Screen Rant » wolverine 2

The Next X-Men Films Part Two: Deadpool, Magneto

Rob Keyes — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:57:38 +0000

A few days back, we put up part one of “The Next X-Men Films” series, our look into the future of Fox Studio’s growing and financially successful movie series based on Marvel’s mighty mutants. This was based on quotes from Empire’s recent feature on Lauren Shuler Donner, producer of all films X-Men related, and today we’ll look at the other two anticipated films she spoke about.

In Part One we discussed Wolverine 2, the most-likely-to-happen solo flick out of Fox’s development slate as well as X-Men: First Class, the prequel to Bryan Singer’s first X-Men which is currently in its writing stages with Josh Schwartz penning the script.

Now, it’s time to look at two other popular character solo movies that are in early stages of development: Deadpool and X-Men Origins: Magneto. One of these is likely to happen, one may not.

After the financial success of Wolverine’s solo prequel, we saw a quick greenlight for the Deadpool film and knew there’d be a Wolverine 2 down the road. Prior to this, X-Men: First Class, a team prequel to Bryan Singer’s first X-Men was already in the works. So, we all knew those were the three go-to projects for Fox Studios to come the soonest. What I never felt sure about was X-Men Origins: Magneto, since it would involve a recast of title character and wouldn’t tie-in too much with the franchise. That and the fact it would be based heavily during the holocaust made it less bankable as a superhero flick and more limited in playing with other popular mutants of the X-Men universe, especially compared to the other potential films they could create with those resources.

Deadpool

The first thing Donner said about the hopeful Ryan Reynolds starrer, Deadpool, is that it won’t be based on the messed up version of what we saw in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. By that, she means Fox and/or the folks responsible for Hugh Jackman’s solo title admittedly did a poor job of bring Deadpool to live-action.

“I want to ignore the version of Deadpool that we saw in Wolverine and just start over again. Reboot it. Because this guy talks, obviously, and to muzzle him would be insane.”

Yeap. Almost as insane as giving the character lasers that shoot from his eyes or swords longer than his forearm that come out of his arm…

Not the Deadpool we like

The one big issue that came not long after hype for the Deadpool project started to build was the unexpected announcement that Ryan Reynolds would be starring as Hal Jordan in the DC Comics movie, Green Lantern. Why would Warner Brothers choose the lead of an upcoming Marvel-based movie as the lead in their upcoming DC-based movie? More importantly for fans, does this mean he can only do one or the other?

“I don’t see it as a problem that Ryan [Reynolds] is also playing Green Lantern. I mean, look at Harrison Ford – he was in Stars Wars and Indiana Jones at the same time and everyone was fine with that. Green Lantern could not be more different to Wade Wilson. Green Lantern is a guy who finds a ring and is thrust into this world, much like Spider-Man. Wade Wilson is a guy who unfortunately gets cancer, and volunteers for a test that will give him healing powers. He is a bad ass, a wise-cracking mercenary, who will go out and kill anyone for money. But the thing about him is that, underneath it all, and he wouldn’t want you to know this, sometimes he’s not such a bad ass after all. Sometimes he does the right thing.”

As a fan of Reynolds and of his portrayal of Wade Wilson (pre-surgery) from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I want to see them make a Deadpool flick, especially with Donner, Reynolds and Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld making statements that the project will stay true to the comics, bring his red & black costume, break the fourth wall and bring a ton of attention to why he’s called the “Merc with the mouth.”

With that said, what kind of style and story can we expect from a Deadpool film?

“It’s going to be a dark, snarky, very funny movie. It’s the hardest story to tell, I think. There’s no clear cut villain – though you do have great baddies from the comic-books like Black Tom, Slayback, Blind Al and the Weasel. Blind Al is this blind woman in his house, who he abuses and mocks… it’s terrible. But you find out that she was a convict who did something terrible and he saved her from execution. So he lets her live in his house and she looks after him, but they both torture each other. Anyway, there are good stories and we’re figuring out which ones to incorporate.”

Lastly, Donner touched on where they are in pre-production for the flick and re-iterates that they’re really trying to push new boundaries in the comic book movie genre with this project.

“We’re right in the thick of talking to writers right now, and hopefully by November we’ll have decided who’s going to do it. We need someone really imaginative because we want to do some really innovative, ambitious stuff. Ryan’s mentioned this in an interview already but there are parts where he’s going to break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience in the cinema. We have to work out how to do that. I don’t know that Fox will agree with all our decisions, but we’ll see!”

Unfortunately, she ended with the statement about Fox’s approval. Uh oh. Maybe we won’t see any fourth wall breakage and maybe they won’t have Deadpool wearing his mask after all. For once, I think fans need to see the folks responsible for production of the film to have more creative control. I’d love to see what the Donner, Reynolds and the writing team come up with if given complete creative freedom.

We’ll have to wait and see.

Click to continue reading about X-Men Origins: Magneto and more!

You Might Also Be Interested In:

The Next X-Men Films Part One: Wolverine 2, First Class

Rob Keyes — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:56:42 +0000

The folks at Empire had a chance to speak with Lauren Shuler Donner, producer of all films X-Men related, at the press junket for the release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine on Blu-ray and they discussed the future of the franchise.

The feature that Empire put together on the interview was broken down into four sections for each of the movies: Wolverine 2, X-Men: First Class, Deadpool, and Magneto. We’ll go through and discuss each, passing to you the key things Donner says and giving our thoughts on it and how it relates to what we expected to see from these movies since their inception.

To start, here’s the latest on Wolverine 2 and X-Men: First Class…

Update: Click to see Part Two on Deadpool and Magneto.

To start, they touched on the most definite film we’ll see coming our way in the next fear year: Wolverine 2.

“It’s actually the story we wanted to use for the first Wolverine film, but [Fox head honcho] Tom Rothman preferred to set the character up with an origin story first. This movie will really focus on the relationship between Wolverine and Mariko, the daughter of a Japanese crime lord, and what happens to him in Japan.”

The Chris Claremont-Frank Miller run on Wolverine which saw him on his adventures to Japan is one of the most classic Wolverine tales there is and so it’s no wonder they want to turn that story into a feature film. That being said, I can’t say I disagree with Rothman’s reasoning to want to tell Wolverine’s origin first. We saw hints of his origin scattered throughout all of the X-trilogy so it was a story that had to be told. Although I’d argue that X-Men Origins: Wolverine didn’t do a great job of that, it made sense to do that before seeing Wolverine head to Japan, something not touched on at all in the X-Trilogy. The alternative would have been to do the Japan story first as a prequel to X-Men, followed by another prequel based before it? Nah, that doesn’t work as well.

