The New Mutants: The Demon Bear and Soulsword Explained

This article was originally published in January 2020. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Much like mutant heroine Illyana Rasputin, The New Mutants has been trapped in limbo for a long time. But the release date for Fox's final X-Men movie is fast approaching ... for now. The New Mutants is notable not just for being the final entry in Fox's X-Men cinematic universe, but also because it pushes that universe is a very different direction. Thanks to iconic X-Men trappings like the Soulsword and the Demon Bear, The New Mutants is as much a horror film as it is a traditional X-Men adventure. But what is the Soulsword, and what the heck is a Demon Bear? Read on to find out everything you need to know about these new additions and how they're helping open the doors to a much bigger (and scarier) universe. You can see more of the Demon Bear and the Soulsword in action in the Comic-Con@Home footage we break down below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/the-new-mutants-comic-con-2020-footage-breakdown"]

What Is the Demon Bear?

All of Fox's X-Men movies have drawn inspiration from the comics to one extent or another (most notably with 2014's Days of Future Past and 2019's Dark Phoenix). The New Mutants is heavily inspired by a 1984 New Mutants storyline called "The Demon Bear Saga." That story focuses heavily on Dani Moonstar/Mirage (played in the movie by Another Life's Blu Hunt). Dani is haunted by nightmares of a demonic bear who claims to have killed her parents. Eventually she attempts to battle the Demon Bear and is critically wounded. Her teammates take the fight to the Demon Bear in its own realm, the Badlands, where it's defeated by the power of Magik's Soulsword (more on that later).

Basically, the Demon Bear is a supernatural entity that feeds on the fears of human victims. It's incredibly strong and can even transform ordinary people into powerful slaves. Later stories revealed the Demon Bear was originally an Apache animal spirit corrupted by immortal X-Men villain Eli Bard. This could suggest Bard himself is the true villain of the movie. Bard may even be the new character that was reportedly being added via reshoots, though director Josh Boone recently said Disney is releasing the original cut of the film. Regardless, the Demon Bear is an ideal villain for a movie that seeks to shift the X-Men franchise in a more horror-oriented direction. The Demon Bear Saga itself is notable for introducing a far darker and more psychedelic take on the series, thanks in large part to the artwork of Bill Sienkiewicz. The supernatural nature of this villain and the way it torments the dreams of innocent mutants like Dani Moonstar will make for a much spookier take on the X-Men.

Illyana and the Soulsword

As you'd expect from the title, The New Mutants introduces several new characters to the X-Men cinematic universe. The Witch's Anya Taylor-Joy has been cast as Magik/Illyana Rasputin, younger sister to Colossus and one of the most powerful mutants of her generation. When Illyana was originally introduced alongside her brother, she was depicted as an ordinary, six-year-old girl. But as is often the case with children in the X-Men franchise, Illyana was later artificially aged up so she could become an active member of the New Mutants.

That's where the Soulsword comes in. Illyana's natural mutant power allows her to create "stepping discs," or portals that enable her to travel across time and space. That power became further augmented when Illyana was stranded in a hellish dimension called Limbo for seven years. Under the tutelage of Limbo's dark ruler Belasco, Illyana became a powerful sorceress. The Soulsword is the ultimate manifestation of her supernatural power. Forged from a piece of Illyana's own soul, the Soulsword is a powerful blade that can cut through and disrupt nearly any magical force, even powerful magical entities like the Demon Bear. As the trailer shows, Illyana can manifest the Soulsword out of thin air, along with a set of magical armor that covers her sword arm. At this point it's unclear how much the movie will actually delve into Illyana's backstory. Her time in Limbo may be saved for a potential sequel (which Sienkiewicz told us he thinks is still a possibility). It's also possible the movie may streamline Illyana's backstory, even combining Limbo and the Badlands into one realm. This would make sense, given that the Soulsword is the key to defeating the Demon Bear. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2016/05/24/comics-history-101-the-new-mutants"]

The Horror of Being a Mutant

Whether The New Mutants turns out to be a close adaptation of The Demon Bear Saga or uses that material as the foundation for something new, the movie's horror trappings are on full display in the first two trailers. This is clearly more a supernatural and psychological horror story than a traditional superhero tale. Much of the movie seems to be set in a dilapidated mental hospital, with the titular mutant heroes the only residents apart from Alice Braga's Dr. Cecilia Reyes. There's a powerful sense of isolation and unease driving The New Mutants, even if we only catch a brief glimpse of the Demon Bear at the end of the second trailer. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=x-men-movie-continuity-errors&captions=true"] Even the very concept of being a mutant feeds into this horror-oriented approach. The second trailer emphasizes the other-ness of being a mutant and the traumatic experience of manifesting one's mutant powers for the first time. We see each of the main heroes called upon to reveal their "first time" in a group therapy session. Each character has a terrible story to tell. Maisie Williams' Wolfsbane is basically a mutant werewolf whose very existence is at odds with her strict religious upbringing. We see Henry Zaga's Sunspot accidentally burning his girlfriend alive with his solar powers. Charlie Heaton's Cannonball is shown struggling to contain his explosive abilities and trying to escape the difficult life of a coal miner, a path that so many other members of his working class family have followed. Regardless of whether the Demon Bear, Belasco, Eli Bard, Dr. Reyes or another character emerges as the true villain of The New Mutants, it's clear this movie is all about exploiting the fears of its heroes. These teen refugees fear their own powers. They fear being ostracized by a world that is terribly unwelcoming to mutants. They fear losing control and being controlled. Never has the concept of fear been more integral to an X-Men movie. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.