New Mutants

The New Mutants are a team featuring an eponymous group of teenaged mutant superheroes-in-training; spin-offs of the popular X-Men franchise published by Marvel Comics.

The first team of New Mutants was created by Chris Claremont (long-time writer of Uncanny X-Men) and artist Bob McLeod; they first appeared in 1982's Marvel Graphic Novel #4 and were subsequently featured in their own title from 1983 until 1991, at which point they were reinvented as X-Force. Like its parent title, The New Mutants highlighted interpersonal and group conflict as well as action and adventure, and featured a large, ensemble cast.

The second New Mutants series, launched in 2003, featured another group of teenaged mutants, but unlike the original New Mutants, they were only part of a huge cast of students at the Xavier Institute. At first they were notable for their drive to become superheroes, but soon rival groups played a large role in the series. In 2004 it was relaunched as New X-Men: Academy X, after which the central group was formally dubbed the New Mutants. In the aftermath of the M-Day event in late 2005, the remaining students were merged into one junior team, the New X-Men.

Since this time Marvel has launched a third New Mutants series as of May of 2009.