I wasn’t impressed by either of the last two X-Men movies but I still hold hope that the franchise can turn it around and it looks like they’re going in the right direction with Wolverine’s next adventure. With the hiring of Oscar-winner Chris McQuarrie to write the script, with Donner’s and Jackman’s desire to have this film closely follow the source material, and with the studio seemingly holding back until (hopefully) selecting the right director, I can’t deny that I’m excited to see Wolverine in Japan, especially with what Donner says next:

“We want to make it authentic so I think it’s very likely we’ll be shooting in Japan. Also, by the way, we are looking to have the Japanese Fox executives involved in helping and counselling us, because it’s a different culture and we don’t want to portray the way they speak, dress and act in an inaccurate way. I think it’s likely the characters will speak English rather than Japanese with subtitles.”

Remember when this was a big issue for that other film McQuarrie wrote, Valkyrie? Once we all saw the movie and how they transitioned from Tom Cruise speaking German with subtitles into speaking English along with the rest of the cast, it didn’t really affect the film’s story or characters in the end. Although I admit it was weird hearing a group of German characters on screen with a half-dozen uniquely different non-German accents. I never expected to see the Wolverine sequel mostly spoken in Japanese with subtitles so this is of no surprise and shouldn’t alarm any fans.

Another thing we can expect from Wolverine 2 is Hugh Jackman fighting a lot less with his claws (after the horrible CGI of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, this is a bonus):

“What’s cool about this part of the saga is that Wolverine will be fighting in a different style to what we’ve seen before… There’ll be samurai, ninja, katana blades, different forms of martial arts – mano-a-mano, extreme fighting. We’re going to come up with a new style of fighting. It’s going to be awesome.”

As you can tell, Donner is sure excited about the potential for Wolverine’s next story so let’s hope we get a high quality movie with Wolverine 2.

Click to continue reading about Wolverine 2 and X-Men: First Class…

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine 2 & District 9

Rob Keyes — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:30:14 +0000

Last week we reported on an interview with Hugh Jackman where he joked about how he always says he’s not doing another X-Men film until he reads the script. He continued to jokingly say that he’d do eleven more movies as Wolverine and that was it.

The next appearance of Hugh’s buffed up mutant will likely come with a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine which will see the Marvel poster boy head to Japan to explore the stories of one of the most classic Wolverine tales from the comics. One question surrounding this movie is whether or not director Gavin Hood would be asked to return by Fox Studios to helm the follow-up.

In an interview with Rotten Tomatoes, Hood touches on this subject and that of District 9, the sleeper hit of the year directed by a fellow South Africa, Neill Blomkamp.

Jokes aside, Jackman’s done 4 already and there’s at least six X-Men franchise films in early development with hints of plenty more. If X-Men 4 comes to life and he does some Wolverine sequels… throw in some cameos in other X-Men spinoffs and he could actually get pretty close to that number, believe it or not.

As for Gavin Hood, we know that Wolverine 2 will happen no matter what. Moviegoers love Hugh as Wolverine and despite his horrendous CGI claws in his last outing, the sequel will again be easy money in the bank. Hood’s return isn’t so clear-cut. At many of the press events for the X-Men Origins: Wolverine Blu-ray release, questions were thrown at him and producer Lauren Shuler Donner about his return and every time they dodged it by saying they’re just focusing on the script at this point.

Rotten Tomatoes had a chance to interview Hood and asked him about his involvement with the Wolverine sequel.

“I have no idea. All that’s happened at the moment is that the studio has just commissioned the script for Wolverine 2 to be written. Whether that film will ever get made will depend on so many factors — whether the studio likes the script, whether they find a director who responds to the script. Might that be me? Sure, I’d be extremely interested and thrilled if they were to send it to me.”

They also discussed one of the big decisions Hood had to make within the story of the film, altering Sabretooth’s history for dramatic hollywood effect.

“In the original script they were not half brothers. There was some resistance to that, because in the world of the comics there’s only a small suggestion in one particular comic that Victor Creed and Wolverine may well be half brothers. I just gravitated to that. Just having one good guy versus bad guy, with no emotional connection just felt like “Whoa — you’ll have nothing but punching and kicking”. That was a way to build up the emotional power of the film. I thought Liev Schreiber did a phenomenal job. I’m very pleased that on the Blu-ray disc there’s a particular scene that I was attached to that didn’t make it into the movie. I say that without saying “It should have!” I think it probably should have been in the movie, but I understood the argument against it, and at the time there was much to-ing and fro-ing about it. It’s a great thing to be able to put that sort of scene on the Blu-ray and let people think of other themes and idea that were in my mind when we made that scene.”

I have no issues with that in the movie, Liev Schreiber’s Sabretooth was one of the best parts of Wolverine’s live-screen origin story, that I felt had so many issues.

Click to continue reading about Wolverine 2 and Hood’s thoughts on District 9…

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Will Bryan Singer Direct X-Men 4?

Rob Keyes — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:17:31 +0000

There’s been plenty of talk about the future of the X-Men franchise in recent times leading up to and after the financial success of X-Men Origins: Wolverine to kick off the summer of 2009. That hefty $85 million opening weekend helped push a Deadpool spin-off for Ryan Reynolds into motion as well as the early development of other spin-offs, prequels and even a sequel to the X-Men trilogy. That’s right, an X-Men 4 is in the early stages of planning.

In addition to the speculation of future installments to the franchise, there’s been buzz about the return of one of the folks responsible for helping kickstart the live-action series of X-Men films, Bryan Singer. We know that he’s interested and that X-producer Lauren Shuler Donner is too. But just how realistic is it?

As of this morning, it seems much more likely that this will come to fruition…

At the South Korea’s Pusan International Film Festival this morning, Bryan Singer revealed that he is in fact in talks with Fox Studios about a possible return to the X-Franchise, something that was hinted at back in June when he talked about his love of the franchise and the possibility of doing another.

This is what he said back then:

“I’m eternally intertwined with X-Men now… What takes an audience four hours to watch – the first two movies – took six years of my life. So, to not be part of it….It’s a shame.”

“It’s weird for me to watch it [the third movie], because I’m so close to the universe. And also Brett [Ratner] is a good friend of mine. But, of course, I would love to return to that universe.”

