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As one could imagine, the “New Mutants” characters don’t start off the film as friends. In fact, Dani Moonstar and Illyana Rasputin — aka Magik — are at each other’s throats for some time. During their frequent spats, the latter even threw some racist remarks at the Indigenous Moonstar. As if that wasn’t bad enough, when the two do eventually find common ground by the end of the film, it’s presented as though we’re supposed to suddenly root for Magik despite her showing no remorse for her past behavior. It’s a bad look, especially in one of the few pieces of superhero media out there with an Indigenous lead.
To make matters worse for “New Mutants,” director Josh Boone’s choice to cast Henry Zaga as Roberto da Costa, better known as Sunspot, drew heavy criticism from Marvel fans. In the comics, he’s generally depicted as Afro-Brazilian, which Zaga’s casting flew directly in the face of. Nevertheless, as Boone explained to Gizmodo, skin color was never the priority for him when it came time to cast Sunspot. “If Henry didn’t exist, I would have found somebody who was darker skinned, who exemplified what I needed. But it was never about the color of their skin for me,” he said.
From top to bottom, the long-gestating “New Mutants” was a mess that drew more press for its shortcomings than anything else. Hopefully, future Marvel filmmakers will look to it as a case study on how not to write and cast certain characters when it comes to race.
