Get ready “X-Men” fans! Marvel Television will be introducing a new set of mutants on the small screen.
Directed by Bryan Singer, Marvel and Fox’s upcoming “X-Men” television drama, “The Gifted”, centres on a group of individuals who come into their own mutant powers and must hide from the rest of the world who will not accept their differences.
Parents Reed and Caitlin (played by “True Blood” actor Stephen Moyer and “Person of Interest” actress Amy Acker) discover that their lives are turned upside down when their children possess superhero abilities. Set during a dystopian period, those with unique mutant powers are being hunted down by an anti-mutant government task force.
The only solace these mutants have is an underground network of strangers who are also fighting to survive. The question is: who are these new mutants Marvel is introducing and how do they connect to the X-Men universe at large? Although most of their secret identity names have been altered, their superhero names remain.
Let’s get to know these characters:
1. The Strucker family
Even though we’re led to believe the Struckers are an average suburban family, their lives are anything but normal. Reed Strucker actually works for a government agency and his job scope requires him to hunt down mutants and imprison them in order to “secure the safety of the community”. While Reed and his wife, Caitlin, don’t seem to be “gifted”, their kids certainly do.
This brings us to…
2. The sibling duo
Comic book fans may recall of a super-powered brother and sister duo named Andreas and Andrea. The mutant children of Hydra villain Baron von Strucker can fly and generate energy blasts whenever they hold hands.
For “The Gifted” however, Lauren and Andy Strucker (played by Natalie Alyn Lind and Percy Hynes White respectively) possess telekinetic powers independent of contact from each other. Nonetheless, the trailer does emphasise on physical connections by showing Lauren and Andy gripping each other.
The X-Men universe is filled with empowered siblings including Wolverine and Sabertooth, Havok and Cyclops, Colossus and Magik, Psylocke and Captain Britain, as well as Husk and Cannonball. Although the Struckers may be fresh characters, it’ll be interesting to watch their storyline unfold.
3. Polaris
Lorna Dane, or better known as Polaris (played by Emma Dumont), is a magnetism-controlling mutant. She’s able to stop bullets mid-air, explode lighting fixtures, and smash vehicles together. In the trailer, we see Polaris being held captive in the custody of the Department of Mutant Affairs, inside a non-metallic cell.
For the uninitiated, Polaris is the daughter of Magneto, which also makes her the half-sibling to both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Although Polaris inherited her mastery of magnetism from her dad, her powers are not on the same level as Magneto. Unlike her villainy father though, she is an integral member of the X-Men.
4. Thunderbird
Thunderbird aka John Proudstar (played by Blair Redford) has superhuman strength, speed, and sense. In Marvel Comics lore, Thunderbird was a Native American mutant who joined the U.S. Marines at a young age and eventually joined the X-Men team. The fact that this character was killed off twice in the comics doesn’t instill much hope for his fate in “The Gifted”.
5. Blink
Clarice Fong, who goes by the code name Blink, is a fan-favourite Marvel mutant portrayed by Jamie Chung. Just like Thunderbird, Blink is also a member of the mutant underground network. Blessed with teleporting abilities, she can teleport people as well as inanimate objects over great distances. Hopefully she won’t cause serious damage by only teleporting part of something, or someone.
Both Blink and Thunderbird first appeared in 2014’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and were portrayed by Fan Bingbing and Booboo Stewart respectively.
6. Eclipse
Sean Teale stars as Marcos Diaz aka Eclipse, a mutant described as “a natural rebel who sometimes lets his emotions overrule reason”. As a freedom fighter, he also goes by the nickname Sunspot. This X-Men character has the ability to absorb and generate solar radiation, which grants him thermokinetic powers, superhuman strength, endurance, durability, and heat resistance.
Eclipse/Sunspot has one of the most intriguing line in the trailer when he says, “The X-Men, the Brotherhood, we don’t even know if they exist anymore”. This gives us an impression that the storyline takes place in a time where famous mutants such as Wolverine and Magneto are no longer in the picture.
Creator Matt Nix has already suggested that “The Gifted” will be connected to the larger X-Men universe. Watch the dynamic trailer below:
“The Gifted” will premiere on Fox late this October.
Sources: Screen Rant, CBR, Inverse.