This morning, Singer’s latest words on the subject seemed very promising.

“I’m still looking to possibly returning to the ‘X-Men’ franchise. I’ve been talking to Fox about it,”

“I love Hugh Jackman. I love the cast.”

The director also touched on something that I think is very important about what made the first two X-Men movies stand far above X3. Singer said that with these movies he love to “trick audiences into thinking they’re seeing fireworks, but they’re learning about themselves and listening to what I have to say.”

“The excitement about working in science fiction and fantasy is — the stories, if they are good, are about the human condition.”

Let’s think about which movie Singer could direct if he were to helm another X-Men movie for Fox Studios. We know there’s a Magneto film in development but that will likely be helmed by David Goyer. Singer did a fantastic job of introducing Magneto’s origins as a child whose family was torn apart by the Nazi regime in that powerful opening sequence of the first X-Men.

Click to continue reading about Bryan Singer’s future with the X-Men…

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Hugh Jackman Talks Wolverine 2 & Sequels

Rob Keyes — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:58:41 +0000

Hugh Jackman, the man made famous for bringing one of the most popular superheroes to life in the X-Men movies, sat down to talk with Katie Couric at CBS News where they spoke about the character of Wolverine and the movies.

Funny enough, the interview started with Couric kindly dropping the bomb that she’s not exactly a fan which set off a bunch of laughs before they continued to touch on the future of the character and movies.

Hugh reveals that he’s not in it for the money, he doesn’t need that. He’s there because he loves Wolverine, he loves playing the character, and its a ton of fun for him. Check out the interview after the jump.

As the video plays beside Jackman and Couric in the background, Hugh laughingly questions how she couldn’t like it (the scenes shown were of him busting out of the Weapon X facility naked.)

“Why would you miss out on it?” he argued. “A little bit of nudity, I get all of my rage issues out… any rage issues I have are gone! Yeah, you do have fun. I wouldn’t make them otherwise.”

Here’s the video interview courtesy of CBS:

“The whole time from when I began, the one story line that I went and said, ‘That’s a movie!’ while I was reading the comic books, was this whole saga in Japan… It’s really beautiful, different and fantastic. I thought, ‘That’s a movie.’ Now, we’ve done four movies and we haven’t done it yet, so I’m working on that script now. If that comes up to being what I thought it might be, I’ll do that.”

“I always say, ‘oh, I’m never doing another one,’ until I see the script. It has to be something. But in the superhero world, those kind of movies, ‘Wolverine’ is by far the most interesting… So I’ll do eleven more and that’s it!”

Eleven more? That would be a burden on his body but with possible cameos in the growing number of X-Men spin-off movies and a potential X-Men 4, not to mention the likelihood of more than one Wolverine sequel, we will see a lot more of Wolverine in the future.

I’m a fan of Hugh Jackman and I love his passion. It’s unfortunate that they’ve not done better with his character in his solo spin-off but that’s not stopping me from wanting to see Wolverine’s adventures in Japan, a movie they’re currently promising “will stay very close to the source material.”

Are you excited for more Wolverine down the road and what would you like to see from the character and future X-Men movies?

Wolverine 2 is currently in development and we’ll let you know more as we hear it.

Source: CBS

You Might Also Be Interested In:

What We Need From X-Men 4

Rob Keyes — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:24:17 +0000

The news the other day about producer Lauren Schuler Donner hinting at the beginnings of plans for an X-Men 4 movie (and a movie based on The New Mutants) got me thinking of some of the infinite possibilities for the next X-Men installment.

I could go on and on about stories and characters I’d like to see, but keeping to the basics, I’ll discuss some of the issues from the existing X-trilogy that need to be rectified going forward with the next movie, should it come to fruition.

Join us as we discuss what we’d like to see from X-Men 4 and open the floor for your ideas!

We’ll go through some topics that need to be addressed, many of which stem from issues we were left with from X-Men 3: The Last Stand, starting with who the villain(s) should be.

A New Villain

Magneto’s reign is over, have him as a guest role to touch on his relationship with Xavier and perhaps have him redeem himself in some way, becoming the friend he used to be when he was the X-Men’s co-founder prior to the events of the X-trilogy.

This would be a nice concluding touch to the story of X-Men: First Class, which I think may feature Magneto working alongside Xavier to build the institute and the Cerebro device. With a possible role in that film and his own origins solo movie, Magneto’s story will be continued in the past, not the future: leave him out of X4.

So who must the X-Men dance with? Mr. Sinister and the Marauders? Apocalypse? Sentinels?! You could make multiple movies using any of these villains, let alone the time-traveling storylines featuring Bishop and Cable, which would allow for some very cool tie-ins to other X-films in development.

The Marauders would offer a good way to showcase a team of enemies and would tie Gambit into X-Men 4, while bringing Mr. Sinister into the mix. His interest in Jean Grey/Cyclops could be a key storyline and his involvement could help branch into existing or new spinoffs in development. Going that direction could also allow for the storyline of Cyclops fathering Cable as a result of Mr. Sinister’s experiments (I doubt it would follow the comics though) .

Give Rogue some Power!

Rogue was the leading lady of the first X-Men movie and then became a completely unused and wasted character in its sequels. Her power is to acquire other powers and she didn’t do that once over the span of three superhero movies. I don’t get it and judging by the interviews I saw for the movie, neither does Anna Paquin, the actress who played Rogue.

Paquin has matured as an actress and she has a strong following with her hit show, True Blood. Bring her back and bring her into the action. Let her fly and smash things.

A more significant (and useful) role for Rogue could also include or setup a possible storyline with her and Gambit; Wolverine star Taylor Kitsch is very interested in doing just that, and many fans would like to see it happen.

Speaking of powers, Iceman finally iced up in the final action sequence of X3: The Last Stand so now he should be a full-fledged mutant combatant and X-Men member. Let him and Rogue dominate in the large-scale action sequences. Ice slides, anyone?

Click to continue reading about Cyclops, Jean Grey and other possible characters of X-Men 4…

You Might Also Be Interested In:

X-Men 4 & New Mutants Movies On The Way?

Rob Keyes — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:08:48 +0000

The X-Men franchise has a bright future on the silver screen. With multiple projects in their early stages of development and several given the greenlight after the financial success of X-Men Origins: Wolverine to kick off this summer, there seems to be no end in sight for what the future may hold of Fox Studio’s hot property.

