They were adolescents- kids- too young to be X-Men, but old enough to start the training that would allow them to fully understand and harness their profound mutant powers. Professor X brought together Cannonball, Karma, Moonstar, Wolfsbane, and Sunspot to become the first New Mutants team. Over time, Magma (Amara Aquilla), Cypher, Warlock, and Magik were added to the team and, as they learned to become more powerful mutants together, they learned another important lesson: It's okay to act like normal kids. The New Mutants enjoyed their status as mutants and their youth. But when duty called, maturity set in, and the New Mutants went into action- though sometimes not without consequence. During an assignment, Cypher was shot and killed after leaping into the path of a bullet destined for his teammate Wolfsbane.
Although their membership remained fairly constant throughout their early history, the team was constantly in flux. Shortly after forming Professor X was infected and influenced by a Brood egg. The New Mutants helped fight it off, but afterwards the Professor left for space to recover, leaving the group without a leader. The team briefly joined their rivals, the Hellions, led by Emma Frost, but eventually they came under the leadership of a reformed Magneto. The New Mutants were extremely apprehensive to being taught by the X-Men's arch-enemy, and they eventually were proven to be right when Magneto returned to his old ways after becoming White King of the Hellfire Club.
Magik was reverted back to a little girl after the Inferno Saga. Moonstar stayed on Asgard and became one of the Valkyrie. Wolfsbane,Rictor, Sunspot left the team after X-Tinction Agenda. Wolfsbane and Rictor stayed on Genosha to rebuild the country. Sunspot went to run his late fater's company. Warlock was killed during the X-Tinction Agenda by Cameron Hodge.
After X-Tinction Agenda, the young heroes came under the tutelage of the mutant soldier Cable and eventually became the strike team X-Force. This new team consisted of Cable, Cannonball, Boom-Boom, Domino, Shatterstar,Warpath,and Feral. Their first test as a team was against Masque an his Morlocks and the New Brother Hood of Evil Mutants. Siryn also joined X-Force when the team helped her defeat Juggernaut and Black Tom.
Recently, the concept of the New Mutants was revived as one of several teams of students at the expanded Xavier Institute for Higher Learning where they not only learn to master their powers, but are also given the chance to receive a full education.
This incarnation of the team was formed when Professor X enlisted the aid of Danielle Moonstar in recruiting several new students for the school, including the wind-manipulating Sofia Mantega (Wind Dancer), the organic-decaying Kevin Ford (Wither), the skill-mimicking David Alleyne, and healer Josh Foley. Along with the pheromone-generating Laurie Collins (Wallflower) and the electrically charged Noriko Ashida, the sextet became the new New Mutants squad with Moonstar as their faculty advisor. Other former New Mutants who came to join the school as faculty were Xi'an Coy Manh (Karma) and Rahne Sinclair.
Other squads of students were also formed, each with their own advisor, including Cyclops' team the Corsairs, Northstar's Alpha Squadron, Iceman's Excelsiors, Beast's Exemplars, Wolfsbane's Paragons, and Emma Frost's Hellions. Julian Keller (Hellion) was assigned as the latter's team leader; other members included Cessily Kincaid (Mercury), Santo Vaccarro (Rockslide), Brian Cruz (Tag), Jay Guthrie (Icarus), and Sooraya Qadir (Dust). The New Mutants quickly found themselves at odds with the Hellions and were assigned to work off their hostilities by competing against each other in the school's first Field Day training exercise. The Hellions emerged triumphant, much to the New Mutants' chagrin. The two teams soon clashed again after the FBI arrived to arrest Kevin Ford for the murder of his father. Julian sought to rescue Kevin and enlisted Sofia's aid. The New Mutants, with the help of Jay Guthrie, managed to prevent the Hellions from further exacerbating the already tense situation. The charges against Kevin were ultimately dismissed; afterwards he opted to transfer to the Hellions while Jay became a New Mutant like his older brother Sam before him.
Later, the New Mutants teamed up with Julian and Moonstar to investigate supernatural happenings in the mansion. Together, they discovered that a mutant ghost named Jeffrey Garrett was responsible and were able to pacify him after performing a séance. Soon after, Jeffrey joined the Institute's Lower School for younger students. Subsequently, following a Field Day exercise against the Paragons that the New Mutants won, relationships between the students became strained after a brief affair between Josh and Rahne was made public. Rahne left the school as a result just as Sean Garrison arrived to take up the position of school counsellor. Garrison had initially declined the offer, but upon discovering that his estranged daughter, Laurie Collins, was a student at the school, he decided to accept in the hope of winning her back.
After the House of M|M-Day, New Mutants, Hellions and other squads, disbanded. Some members of New Mutants and Hellions joined a trainee team of X-Men.
The original team eventually reformed as an independent squad of the X-Men. This squad have faced great challenges including Necrosha, the attack on Utopia by Bastion, and the events brought on by Norman Osborn and the Asgardian known as The Serpent.
Recently, there broke out a fight within the X-Men which caused them to follow either Cyclops, who was in favor of protecting the mutant race via militant force, or Wolverine who favored starting a new school in order to educate and protect the younger generation of mutants. Many members of the New Mutants were torn between their personal convictions and their duty to the mutant race. Cannonball and Karma decided to follow Wolverine, while the rest stood behind Cyclops and his decision. With the ranks diminished Cyclops appointed Nate Grey, also known as X-Man, to lead the remaining team, which consists of Cypher, Magma, Danielle Moonstar, Sunspot, and Warlock.
