Disney may have bought the house down after roping in 20th Century Fox under its banner with a record sun colloquially called the ‘media deal of the century’, but Fox still has some cards hidden up its sleeve. The X-Men were Fox’s most prized possession and they already had a shitload of movies under development that you could soon see hitting the theaters.
New Mutants – and two planned sequels
20th Century Fox’s New Mutants is one of the most anticipated movies of 2018. It will see the movie diving into a never before seen a genre of fiction – Superhero Horror.
New Mutants will see Mirage, Cannonball, Sunspot, Magik and Wolfsbane battle a psychic demon called the Demon Bear. If the movie is a success, the director aims to expand the movie into a trilogy series.
Deadpool 2 – and one more sequel
The Merc with a mouth is again about to rock your world. After the massive blockbuster that was Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds returns to reprise his role in the sequel Deadpool 2.
It will see Deadpool battling an as of yet unnamed antagonist alongside Domino and Cable. If the movie does well enough, an R-Rated franchise under the Disney banner could very well be a reality.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix
This is also one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. X-Men: Dark Phoenix will take cues from the critically acclaimed Marvel’s Dark Phoenix Saga. The movie will be directed by Simon Kinberg who will be making his debut into the X-Men universe. It is adapting acclaimed X-Men writer Chris Claremont’s ‘Phoenix Saga’ that centered around Jean Grey. Here’s what he said:
“Our intent was to create an X-Men analog, if you will, to Thor – someone who was essentially the first female cosmic hero. We thought at the time we could integrate her into the book as well as Thor had been integrated into the Avengers.”
According to the latest report, Simon intends to show an entire range of dark Phoenix powers which will cause a catastrophe of epic proportions. Moreover, it is confirmed that one of the major mutants will die in this installment.
This movie could very well be the last mutant crossover movie under the Fox-Verse banner. Disney has already taken over and is about to integrate the Fox-Verse into the MCU with a possible reboot of the franchise. Let’s just hope the X-Men go out on a high note.
Gambit
This X-Men movie was the last to get a release date from Fox. Disney has green-Lighted the project and Channing Tatum is all set to star as the French mutant gambler with a knack for exploding things. The story will follow Ragin Cajun as he is caught in the crossfire of the battle between the Thieves and the Assassin’s Guild.
‘The film has closed Pirates of the Carribean director Gore Verbinski to direct the spin-off and production is likely to start in early 2018. Here’s what the latest report said about the film:
“The Externals are a powerful sub-group of mutants able to recover from mortal wounds/death and that consider themselves immortal. Their members include Candra, Absalom, Burke, Crule, Gideon, Nicodemus, Saul, and Selene. Apocalypse is also possibly one as well but is never given membership. New Mutants team members Sunspot and Cannonball were also eyed for membership. Gambit has a direct connection with them as well leading an Age of Apocalypse version at one point in Gambit and The X-Ternals. Outside of Candra, another External character that is extremely striking is Gideon due to his connections to X-Force, New Mutants, Deadpool, and even Gambit. He’s a crossover villain that would make a lot of sense getting an on-screen debut.”
X-Force
The Time Travelling mutant Black Ops team could also star in a standalone X-Force movie. Deadpool will most likely be the launching pad for X-Force.
The team is already rumored to be included in Deadpool 2’s post-credits scenes. Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Colossus, Cable, Domino, and Deadpool could all be featured. In an interview with Collider, here’s what the scriptwriter Rheese had to say about X-Force:
“There is a responsibility we have towards the X-Force universe, and I do think we will not disappoint the fans going into Deadpool 2. Its purpose is not to set up X-Force. It will likely set up X-Force, but the drive of the movie won’t be our eyes on Movie 3.”
In Marvel comics, Deadpool is once hired by someone to kill someone important and X-force is brought in to stop him. If there is one iconic comic-book plot that ties all major characters it’s “X-Cutioner’s Song” wherein Cable attempts to kill his clone who happens to be working for Apocalypse.
Multiple-Man
It was quite a surprise when Fox announced that they were going to greenlight a Multiple Man movie. James Franco is all set to star as the Mutant with incredible duplication powers.
The movie will probably be based on Peter David’s X-Factor run on the character. Multiple Man could is not a pretty popular character but he is one of the most loved of the entire X-Men roster.
Shadow Cat
Kitty Pryde is one of the X-Men’s most happy go lucky members and a diehard team player. How will a standalone movie starring none other than Shadow Cat fare on the Big Screens?
Guess we will find out when Tim Miller’s directorial hits the screen a few years later. The project is still in its nascent stages though.
X-23
Dafne Keen’s performance in Logan was cherished by Fans and critics alike. So the director went on with the idea of making a standalone X-23 movie and cash in on X-23’s newfound popularity. But time is the movie’s greatest enemy right now.
The longer Disney tries to stall the project, the harder it gets for Dafne to star as X-23. She won’t stay a kid for long. Besides, Disney is also going to reboot the Wolverine franchise so X-23 might end up becoming redundant and ultimately be canceled. James Mangold confirmed that he is working on a script of X-23 but it’s not finalized. Here’s what he said:
“Logan may have been the last outing for Hugh Jackman as Wolverine but it might not be the last time that we have seen Dafne Keen as X-23. We all saw how amazing she was in the movie and talks about her taking the baton forward have been in circulation for quite a while”.
Hutch Parker, the producer of Logan said:
“Anything is possible. I think part of the fun of this universe is, as it’s expanded and it’s gotten more off-shoots, there are ways to potentially explore X-23 further. It’s something we’ve been talking about a little bit and have, frankly, going back a bit. So that’s a possibility.”
Alpha Flight and the Exiles
In an interview in 2017, Simon Kinberg name dropped ‘X-Flight and Exiles’. The former most certainly refers to the popular Canadian Superhero team Alpha Flight (of which both Wolverine used to be a part of).
The latter refers to the Exiles – a superhero group that consists of members pulled out right before their time of death and put into a team of similar fated individuals that travel to different realities in order to save them.
The movies could soon become a reality if the Mouse House gives it the get-go.
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