The moment this comic fan has been dreaming of, yet was never convinced would ever happen, just did.
With Fox’s X-Men franchise once again prospering due to the success of X-Men: First Class and the anticipation for the sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past, it was really only a matter of time until a spinoff movie happened. An interesting rumor started forming after it was discovered that Fox had purchased a domain name that revealed the possible direction the X-films will take.
After the rumor gained some steam Fox confirmed that there was indeed an X-Force film in development, which opens the door to so many possibilities with Fox’s mutant franchise. THR is reporting that Jeff Wadlow, director of the upcoming Kick-Ass 2, is in line to write and direct:
[box_light]Longtime X-Men franchise producer Lauren Shuler Donner is producing X-Force.
Wadlow is writing with an eye to direct.
X-Force, created by Rob Liefeld, was a spinoff from Marvel Comics flagshipUncanny X-Men released in 1991. Its first issue set records when it sold 5 million copies. (The record was surpassed later that year when X-Men No. 1, drawn by Jim Lee, sold 8 million issues.)[/box_light]
So let’s back up a bit, first. Who or what are X-Force? Back in the ’80s, Chris Claremont introduced a brand new team to the X-Men line known as the New Mutants. The New Mutants featured an international team of mutants who were supposed to be the next generation of the X-Men, and became a fan favorite of most Marvel readers. The original New Mutants consisted of Cannonball, Mirage, Sunspot, Wolfsbane, and Karma, with a number of new members joining on afterwards.
Eventually, the New Mutants became disillusioned with the X-Men, who were dealing with their own problems at the time, and branched off on their own. That is when they encountered the militaristic mystery man known as Cable. Cable has long been rumored to have a part in Fox’s overall X-franchise, and with this announcement it looks the soldier from the future finally has his way onto the big screen. It remains to be seen if the film will tackle any of his familial relations (Cable is the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, who was a clone of Jean Grey), but his time travel origin will mroe than likely play a big part, as DoFP is tackling the subject head on. James Proudstar AKA Warpath has already been added to Days of Future Past, and his character has served in almost all the iterations of X-Force over the years.
While one of the more recent versions of X-Force was led by Wolverine and served as a clandestine ‘hit-squad’ for the X-Men, chances are the movie will follow the original team’s adventures first before tackling any of the heavier issues the newer team tackled. Fox has definitely found new and interesting ways of keeping the X-Men at the forefront of Hollywood, and that’s by bringing in a young and relatively new cast of mutant characters that keep the franchise fresh, which is exactly what X-Force looks to do. And this comic fan could not be happier to see my all time favorite X-team getting the big screen treatment.
Grizzly Bomb 