upcoming “Black Widow” and even Cassie Lang in the “Ant Man” series and “Avengers Endgame”).

Anya Taylor-Joy’s Performance

I love The X-Men. They are BY FAR my favorite corner of the Marvel universe (Fantastic Four and Spider-Man are close). But Magik is a mutant that I knew little about prior to watching THE NEW MUTANTS. In fact, “The New Mutants” as a comic are kind of a blind spot for me. I’ve read X-Men, X-Factor, but I mean I’ve probably read more “Alpha Flight” than “The New Mutants”. But I do love Chris Claremont, and I read “Excalibur” for YEARS. So I had heard of Magik, I had maybe even seen her in a few series, but I didn’t really know the character. But that all changed after I watched Anya Taylor-Joy play Magik in THE NEW MUTANTS.

There is something undeniably original about Taylor-Joy’s performance – especially for a superhero film. Don’t get me wrong, you’d expect this kind of character to be in a superhero film – especially an X-Men film. You know, the kind of character that is both a total bitch but also totally magnetic. Because you got all the misfits in the X-Men, all the weirdos – and that’s why I love them. None of them are these moralistic high-falutin’ heroes like Superman or Wonder Woman or Captain America. No these are real people and they come in all shapes and sizes and personalities. And Taylor-Joy is threading the needle between the abrasive, the unhinged, the sympathetic – and always completely relatable. It’s a tightrope and she walks it. She’s also acting with a Russian accent. And while it is on the theatrical side, it works for me. This is a comic book film and I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt.

Now interestly enough, in THE NEW MUTANTS, Josh Boone changes around Magik’s origin a bit – or perhaps more appropriately, obscures it. Josh Boone has said that they were trying to be faithful to the entire Belasco/limbo saga without necessarily literally evoking it. It seems like the result is a story about Ilyana being kidnapped and kept in a cage by men – 18 men at least – and being forced to make them smile. Again, it was pretty impressive that Boone did not shy away from that part of the story. If anything he brought it even further to the forefront by grounding it in a realer world. Her captros/abusers are then manifested in a creature that looks like the slenderman creepypasta merged with a happy face emoji. Ilyana explains that she created limbo as a place to go when the men were around. Now, if you know the Belasco and limbo story – there’s a way to look at this as how someone might rationalize what happened. But the likelier situation is that Boone is grounding the story a bit into a more “real-world” version where Ilyana may have been kidnapped and perhaps put through some other nefarious channel of human depravity and then killed her captors when her powers manifested and that the soulsword and limbo are just part of her “powers” in this one. Boone keeps the interpretation central to Ilyana. And if you haven’t read the comic, you are left to speculate a bit. But I think that speculation and the reading that the viewer puts on Magik’s personal history is one of the more interesting things about THE NEW MUTANTS and one of Josh Boone’s more clever choices. It definitely builds out Magik’s story a bit. And if Magik were to ever be incorporated into a different franchise, there are multiple possibilities for interpretation of this backstory that could possibly even include Belasco eventually..

Now Anya Taylor-Joy had a career year in 2021 with THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT, EMMA and of course THE NEW MUTANTS. I think she’s going to win an Emmy for TQG – and had she not already been in The New Mutants, I think Disney would be tripping over themselves trying to sign her up into an MCU or Star Wars or some kind of fairy tale remake role. But now that she was in THE NEW MUTANTS, perhaps she’s in a bit of limbo herself. Sure Chris Evans was recast from the FOX Fantastic Four universe into the MCU but that was years later. So maybe Taylor-Joy will eventually come to the MCU – albeit in a few years – but why waste the opportunity of a great character and a great performance when its already right there for you? Well some would say – Disney isn’t ready for mutants. OK but multiple reports have said that they’re ready for Deadpool – or getting close to it, right? So go with me here…

Magik can appear in a Disney DEADPOOL film – eventually…

Magik aka Ilyana Rasputin is the sister of Colossus. And guess who is a major part of the DEADPOOL franchise?

Now recently it was announced that Deadpool 3 is happening and it is going to be rated R. So I think it’s not necessarily a crazy leap to go from Colossus to Magik in the sequel. I also think Anya Taylor-Joy’s Magik combined with Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool would be an interesting pairing. A Deadpool film could maybe take Magik a bit further out of the personal darkness of The New Mutants without necessarily removing any of her inherent stubbornness or cockiness or agency.

It would be a way to softly introduce mutants into the MCU – which Disney seems like they are already doing with Deadpool. In a way, the MCU could almost argue that both Deadpool and Magik are mutant adjacent. I also think that Magik’s powers of teleporting through space and time are not a far step from teleporting through universes. If anything that Phase 4 of the MCU has hinted at, strongest is the multiverse. I mean it’s even in the title of the Doctor Strange sequel. So I think Magik using her powers of teleporting through time and space as a means to join the MCU may not be that far-fetched. Maybe…

So in some weird way, Magik could be the conduit to get Deadpool from the Fox X-Men universe into the MCU. I’m sure he’d crack a few jokes as well about how crazy my plan is.

Magik can open the door slowly to other Mutants – eventually…

Once we’ve set the table for Magik in the MCU, she can eventually open up the world to others that are similar to her – she can use limbo and her powers of teleportation to bring them in. But that’s not really the point. The point is that if the MCU places the idea of mutants in their universe now, they can wait and bring them in in 3-5 years. Fans will know they’re coming down the line – they can speculate but also be assured that it will happen one day.

And there could be easter eggs galore for the X-Men leading up to this point. I mean Josh Boone’s THE NEW MUTANTS even established the wonder Lockheed in his film – which could eventually tie in other X-Men, including Magik’s comic friend and Lockheed’s REAL best friend Kitty Pryde. You know, that is the one thing that kind of got me about this film. As happy as I was to see Lockheed in a film – it’s Kitty Pryde’s companion, NOT Magik’s. But I guess you could also look at it like an easter egg to Magik’s relationship and friendship with Kitty Pryde in the comics. OK I’m being stupid, I’ll stop.

And, moreover, Disney would also secure Taylor-Joy into their universe now and for future films.

This ain’t ever gonna happen

As much as I’ve written here might make sense, I sincerely doubt Disney brings any member of the X-Men into their universe beyond Deadpool in the foreseeable future. You can Deadpool out of the world of the X-Men essentially and not have to talk about mutants – which may be what Kevin Feige wants for the MCU. I’m sure he has an idea for the X-Men but I doubt it comes any sooner than the end of Phase 5 – in maybe the latter half of the 2020s. They are a huge property and as great as Anya Taylor-Joy is as Magik, I doubt he would risk the X-Men IP just to secure an actress of her magnitude. And the truth is, Feige could just as easily cast Taylor-Joy further down the line or, who knows, even bring her back as another form of Magik further down the line.