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?”
I always love when an actor is passionate about his character, but I really want a Gambit flick to be really friggin’ good. In order for that to happen, Gambit needs to portrayed more accurately on screen. And for the movie to be bankable, they’re going to need some big names in the supporting cast.
How about Anna Paquin who played Rogue in the X-Men trilogy and who’s keeping busy with HBO series, True Blood? Taylor Kitsch has this to say about that idea:
“There are two things with that — she’s such a great actress and I’d love to work with her, and that would be cool to see Gambit and Rogue.”
“I’d also like to see the charming Gambit on his own and see how he is with other women — see how he is with the women in the casino there, with the charm and the suave and the effortlessness it takes with him… That’s something I’d like to explore as well.”
I don’t know how this can work. Taylor Kitsch’s Gambit lives on-screen twenty years prior to our introduction to the lame adaptation of Rogue in the X-Men trilogy. This would mean that any Gambit and Rogue romance would take place after X3: The Last Stand where Rogue would hopefully acquire some new powers and Gambit would be much older.
A movie showing Rogue leaving the X-Mansion and chock full of cameos from all the characters from X3 would be pretty cool. But again, I really dislike X3 and unless Gambit learns some Cajun and throws more cards, I’m not interested.
In conclusion, can a Gambit and Rogue movie work? I don’t think so in the current franchise set-up unless their Gambit has a longer life span and doesn’t age. Do I want a Gambit solo movie? Yes and no – It (and the character) needs to be done right and have some strong supporting cast members to be financially viable as a feature.
Before we finish, there’s one more character spinoff concept I want to talk about just for fun (or to make fun of?). Who could I be talking about? Well, none other than everyone’s not-so-favorite Mistress of the Elements, Queen of Wakanda, Storm! Played by Halle Berry.
This will be quick, I promise.
Halle Berry almost didn’t take part in X3 due to her contract demands after her Oscar win. She threatened to leave unless given more screen time, a bigger role, etc. and that may or may not have had an impact on much of what happened with the third X-Men movie. Obviously she ended up in the movie despite the contract issues and an online petition fighting for her not to be. Luckily, she had no interest in doing a spinoff on her own and she believed X3 would be the last. At the Cannes Film Festival in 2006, she said:
“Storm won’t be spinning off… I have no real desire to do that,”
“It is the group of all of them together and that is what has made the series so successful.”
Awesome, it was settled… until the People’s Choice Awards where she won “Favorite Female Action Star” for her role as Storm in X3 against a non-existent competition. Upon accepting the award, she seemed more interested in doing more X-movies:
“You guys really love X-Men? Ok, here’s what you have to do. Write letters. Every one of you in this building who love X-Men and want to see X-Men 4, write a letter to Tom Rothman at Fox and tell him so and you will get another one, and I’ll be there too.”
That was three years ago. Now, with Hugh Jackman and his solo film earning big bucks and a lot of buzz online prior to the release, David Bentley over at The Geek Files reported that Halle had this to say at one of the premieres:
“I think Storm deserves her own movie. I think that would be great”.
I don’t.
X-Men: Storm solo movie? No thanks. That’s about as exciting as Catwoman 2 and it’s a shame because Storm is one of the strongest and greatest characters of the Marvel Universe.
What do you think of all these spinoff ideas and what the actors have in mind for them?
Source: MTV Splashpage, Cinema Blend
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I agree, if anyone who knew anything about the comics and the cartoon, they would know that Storm was the strongest and most powerful of them all. Her ability to command the earthly elements was astounding and she was respected by all the other X Men. She was the one they looked to for guidance and answers. Wolverine was a beast with basically no control. Storm is the glue that helped keep the group together. Damn Hollywood has stripped the powers away from from all the strong characters so that they can build up Wolverine. Of course they water down Storm’s character because she is a female and she is black. Hollywood is not ready to showcase females as powerful superhero’s or heroines I should say, especially not black ones. They want to send the image that in order to be a real super hero you have to be some muscled up white guy. If they had respect for the other super hero’s that were women and those that were black then Wonder Woman would have had her movie by now. Some of these other characters that nobody see’s on the screen would have movies. I am tired of Wolverine and I am tired of these fake ass Hollywood created storylines that basically pan out to a love story. Hell if you must make these movies show us variety hell lets see a real ICEMAN on screen or a real Gambit.
taylor did a great job with gambit. there should be a gambit movie with taylor playing him. there are enough fans out there for this movie to work. taylor should be allowed to do gambit darker. after all gambit does have a dark side. his roots with the theives guild and the streets would be awsome to see. i followed gambit since he first came out.
give taylor some slack people. he did a great job with gambit. i’d go see the movie over and over again with taylor playing him. after all gambit does have his own series, why not his own movie?