I’ll bet Disney wishes they could have picked up this film license in their acquisition of Marvel…

Aside from solo films for Magneto and Deadpool, and the prequel team-up film X-Men: First Class, we might be getting a movie based on the New Mutants comic line and… a possible X-Men 4?

Producer Lauren Shuler Donner, who has worked on all of the X-films thus far, was in attendance for the Fox press presentation of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine Blu-ray release and fielded some questions from the audience about the future of the franchise, including some from Brendon Connelly of /Film.

One of the first things addressed was the Tim Pocock (young Cyclops) tweet that got out which hinted at X-Men: First Class beginning filming early next year. Shortly after, Pocock re-tweeted a follow-up saying that it was a prank and to retract any news from it.

On that topic, Donner said it’s complete false and that no one is yet signed for the First Class film but did confirm that all of the young mutants appearing in X-Men Origins: Wolverine did have the standard options in their contracts for more flicks should they decide to go that path (which they will).

Here’s where the interesting part comes in: Donner then revealed that she’s been working on plans for even more films than the ones we already know about and she said two of them are X-Men 4, which would bring back the characters of old, and a film based on The New Mutants.

X-Men 4?! That’s major if it happens, but when would they film it? Jackman’s got Wolverine 2 in development which wont be out for a few years, how much can he push his body physically 4-5 years down the road for the part? Assuming of course, he plays a prominent role in the fourth installment…

When could it realistically be made and in what order would the films go into production? There’s Deadpool, X-Men Origins: Magneto, Wolverine 2, X-Men First: Class, a possible Gambit movie down the road, and now two more!

Click to continue reading about X-Men 4 and The New Mutants…

You Might Also Be Interested In:

The Plan for X-Men: First Class [Updated]

Rob Keyes — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:07:59 +0000

The X-Men franchise has proven itself to be pretty much unstoppable so far with four financially successful films in a row, and talk of half a dozen more.

Even if they make a film with unfinished special effects, script issues, major leaks, bad critical response and a split fanbase, the movie will still bring in the crowds interested in seeing some of their favorite heroes on screen… even if they don’t match the characters they’re based on, who they came in to see.

With that in mind, there are many films Fox Studios has in development for the franchise but it’s been difficult deciphering which will come first… Could it be X-Men: First Class?

According to actor Tim Pocock who portrayed young Scott Summers in this year’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he’s currently working on an Austrialian TV show then he’s set to start shooting X-Men: First Class next year. He revealed the following in a recent tweet:

currently shooting Australian TV series till February 2010…then X-men first class

[UPDATE] Tim just posted the following on twitter a minute ago:

victim of cruel prank.last tweet=NOT me.AM filming Aussie show till2010.no official word on XM:FC but am interested.please post retraction.

Is this damage control from his agent or Fox because he spoke too soon? Weird prank that got left for a few days until news was made from it. I still think First Class could be happening relatively soon.

This isn’t too surprising since the film has been talked about for a long time and they’ve had Josh Schwartz on the task of penning the script since last November. But what does this mean for all of the other X-projects supposedly starting up in the next two years as well?

Wolverine 2 is in development with Oscar-winning writer Christopher McQuarrie penning the script that that could film in 2011 for a 2012 release date. We also heard a few weeks back from David Goyer that X-Men Origins: Magneto could start shooting as early as next year as well. And of course, we can’t forget about Green Lantern… I mean Deadpool’s solo flick with Ryan Reynolds.

Don’t stop there! Taylor Kitsch who played Gambit (the non Ragin’ Cajun version) has a three-picture deal and there’s been a tiny bit of talk he could get his own flick. I wrote a while back that Gambit’s solo feature would come a few years down the road, after the franchise establishes some other characters first and after Kitsch has his stardom built up (that’ll come with his lead role in John Carter of Mars which is planned to a massive-scale trilogy). Then, Kitsch could support his own big budget X-movie.

That being said, Gambit could pop up in one of the other movies, the most sensible being this one (X-Men: First Class). However, producer Lauren Shuler-Donner says otherwise since the movie is set to follow X-Men’s first class of mutants and Gambit wasn’t a part of it… I don’t know what that means since Angel and Iceman were part of that first class too but aren’t in the movies.

Click to continue reading about X-Men: First Class, its possible characters and more!

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Wolverine 2 “Will Stay Very Close To The Source Material”

Rob Keyes — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:42:43 +0000

Fox Studios held a presentation yesterday in LA to show-off the upcoming release of X-Men Origins: Wolverine on Blu-ray and DVD. Producer Lauren Schuler Donner and director Gavin Hood were in attendance to answer some questions about the franchise, adapting the source material and the sequel to Wolverine’s first solo adventure.

The Blu-ray edition for X-Men Origins: Wolverine is set to be something special with the plethora of bonus features it includes. There’s even a live feature that allows viewers the option to see information on the actors on screen while they watch through IMDB. It essentially will let you look at previous & upcoming projects for all of your favorite stars.

You can head over to Latino Review who were in attendance for more information on this and some of the deleted scenes they got to see. We’re instead going to focus on what was said in the Q&A session about X-Men Origins: Wolverine and its sequel, Wolverine 2.

Currently, Oscar-winning writer Christopher McQuarrie is working on a script to adapt the popular ‘80s Chris Claremont/Frank Miller Wolverine series set in Japan. This of course, is where we’ll see Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine go to for his next adventure, as hinted at in one of the bonus ending scenes in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Unfortunately there were issues with the first film and how it paid respect to the source material from the comics. Yes, the Wolverine history is overly convoluted and he’s beyond over-used currently, having parts in a dozen books monthly. However, the new movie didn’t hit on the simple fact that Wolverine needed a rough violent past which haunts him. That aspect of the movie was completely ignored and we merely got hints of it in the opening montage that passed through him and his half-brother’s experiences in the many wars over the last two centuries.

Even scenes such as when Logan went through the adamantium bonding process were completely wasted. It lasted a minute long and consisted of him getting needles, injecting the liquid metal into him… that’s it. It didn’t even match what we saw from the X-Rays in the first X-Men movie or his flashbacks. How does injecting liquid metal into him make it bond to only his bones in a nice smooth equal layer and give him perfectly formed blades on top of his rough-looking bone claws?

Had the movie been rated R, which it really would have benefited from, we might have seen them actually perform the extensive operation on him to cut him open and insert adamantium and replacing those claws with new ones. That is the major moment in his life that changes who he is, re-defining him. However, this is just one example of the many issues I saw as something that could have been easily improved.

