The X-Force movie Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2) was working on — and Gregory Semkow did concept art for — back in 2013 was reportedly derailed by X-Men: Apocalypse. But following the huge success of Deadpool, its inevitable sequel (including X-Force leader Cable), and the likely R-rated Wolverine 3, developing an X-Force movie is looking like an obvious move. Ryan Reynolds has even said X-Force is his priority and should be R-rated.
Now X-Men: Apocalypse director Bryan Singer tells Fandango he has discussed an X-Force movie with Fox, and Simon Kinberg is “in the earliest script stage” on it. He also said he discussed having X-23 (roughly summed up as a female Wolverine clone) in the movie.
Considering Hugh Jackman will soon hang up the claws, but Kinberg has said they can’t imagine anybody else playing the part, it makes sense to go with the female version of the character to keep a Wolverine-like team member without immediately trying to find guy to replace Hugh Jackman. There were already rumors X-23 might show up in Wolverine 3, and X-Men: Apocalypse may have a scene that foreshadows her appearance. X-Men: Apocalypse is rumored to have an after-credits scene that (SPOILER ALERT) references Essex Corp obtaining a vial of Wolverine’s blood, which hints at them perhaps creating X-23.
As complicated as all of that may sound, Singer seems to be aware of the importance of avoiding a “clusterf*ck” with these movies.
Singer did say he “absolutely” envisions a future where the X-Men, X-Force, Deadpool and New Mutants will all star alongside one another in what will ultimately be Fox’s own darker Avengers-like “event” picture. “But it has to be done right,” he cautions. “Anytime you throw all these characters together to hit a start date, it can make a lot of money, but it can also be a clusterf**k. To me, it has to be done with a lot of care. These things can get overwhelming, and if a character doesn’t belong in a movie, don’t use him. If the tone can still maintain itself, I’m all for it. What I’m not for is throwing a bunch of characters together and hoping it works.”
“But… money? Don’t more characters mean more toy sales? How dare he care about what actually works?” I imagine a studio exec saying somewhere.
(Via Fandango, Bleeding Cool, and Comics Alliance)
