X-Force

It may be difficult to believe in light of the 2016 election results, but there is other news still happening out there — even in the world of film, which offers a welcome distraction for many right now. And 20th Century Fox is serving up some pretty major news today, with a report that sheds light on the studio’s plans for the future of their expanding X-Men franchise, including Deadpool 3, X-Force and Gambit.

Back in 2013, Fox tapped Kick-Ass 2 director Jeff Wadlow to script an X-Force movie, but Deadpool’s development put X-Force on the back burner, and the Merc With a Mouth’s record-breaking box office seems to have made the studio rethink their plans. Bryan Singer basically confirms as much, revealing that not only is Simon Kinberg currently working on a new X-Force screenplay, but that Singer himself pitched a female version of Wolverine — lending credence to recent rumors that X23 will appear in The Wolverine sequel.

Gambit has had a few…problems. There were the rumors that Channing Tatum was going to walk over budget disputes, then Rupert Wyatt left the film without a director, eventually replaced a couple months later by Edge of Tomorrow’s Doug Liman (reportedly Tatum’s top choice). With an October release date approaching, it seemed a bit crazy that Gambit could be ready in time, but now it appears that the latest X-Men solo spinoff has been given a reprieve as Fox has yanked it from their schedule and set release dates for two additional, unnamed Marvel projects.

Before it even had a chance to break records at the box office and become the highest-grossing X-Men film, Deadpool was already given the go-ahead for a sequel and fans began considering the possibilities for this new corner of the X-Men universe — will Deadpool appear in X-Force? Will he cross over with his mutant brethren in other films? Not so fast, according to the writers behind the Merc With a Mouth’s solo debut. They’ve got some big plans, but they’re not getting ahead of themselves.

In the Deadpool post-credits scene, Wade Wilson came out, Ferris Bueller-style, and told the audience that they’re going to have X-Force leader Cable in the sequel. That was enough to lead many to think that Deadpool 2 would start setting up the eventual X-Force movie, and this latest news would seem to be further confirmation. According to reports, in addition to Cable, Deadpool 2 will also feature another X-Force member: frequent Deadpool buddy, Domino.

Just a few days after Deadpool’s record-breaking haul at the box-office (the biggest opening for a film released in February, the biggest opening for an R-rated film, the biggest opening weekend in 20th Century Fox history and the biggest opening of any X-Men film), studios are already adapting to the massive success of an R-rated superhero film and adjusting accordingly. X-Men and Deadpool producer Simon Kinberg has said that while he doesn’t see the X-Men universe changing much after Deadpool’s success, he said he could definitely see another mutant-oriented superhero film getting an R-rating.

Before Deadpool even had a chance to obliterate records at the box office over the weekend, Fox had already given the green light for a sequel, while Ryan Reynolds has been teasing the appearance of fellow comic book character Cable in the next film. But who could possibly play the warrior mutant best known from the New Mutants and X-Force? If Avatar star Stephen Lang has his way, it’ll be him.

As we previously told you, Deadpool has not one, but two post-credits scene. One of them has been shown at the various promotional and press screenings around the company. The other has been kept under wraps, only to be revealed when the film opens in theaters this Friday. But if you absolutely cannot wait another second, we have the details for you right now.

Fox has yet to officially green light the X-Force film, but if Deadpool does as well as early tracking suggests (promo screening buzz has been pretty positive from general audiences) and if Ryan Reynolds has his way, it won’t be long before we see the Merc With a Mouth team up with the X-Force for his own superhero team movie. Given Reynolds’ success in getting a proper Deadpool adaptation off the ground, this seems fairly likely.

Back in 2013, 20th Century Fox tapped Kick-Ass 2 director Jeff Wadlow to write the screenplay for an X-Force movie, but when Tim Miller’s Deadpool concept footage “leaked” online, Fox fast-tracked the Merc With a Mouth’s solo film and put X-Force on the back burner. We still don’t know much about X-Force — is Wadlow also directing it? Which characters will be included in the lineup? Will familiar X-Men characters appear? — but new concept art may give us an indication of where Fox is headed with the project.