What’s really weird about this is that the tie-in video game for X-Men Origins: Wolverine was infinitely more gruesome. It looked better, had better story elements and really showed what Wolverine and his rage are all about unlike the film – it might be the first time the video game tie-in is actually better than the movie it’s based on (a whole ton better). Just the cutscenes alone were cooler than most of what we saw in the feature film – That is the Hugh Jackman and Wolverine I want to see on-screen.

So, looking forward to the sequel, will they repeat the same, having a movie disliked by most critics and many fans (Wolverine’s solo film had the lowest ratings out of all four X-Films by a massive margin) with rushed special effects? How will it treat the well-respected Japanese storyline of Wolverine’s past?

Or can we get something polished and complete like the first two well-regarded X-Men movies?

Click to continue reading about Wolverine, Wolverine 2 and how the source material is adapted…

You Might Also Be Interested In:

The Future of Sabretooth in the X-Men Films

Rob Keyes — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:53:58 +0000

In our last discussion of the story and characters of Wolverine 2, we talked a little about Liev Schreiber and what his thoughts were on the sequel.

At the time, he seemed not too interested in putting his body through all the physical work again, now that he’s over 40, but he did say that he’s very interested in seeing how the character of Victor Creed goes from how he portrayed him, to what we saw of the animalistic Sabretooth from Bryan Singer’s first X-Men movie.

Now, it seems that he’s changed his mindset and is in fact interested in returning to the role.

Schreiber, although a strange casting decision initially, was arguably the best part of the highly disappointing Wolverine origins adaptation. In a movie full of weak plot points, bad characterization and a terrible waste of great source material, Liev’s take on Victor Creed was one of the most enjoyable parts of the film.

Unfortunately, the story didn’t make much sense for him in the end and X-Men Origins: Wolverine concluded with Hugh Jackman’s character losing his memory and Sabretooth completely fine, running off after their team-up. From what was shown, Sabretooth has no idea that his brother doesn’t know who he is anymore. Knowing Victor’s nature and his relationship with his brother, more specifically his desire to compete with and be better than Wolverine, he wouldn’t just disappear – we know at some point, Victor would seek out his brother.

So, what happens to him between the end of that movie and where we see him in X-Men? For the most part, all of the films so far and the ones in planning are all sharing the same continuity which means this needs to be explained.

With the sequel following our favorite clawed mutant on his adventures in Japan, the story doesn’t really allow for Sabretooth to partake. However, Schreiber seems interested again and has an idea of what we could see.

“There’s been some smatterings of conversation about it, but nothing concrete yet… I had a ball doing it, so I’d do it again.”

Click to Continue Reading about ‘The Future of Sabretooth in the X-Men Films’ for much more!

You Might Also Be Interested In:

X-Men Origins: Magneto Could Start Next Year?

Rob Keyes — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:45:27 +0000

David Goyer has been talking up a storm recently. With his fame growing massively after the success of The Dark Knight, which he helped write, he’s been talked about for plenty of other projects in development, most related to comic properties.

Recently, he gave some insight into the future of the Blade franchise and revealed some details on the upcoming Super Max film which would follow DC Comics’ Green Arrow character incarcerated in prison with supervillains for a crime he did not commit.

One project that Marvel fans are looking forward to however, is that of a solo film for Magneto which would tell the story of the character’s origins before the events of the first X-Men film, similar to this summer’s Hugh Jackman-starrer based on Wolverine. The mutant character with the power of magnetism was made famous on screen thanks to the acting of the talented Sir Ian McKellen, but from the sounds of it, he’d likely be played by a younger actor this time around, no doubt with a cameo from McKellen though.

X-Men Origins: Magneto is tentatively set for a 2011 release although there’s been no official push forward in development for quite some time. Goyer is writing the screenplay and will likely be directing the film when it happens, pending his incredibly busy schedule.

He spoke to MTV recently and had this to say about the status of the project:

“They’re still thinking about doing it…They’re definitely looking into doing other X-Men spinoffs.”

“I’ve been in touch with them… I’m sure that project will move forward in the next year or so.”

There’s plenty of potential for the X-Men franchise, although I’d personally prefer them to start over from scratch and follow the comics more, the films have proven again and again to make a ton at the box office. Even with terrible reviews, the latest installment of the franchise and the first spinoff, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, banked a massive $85 million opening weekend and a world-wide money grab of more than $360 million.

Since then, a Deadpool spin-off was greenlit for Ryan Reynolds’ character and we know they’re working on an X-Men: First Class movie as well as another solo flick for Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. There’s also been talk of spinoffs for Gambit and some of the other actors from the series have their own ideas for more films as well.

So, according to Goyer, they could be getting to work on Magneto next year which would allow them to make the 2011 release date. The Deadpool project is also said to release that year but with Reynolds’ casting into the role of Hal Jordan in Green Lantern which is officially set for a summer, 2011 release, we don’t know for sure when we’ll be seeing that.

Do you want a Magneto solo movie? What characters should appear in it and what do you think the story will be about?

Source: MTV

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Wolverine 2 Snags Oscar-Winning Writer

Paul Young — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:23:01 +0000

Well it would seem that someone at Fox Studios is aching to take advantage of the head of steam the Wolverine franchise is building. Is it any wonder that Fox is fast-tracking Wolverine 2 at a frantic pace? X-Men Origins: Wolverine has brought in over $350 million worldwide and that number is sure to go up when the DVD sales start up.

Screen Rant reported on Hugh Jackman at the Teen Choice Awards, verifying that Wolverine 2 was indeed being made. Next, Screen Rant writer Rob Keyes wrote a piece talking about possible villains for Wolverine 2.

Now, less than a week later after Jackman spilled the news, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that Oscar-winning script writer Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) has been hired to write Wolverine 2’s script. Indeed, the storyline will follow the Frank Miller and Chris Claremont Japan saga from the 80’s, which just confirms one of the multiple endings for Wolverine and what Jackman hinted at this past weekend.

That is great news for fans who are already excited to see this story told. Other good news: this won’t be McQuarrie’s first time playing in the Marvel universe. He helped pen the first X-Men script but removed his name when the draft that made it to the screen more closely resembeled what David Hayter (Watchmen) had written.

