As one of the most troubled productions in recent memory that’s faced countless release date shuffles, extensive reshoots and even a change of studio, The New Mutants came attached with a huge curiosity factor, even for those who aren’t particularly big fans of either comic book movies or the wider X-Men franchise.
After being pulled from the schedule several times already, many people remained skeptical that the spinoff would even make it into theaters, right up until yesterday when it finally hit the big screen 28 months later than it was supposed to and one month shy of three years since director Josh Boone had originally wrapped shooting.
The big question on everyone’s lips was if The New Mutants would turn out to be worth all of the hassle, and the answer unfortunately appears to be a resounding no. A 24% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 45 on Metacritic aren’t exactly great numbers, but the co-creator of the comic book series has issues with the movie that are much bigger than the quality of the final product.
In a recent interview, Bob McLeod was asked for his thoughts on seeing his characters finally make their cinematic debut, and he didn’t hold back when it came to addressing how far from their comic book roots their live-action counterparts had strayed.
“I was disappointed when they didn’t give Dani braids, although I like Blu Hunt. I was disappointed when Rahne wasn’t a redhead with spiky hair, although I adore Maisie Williams. I was disappointed that Sam isn’t tall and gawky, although I do like Charlie Heaton. But mainly I was very disappointed that Roberto isn’t short and dark-skinned. Yet another example of Hollywood white-washing. There’s just no excuse. So basically, Josh Boone erased everything I contributed to the way the characters look.”
If that wasn’t enough, McLeod also blasted the movie for spelling his name wrong in the credits, even though he was the guy that originated the source material alongside Chris Claremont.
“And now, the movie has come out at last, and apparently they’ve credited someone named Bob Macleod as co-creator. They couldn’t even be bothered to check the spelling of my name sometime in the last three years. And that can’t be fixed. That will be on the movie forever. I think I’m done with this movie.”
Boone did recently implore fans to stick around until The New Mutants fades to black despite the lack of a post-credits scene, but getting the name of one of the co-creators wrong probably isn’t what he meant by that statement.