I personally feel that they should do a spinoff for storm i am big fan of her alone every since i was younger she was one of my favorites. I think they should do it AS LONG as they have a good script and a GREAT director to put it out. She is one of the strongest and most ampped up characters from the comics so why not just do it and do it right? She is a main character storm deserves a spinoff
Storm is in my Top 3, but it would be hard to do a spinoff on her without it being boring. They would have to add quite a few characters to the movie and possibly a story of when she went AWOL and was the Leader of the MOrlocks after defeating Marrow. But they would have to make a movie that would show all of her powers that could possibly match Thor’s without the Super strength and Super Speed. They would definitely need to go far away from Halle Berry as Storm. I would prefer Angela Bassett, Sanaa Lathon or Gabrielle Union or and I’m reaching with this one, Beyonce Knowles.
Um…. I like Halle Berry, I liked her storm…. kinda. I have to pick on the first movie,, the accent made her hard to hear, her job was to prep the jet. Her wig in the 1st, bad, second, I liked it, 3rd, cool. I think that they should make her good, not the weakling from the 1st, but also a bit more out there. And make her fly the jet, I love the flips! Wahoo! I want that to be a roller coaster, “X-jet, storm pilot” or something. “Storm rider…. wind rider…” can’t think. Anyway, she needs a real story, Morlocks is good! I like your plot, just like Berry. Gothica and stuff.
I agree 100% with your comment
I fear if there were to be a Gambit & Rogue movie I might embarrass myself with fanatical screaming…. and that would be awesome!
Gambit and Rogue <3
Well Gambit has always been my favorite X-men character even 20 years ago when Wolverine was very popular.
I just want to see more Gambit in a movie. Solo or not.
I would prefer a reboot of the series and have Gambit in the team already and also having that romantic chemistry with rogue. and that great competitive relationship him and wolverine had.
First Class was a great movie but it needs to be a reboot.
Storm also needs to be African. or atleast sound african.
A storm movie would be awesome! She is my favorite character and I would like here about her nephew also. I heard that storm does have children but they only one I heard about was Torent from Wolverine is the father.
A storm movie would be awesome! She is my favorite character and I would like hear about her nephew also. I heard that storm does have children but they only one I heard about was Torent from Wolverine is the father.
I agree with whoever said that the writing for the Xmen movies is just not up to par. I do believe they water down character like storm, rogue, iceman, just to give more focus on certain characters. I don’t understand hollywood not wanting to give a good quality Xmen movie that shows all the xmen true strength and who they really are as they were created in the comics. It just suck! Maybe one day ill become a film director and screenplay writer and ill be able to give Xmen what it needs
I think a Gambit movie would be cool. Especially if it revolves around Gambit being stolen from Sinister as a baby, and used by a mutant whos power is kinda like a vampire where he sucks the life out of people, and then Jean luc (the thieves guild leader) rescues him and raises him as his own son. It would be cool to see him raised as a thief, and see the rivalry between the assasins guild and the thieves guild.
I think Gambits story is good enough on its own, and if he gets expelled from the guild after doing something really stupid, he then meets rogue and falls in love with her.
Ok so im just gonna say a few things about the Gambit spin off thing… 1st they really need to some how get Rogue in there. It would make me and soooooooo many more people happy because i hated the Rogue and Bobby fling! They should also go into Belladona and her marige to him. 2nd I think they choice the guy that played Gambit really well, now i know they have a few quickz to work out but if you look at the actors that could of been him there arent any other good actors.
Personaly… Storm origin would be a great idea, starting off as Teen Storm she devolps her powers, like Angle in X3, by floating in the air of south Africa. Also the vengeince of her parents deaths, she goes after their killers. It’ll be a good colaboration. Changes: more skin and long white hair!
Personaly… Storm origin would be a great idea, starting off as Teen Storm she devolps her powers, like Angle in X3, by floating in the air of south Africa. Also the vengeince of her parents deaths, she goes after their killers. It’ll be a good colaboration. Changes: more skin, long white hair, and he powers should be more ficious.
Look, I super want a storm movie. Here’s the thing, halle berry should be nowhere near it. She’s a great actress but she should never been given the part of storm in the first place. Pick an strong tall and regal actress that can play a true queen. I’ve been reading comics for a long time and I’m tired of seeing actors put into a movie because their popular at the time.
Storm, my favourite x-men character, she is one of the most powerful x-men. i think there can be very good storylines that are based on storm being the lead character and also storm and wolverine goes hand in hand, she is the most passionate character and deserves supremacy as she is a queen.Storm needs to get a chance to showoff her mighty powers, she can have the whole world at her mercy. She is also the most appropriate one to keep wolverine in check. the actress NEED to change, Halle Berry don’t do storm justice, no offence i luv her but not as storm.I put plenty of thought in it and i think VANESSA WILLIAMS is the best actress for the role.Rougue and Gambit rocks and are inseparable, they are the real deal and cannot be changed.Mystic is always a blast to see & Rebecca Romijn did justice to the character.