Back in June, Screen Rant reported that Bryan Singer had expressed interest in returning to the X-Men universe in one form or another. Could he return to helm Wolverine 2? No one knows yet at this early stage, but the way information is being released, we could easily hear something sooner rather than later. McQuarrie has already worked with Singer on The Usual Suspects and X-Men and I personally wouldn’t mind seeing one more pairing between the two. Hugh Jackman is set to produce Wolverine 2 along with Lauren Schuler Donner, who also produced X-Men, giving us yet another connection to Singer.

I think we can all agree that having Christopher McQuarrie onboard for the Wolverine sequel is a good thing -but do you think we could see a possible return of Bryan Singer to the director’s chair for the film? And does this news give you hope that the next Wolverine installment will be better than the first?

Wolverine 2 has no scheduled release date.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Potential Villains of Wolverine 2

Rob Keyes — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:31:33 +0000

The folks at Cinema Blend spoke with Liev Schreiber the other day during a press junket for his upcoming film, Taking Woodstock, and touched base with him on what his future may be in the X-Men franchise.

Unfortunately for fans of Schreiber’s portrayal of Victor Creed, the talented actor didn’t sound too enthused about the idea of returning to the role of Wolverine’s brother and arch nemesis. Join us as we discuss what the storyline of Wolverine 2 may entail in terms of characters and what other stories and villains could be introduced.

We’ll be touching on Silver Samurai, Team X, Omega Red and more!

In speaking with Cinema Blend, Schreiber pointed out that he may not be ready to play the part again.

“I’m over 40 now, and do I really want to go through the physical stuff that it took to pull that off again? I’m not so sure.”

Bah! If Hugh Jackman can do it, you can too, Liev.

I do understand what he’s saying though: by the time Wolverine 2 starts shooting, he’ll be in his forties. At the same time, if the filmmakers want Schreiber back, this is probably their last chance.

Storywise, I don’t know how they’d turn Wolverine and Creed against one other again, what with Wolvy’s memory loss at the end of the Origins film – especially since we already know the two characters don’t know each other in the first X-Men movie.

With Liev’s disinterest and the way the character has been treated in the series, I could see sadly writing Victor Creed and Sabertooth off as separate characters.

Cinema Blend’s Katey Rich made a good point on this, saying that Schreiber may not have much of a choice, assuming he’s signed to a multi-picture contract (which is pretty standard for these genre movies at Fox Studios).

That being said, if he doesn’t want to come back, his friend Hugh Jackman definitely wouldn’t force his return as a contractual obligation.

Continuing his thoughts on the Wolverine sequel, Schreiber continued,

“As an audience member, I’d be really interested to see how you’d go from the Liev Schreiber Victor Creed to the Tyler Mane Victor Creed [from X-Men]. So I’d like to see that.”

I think we’d all like to see that. It’d be a big let down (we’ve had far too many already) if the filmmakers just ended up leaving Victor Creed and never addressing how he goes from this:

The talkative and egotistical Victor Creed (with normal eyes)

…To this:

The dumb, slow and quiet animal, Sabretooth (with abnormal eyes)

Click to continue reading ‘Potential Villains of Wolverine 2′

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Look Out Japan: Here Comes Wolverine!

Paul Young — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:26:52 +0000

Like it, love it or leak it, there is no denying that the summer of 2009 started off with a bang when X-Men Origins: Wolverine slashed and hacked its way into theaters and into the top 10 grossing movies of the summer. Box Office Mojo currently has it listed at number 8 domestically with $179 million. Combine that with the additional $170 million for foreign sales and is it really any surprise that we are hearing Hugh Jackman talking about a sequel?

During the Teen Choice Awards (which took place this weekend but airs tonight on Fox), Wolverine actually won the action/adventure category but there is a better-than-slim chance tweens across the continent tried to write in Twilight instead. While accepting his surfboard award (whatever happened to trophies?), Hugh “6 Blades” Jackman threw out this quip:

“Who knows, maybe Wolverine will use one of these when he heads to Japan.”

During a backstage video interview, which you can watch here from MTV, Jackman added:

“The ‘going to Japan’ was pretty serious, the ‘using the surfboard’ was not. Not a lot of surfing in Japan. Japan is where we’re heading, [and] we’re starting to work on it now. We’re in the … first steps of developing that story.”

In one of the after-credits segments (there were multiple secret endings) of Wolverine, audiences were treated to a scene of Logan drinking in a Japanese bar, which sort of verified what most of us were hoping – Wolverine 2 would follow the Frank Miller and Chris Claremont storyline which is still wildly popular in the comic world. In their sprawling saga, Wolverine learns to have more control over his rage, to focus it with meditation and use it to his advantage. He has always been a brawler but during this saga he learns to become a skilled fighter using more than just the blades in his arms to fight.

Jackman has never kept it to himself on how important it is to bring that story to life and how much he thinks fans want to see it told as well.

“I think the fans love that saga. It’s my favorite saga of the Wolverine stories. That’s a movie I’ve longed to make from the beginning, so that’s where we’re heading.”

I had my issues with the origin story like a lot of people did, but I can’t help but think the second installment will be much better than the first. Here’s why; they were just making stuff up to fit a story that would eventually get Wolverine to Japan, that’s why the first movie was so convoluted and didn’t make any sense to fans of the Wolverine character. Now that they are in a setting were a very popular story has already been told, they have something to go off of and have no need to shoot from the hip. Also, Hugh Jackman is quickly making Wolverine his legacy. Assuming Wolverine 2 aims for a 2012 release, he will have been in five films in twelve years as the mutant superhero.

Do you like where the Wolverine franchise is heading with the Japanese saga or do you think it’ll disappoint?

Wolverine 2 has no officially scheduled release date.

Source: MTV

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Marvel Anime: Iron Man & Wolverine Teaser Trailers

Kofi Outlaw — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:19:56 +0000

About a year ago we told you that Marvel was extending its brand name to the Far East, partnering with Japanimation studio Madhouse to produce four anime films to be released in 2010. At the time there was no official word on which Marvel characters would be getting the ‘animakeover,’ though Iron Man, Spider-Man and The Hulk were early guesstimates.

Well, flash-forward a year later and we finally have a first look at two out of the four Marvel/Madhouse films on the way. The first characters to receive their animakeover? (Surprise, surprise) It’s Wolverine and Iron Man. Check out the teaser trailers:

Anime is an art form that has a tendency to split people right down the middle: you either love it or hate it. Personally, I used to be an anime fanatic back in high school (over a decade ago, yikes!) but have found it increasingly difficult to appreciate the genre in my older years. Too much ’style over substance’ too often for my liking.

