The Gifted Trailer Imagines A World Where the X-Men No Longer Exist

The official San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) trailer for The Gifted imagines what life would be like for young mutants in a world where Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters no longer exists. Without Professor X’s haven, or the militant power of the Brotherhood of Mutants, mutants are left as a demonized minority with no defenders except each other.

“This is the story of two families,” says the voiceover, “who came together to protect each other – not the ones with resources, but the ones in the shadows, fighting to hide, to escape, to survive. This is our story.”

The Gifted centers on two teenage mutants – Andy and Lauren Strucker – from Dallas, who discover their powers in a world where mutants are jailed, and where “the X-Men, the Brotherhood…we don’t even know if they exist anymore. We’re getting picked off one-by-one.” The mutants Thunderbird (John Proudstar), Polaris (Lorna Darne), Blink, and Eclipse step in to help them.

“The idea is that this is definitely its own universe,” said executive producer Matt Nix at the show’s SDCC panel. “We’re not in the same exact timeline as any particular movie or comic, but that said we do share some characters with the movies and comics. The idea is we’re doing our own thing. As they say, there are many streams.”

This trailer actually surprised me! I didn’t have super-high hopes for an X-Men property from Fox, but this looks pretty solid. It has a relatively diverse cast (though the white, blonde characters are, yet again, pitched as the protagonists), and I’m actually intrigued by the possibilities of a show about marginalized people seizing power through mutual aid. The superpowers are also well-designed for a network TV budget. They don’t look particularly flashy or cheap; instead, they look like the sort of low-key powers that would actually be effective in evading the police and fighting guerrilla-style in an urban setting.

All in all, I’m pretty excited to check out this pilot. But what did you all think?

(Via io9; image via Fox and Marvel)

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