I think a Gambit Origins is a great idea, however I don’t see how Rogue could be envolved in it. Rouge and Gambit did not have a thing until after Gambit became part of the X-Men and since the first X-men movie made her a naive little girl without her gained powers I don’t see it working out very well. They also introduced Gambit in Wolverine Origins which puts Gambit around 16 or so years older than Rogue. I didn’t care for Taylor as Gambit he needs the cajun catch phrases and Gambit was suave, tall thin, very cut and a thief. Sadly I did not see that in Taylor’s Gambit, however in his own movie maybe he can pull it off.
A Storm movie is a very bad idea, even though I do agree that storm is a power character I do not believe she is one of the strongest X-Men.
We all know that Jean is the strongest X-Men; then Wolverine and Rogue. Storm may have been one of the smartest but lets face it a Storm Origins movie especially with Halle Berry would be super boring.
@Lj- although I think Gambitbis deserving of a large role in a move, I disagree with Jim having his own spinoff for the simple fact that he’s not a major character although a fan favorite. His interactions with other mutants are comical at best and he doesnt have a nemisis or arch rival. Storm on the other is an Omega Level mutant, 2nd in command of the x-men in the absence of Cyclops, and a one time leader of the morlocks. Her powers rival that of Thor with the exception of godly strength, speed and endurance and she can control at
Isomeric conditions on the entire planet. She can use oxygen whereever they may be. Space underwater and the only time that she is unpredictable is when in am enclosed space because she is claustrophobic and will panic and lose total control. I agree about not making a Storm spin-off if Halle Berry is the actress. And I don’t want to hear anything Bout her winning Oscar. There are at least 3 other actress I can think of that would be a better storm. Angela Bassett (Tina Turner- what’s love got to do with it), Sanaa Lathon (AVP), and or Gabrielle Union. Storm is deserving of a spinoff
I would love to see gabrielle union as storm
@Beserker – Actually, Gambit is an Omega level mutant. Much like Jean Grey, he voluntarily had his abilities limited when he discovered that if he lost control he could (and did in an alternate universe)destroy the world…
I just really want to see my two favorite characters Rogue and Gambit in a x-men movie. I think that it will be a hit with their relationship.
I would love to see them make a storm movie, her back story has always been one of my favorites.
gambit needs a new actor and a better costume. he needs to wear what he wore on the animated series (red eyes,long brown coat). Rouge needs a new actress, new costume, what she wore on the animated series! These characters need to be strong and badass and need to be together. Storm needs new actress and better costume, long hair, strong and badass, accent, body.
I believe the X-men franchise should explore the true Glory of the X-men. Teamwork. I love the idea of the Origins and they should continue them. I think Storm does have a very interesting story but Halle Berry needs to read the comics to get an idea of who she is representing storm is a powerful woman that has to keep her EMOTIONS IN CHECK TO KEEP FROM DESTROYING THE ENTIRE WORLD. Her beauty is just frosting she was a thief and an excellent hand to hand combatant. Changing her hair which was actually her signature into a series of bad wigs will not distract from the fact that she has been diluted into a mere house wife. Storm is fierce. Where are her muscles? She is an amazon queen like Wonder Woman isn’t she like 6’1 why would halle even attempt this. They should have chosen Angela Basset for the Older storm and Kerry Washington for the younger storm especially if they were going for beauty alone Kerry Actually looks like the Character and she is tought but sweet. Halle just needs to bow out and let someone else do this. The black Panther Michael Jai White and Kerry Washington as storm Magic……
I was really into the 90s version of XMEN. Loved it! My favorite has always been Wolverine. I also loved Jubilee, Gambit, and Rogue.
I agree that Gambit kinda sucked in the movie. Taylor did better than some others would have done, but I was not satisfied at all. I would love for them to have done a Gambit and Rogue, but of course he’d be too old.
I wish they would have done a Storm movie, from way back when she was a child pickpocketing the Professor to where the Africans thought she was the greatgranddughter of a goddess.
Maybe even an X4 movie but they have to bring in Jubilee. And Rogue has to fly with that cool accent. Jean and Storm and even the professor should fly too. I think they could even bring in, or at least mention, Apocalypse. IDK, I they just digitally remaster the animated series from the 90s, Id be happy.
I love gambit and loved taylor’s work. I’m glad rogue was not in it. That’s one character i can’t stand. She’s just whiny about almost everything. I would love to see a gambit movie without rogue. She gets on my nerves.
I would love to see Taylor do the gambit in a solo movie.
I know he would do a great job with that character.
If Naomi Campbell could act she would be perfect as Storm. If you’ve read the comics she fits the character perfectly. Tall, has an accent and the complexion are all a match
Angela Bassett Wouk be the perfect storm. She still has a nice figure. But if they want to go younger I would go Sanaa Lathon, younger and prettier would be Gabrielle Union. Using halle berry was the biggest mistake ever