However, I find myself facing a split decision in regards to these trailers: I like the Iron Man one but don’t like the Wolverine one. At least the Iron Man movie still retains the feel of the Iron Man we know and love (if not slightly altered) – that Wolverine flick is something I would never recognize if I didn’t already know what it was.

But then, Marvel International President Simon Phillips stated last year that these new anime films would “create a parallel universe for Marvel.” That anime Wolverine definitley looks like he’s from another universe.

The four Marvel/Madhouse anime films will each be written by Warren Ellis, writer of renowned comic book series Transmetropolitan and The Authority.

Both the Iron Man and Wolverine animes are due out in 2010. We’ll have a look at the final two Marvel anime films whenever the trailers drop.

What do you think: Is anime a good look for the Marvel Universe?

Source: You Tube via Slash Film

You Might Also Be Interested In:

What Do X-Men Fans Want Most: Deadpool, Wolverine 2 or First Class?

Rob Keyes — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:30:03 +0000

In the wake of the financial success of the recent X-Men spinoff film featuring everyone’s favorite nice-guy Hugh Jackman as the overly nice Wolverine, there’s been plenty of talk, speculation and excitement over what the future holds for X-Men film franchise.

That being said, some don’t want that future at all. Not with Fox Studios anyways…

Shortly after the huge box office opening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine film, it was announced that Ryan Reynolds would be getting his own spinoff film for Deadpool – a character that wasn’t utilized right in the movie at all, to the point where they literally ruined him (the character and his life in the movie) to the dismay of many comics fans.

The bright side to that was the fact the Reynolds’ portrayal of Wade Wilson in his few scenes early in the film were spot on and in my mind, were the best part of the movie. Most agree that he was cast perfectly into the role before the movie even debuted and he sure proved them right. It’s unfortunate what they ended up doing with the character on screen out of his control.

What made the idea of Reynolds playing Deadpool even better was the fact that the Canadian actor loved the character and the books and he knew he (Wade Wilson/Deadpool) wasn’t being treated right in the movie. He said multiple times before the film came out that he’d love to make a proper Deadpool film based on the comics and he looked at the situation as an exciting opportunity to 1) play the ‘Merc with a Mouth’ and 2) to get the character introduced on screen in hopes of getting the chance to play him again under better circumstances.

Well, he was right and his movie was greenlit first out of the many X-projects in development over at Fox.

In addition to that, the folks over at MTV Splashpage held a little poll the other week to see what the fans wanted to see most of the potential sequel/spinoffs to X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

The votes pushed Deadpool into the winning spot but only by a bit. It had 32% of the votes with a Wolverine sequel at a close second with 28%. Who knows how many voters there actually were but its interesting nevertheless and it matches my tastes too. The other options were X-Men Origins: Magneto and X-Men: First Class.

For the Marvel Studios-based movies, I’ve made it well known in my writing that I’m most excited for Kenneth Branagh’s Thor film and for Fox’s ill-treated X-franchise, I’m most excited for the Deadpool spinoff.

Continue Reading ‘What Do X-Men Fans Want Most: Deadpool, Wolverine 2 or First Class?’

You Might Also Be Interested In:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Concept Art of Deadpool, Sabretooth & More

Rob Keyes — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:58:41 +0000

While X-Men Origins: Wolverine has come and gone as we pass over the opening peak of the summer movie season, there’s a ton to look forward for the X-Men franchise.

As we already know, X-Men: First Class, Deadpool and a Wolverine sequel are all in the works for Fox Studios and their X-Men franchise. Two of which (possibly all three) are spinoffs or will be connected to last month’s Wolverine origin flick. Because of that, what we have for you today is still relevant.

The following images are concept art for some of the support characters in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. They depict exactly what Live Schreiber’s Sabretooth character looked like on screen and some early variations of what Ryan Reynold’s character could have looked like as Wade Wilson and as Weapon XI (Deadpool).

The art is by Phillip Boutte Jr. and Jerad S Marantz, take a look and see what you think [Click to enlarge]:

The Weapon XI post-augmentation images are a little extreme but would have worked on screen if that character wasn’t one and the same as Deadpool [insert sad face]. If that were some clone or other experiment who was fed a bunch of mutant powers, I would of dug it as he looks freaky as hell and would make for a cool villain in the final confrontation.

As for the pre-augmentation image of Deadpool/Wade Wilson, it looks cool too. You can see the resemblance to the modern Deadpool costume from the comics mixed with a mercenary outfit. Seeing this makes me wonder why they went so overly simple with what Reynolds wore in the film.

Either way, it may hint at something he could wear at some point in the Deadpool solo flick that he’s currently planning. The Canadian star confirmed that we will see the infamous red-and-black costume in the film and that it will closely follow the comics – just as he wanted all along leading up to the release of Wolverine.

I think the concept art is pretty cool and I think Ryan Reynolds is more cool. With him in charge of the project (at least seemingly for now), I have hope for this movie even though the last two X-Men films by Fox have let me down.

What do you think of the images and of Deadpool?

To see more of the art for characters including The Blob, Beak, Wolverine and others, check out the personal blogs of the two artists linked below.

Sources: Phillip Boutte Jr., Jerad S Marantz

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Taylor Kitsch Excited To Give Us More Gambit

Rob Keyes — Sun, 17 May 2009 04:51:42 +0000

Taylor Kitch who played the Ragin’ Not-So-Cajun in X-Men Origins: Wolverine is stoked about the possibility of returning to his character in the Wolverine sequel.

Rotten Tomatoes caught up with the Canadian actor of Friday Night Lights fame at the Cannes Film Festival and discussed what’s next for the mutant character he portrays. RT asked him about the possibility of him returning in the Wolverine sequel which Taylor surprisingly heard nothing about. He laughingly responded:

“Man, good on Hugh for doing that to his body again… I hadn’t heard that was going to happen! You have my brain going now about what I’d love to do with Gambit!”

As for his character and what he’d like to do going forward:

“I’m just excited to go deeper into Gambit. It’s a flattering thing when people say that the only sh***y part about the character is we didn’t see enough of him. If that’s the case, bring it on. I want to go deep into Gambit.”

While Gambit certainly needed some more screen time in the movie, that’s not exactly the only [crappy] part of the character. If you’ve seen the movie, you probably noticed that Gambit’s trademark accent went from dark with a hint of Cajun, to just a southern teenager accent in the plane scene, to nearly no accent at all in his final scene in the movie.

“I have the tools now to do some larger fights and I’d be really excited to get a chance to do that, too. I have so many ideas in my mind right now!”

Taylor underwent plenty of physical training to use and fight with his staff, so he’s physically ready. If there’s to be more movies feature my favorite X-character, I want to see done with a little more attention to detail, especially the voice.

If Wolverine 2 is expected to follow Hugh Jackman’s character on his adventures in Japan, I don’t really see Gambit playing a part of that. Could he have a cameo in the confirmed Deadpool spinoff or X-Men: First Class? According to producer Lauren Shuler-Donner, Gambit won’t be one of the First Class roster members and her reasoning is that he wasn’t part of Xavier’s first class… but neither will half of the characters they choose so that’s weird.

The Deadpool spinoff was announced pretty quickly after Wolverine debuted to a strong opening weekend despite very poor reviews. That was expected and in an earlier post, I stated that Ryan Reynolds’ solo film would likely be the first to be confirmed as it is the most bankable. Taylor Kitsch doesn’t yet have the star power to lead his own big budget X-Film so we can expect to continue seeing him play smaller roles in other characters’ movies – Problem is, it doesn’t fit with them.

I love the Gambit character and I love Taylor’s passion about the character. If he dedicates himself to voice training like he does the physical stuff, we could be in for a treat.

Where do you think we’ll see Gambit next?

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

You Might Also Be Interested In:

Hugh Jackman’s Next Projects (Including Wolverine 2)

Ross Miller — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:09:24 +0000

Last week Screen Rant reported on the fact that Hugh Jackman would like to see the Wolverine sequel involve the Japanese saga from the original comics. But at that point it was just the wishful, albeit informed, thinking of the Wolverine actor and not actual confirmation that that’s the direction a sequel would go.

Seed Productions, which is a company started by Jackman, Deborah-Lee Furnass and John Palermo (and is associated with 20th Century Fox), has started ramping up several projects for Jackman to star in. And, yes, one of which is the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Seed are planning to focus squarely on the Japanese storyline that Jackman wishfully spoke of last time he was interviewed about the sequel, which is set to continue on from the after-credits sequence [possible spoiler ahead] that saw Jackman in Japan, speaking the lingo. Seed will produce the film, as they did with Wolverine, but no writer has been hired to write the script as of yet.

The other projects on the horizon for Jackman include Personal Security, which will see the Australian play a tough police detective; an adaptation of a James Sallis novel called Drive which will see him drive race cars by-day and getaway cars by-night; and a modern version of the Rogers & Hammerstein musical Carousel in which Jackman will play Bill Bigelow.

Oh, and for those of you who enjoyed his little performance at the beginning of the Oscars earlier this year, along with Carousel, Jackman also plans to star in a Broadway musical next year called Houdini. It is to be directed by Jack O’Brien (Hairspray) with the music written by Danny Elfman (a regular of Tim Burton).

Wow, Jackman is certainly going to be a busy boy over the next couple of years or so. It’s good to see him take on a variety of roles, particularly those which are undoubtedly a lot smaller in scale than any of the X-Men movies. However, it appears that Wolverine is where a lot of his passion lies, going by his enthusiasm for the sequel’s Japanese angle that we know they are planning.

That passion can only be a good thing for the Wolverine sequel…

So what do you think of them moving ahead with the Japanese storyline for the Wolverine sequel? What do you make of the other projects that have been lined up for Jackman?

Source: Variety

You Might Also Be Interested In:

X-Men Spinoffs: Deadpool, Storm & Gambit With Rogue?

Rob Keyes — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:40:42 +0000

As we enter the aftermath of the opening weekend of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the discussions of spinoffs and sequels hit full throttle.

We’ve heard for a while now about the internal discussions at Fox about the many possible films that can branch out from the series so far. These include X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2, Deadpool, X-Men: First Class, X-Men Origins: Magneto and a Gambit solo.

Well, what’s it going to be?

With Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine origins movie banking nearly $160 Million worldwide this weekend, we can expect to see some green lights on upcoming Fox productions in the X-Men franchise.

For now, let’s talk about what the actors want to see in the future. The other day, I wrote about Ryan Reynolds and his desire to not only have his own Deadpool solo movie, but to feature the character Cable as his opposite in the film. I’m all for that idea as I thought Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson in the Wolverine movie was one of the best parts (pre-Weapon XI that is).

For those who don’t know the character, Cable is the son of Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Madelyne Pryor (Jean Grey’s clone) who was taken to the future only to return as a much older and hardened mutant. This will certainly not be his origin if he is ever to appear in the movies. At least, not until the X-Men franchise is rebooted in the not-too-distant future.

I also thought that Cable would be a good character to introduce into the X-franchise and I proposed that a good place for his introduction would be in X-Men: First Class as it will bring back major characters Cyclops and Jean Grey back into the mix (and possibly Emma Frost). That way, Cable would known by audiences by the time Deadpool is made.

So, out of the solo possibilities, Deadpool seems a more likely choice than Gambit, if not for the fact Ryan Reynolds has significantly more star power than Taylor Kitsch.

As for Gambit, he is one of my favorite characters from the comics and of the classic nineties animated series. In the movie, he does not earn such praise from me.

While Gambit is a cool character and Taylor Kitsch a good actor, together they do not meet the basic needs of what many fans of the character want. Gambit needs his Cajun accent and his French catch-phrases – that is essential.

In the comments section of Screen Rant’s review of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, you may have seen my review of the movie where I discuss a few of the characters. In it, I talk about how Gambit came off as some cocky southern kid and didn’t have the coolness or suave that the real Gambit puts forth. He wasn’t a bad character in the movie; he was just a weak character who could jump 50 feet high and nothing like the Marvel versions.

Regardless, Gambit is one of the spinoff possibilities. What does Taylor Kitsch, the actor who plays him want in a Gambit spinoff? In speaking to MTV before X-Men Origins: Wolverine hit theaters, the Canadian actor of Friday Night Lights fame said:

“I would love to go darker… [Gambit] in Vegas was fun, but I want to go into the Thieves Guild part of his story.”

“How cool would it be to see him stealing things to survive because the stakes are so high?… Of course, as an actor, I’m always going to the darker side, but for him that would just be way more intriguing.”

“Come on, Fox… Let’s do it.”

Click to continue “X-Men Spinoffs: Deadpool, Storm & Gambit With Rogue?”

You Might Also Be Interested In: