Simon Kinberg Discusses The Future Of X-Men, Including X-Force, Wolverine & More
This year, 20th Century Fox has three movies going into production that take place in the X-Men universe. There's Deadpool 2 (which debuted a teaser in front of Logan), The New Mutants from director Josh Boone, and the next X-Men movie, which won't be called Supernova as has been rumored, but may end up having franchise producer and writer Simon Kinberg direct.
Speaking of which, Kinberg has been making the publicity rounds while promoting Logan (make sure you check out that interview linked above!), and he's addressed everything from X-Force to the possibility of him directing the next X-Men movie, and even what will happen with the character of Wolverine. Find out more below.
The Next X-Men Movie
First up, Simon Kinberg won't confirm whether or not he's directing the sequel that previously had the working title of X-Men: Supernova. However, he did confirm to Deadline that if he would make his directorial debut with the film, he would still write the script as well:
"I've read those reports. If I were to direct, I would certainly write. As someone who started his career as a writer then transitioned into being a writer-producer, when I make that transition into directing, I would definitely want to be the writer as well. It's because I can't imagine directing something that I didn't create myself. Having made many great movies, the ones I feel the most emotionally connected to are the ones I wrote."
It's probably a safe bet that Kinberg will end up directing this X-Men movie, but they're still working out the finer details of the deal. After all, Kinberg is probably pretty busy already, with so many X-Men universe movies going into production. And those includes a movie that isn't even on the immediate horizon.
What's Up With X-Force?
X-Force will be another mutant team-up project, and it's meant to be an R-rated venture that stars Deadpool and the yet-to-be-introduced character Cable (who was teased in the Deadpool 2 teaser and will debut in the actual movie). It might be the first movie that starts to really create more crossovers between the separate X-Men families. Here's what Kinberg had to say about the X-Force movie and the future connectivity of the X-Men franchise:
"Deadpool 2 is going into production this year. Then X Force which is a combination of Deadpool, and Cable –they're like the Black ops of the X-Men. They're much darker and have an R-rated decibel. There are other X-Men characters coming into X-Force at different times in the comic, but it's separate from X-Men. There is a larger architecture to tell these stories in. I talk to the studio all the time about this and there is a plan for how these movies can connect and be a part of a larger narrative. It's something that's fun, exciting and it will be interesting to see how we marry the different tones that we've been generating in these standalone movies of the X-Men universe. But we go into making the best movie we can. It's not just about a Colossus or Deadpool cameo. Connecting all of these movies will happen when it organically makes sense. These movies aren't simply being built as stepping stones to a larger story. Each one is wholly enclosed and a movie worth seeing."
Right now 20th Century Fox is in a prime position to revamp how they approach their comic book franchises that have ties to X-Men. It sounds like they may take a more casual approach to connectivity than the Marvel Cinematic Universe has, which is something that could behoove each individual franchise. This way, a movie could have a narrative that stands on its own, but still bring in characters from other franchises without being beholden to any overarching rules.
Logan proves that a movie can exist in the X-Men universe but still do something completely different from what we've seen before. If 20th Century Fox continues to learn lessons from the success of Logan and Deadpool, then we could be looking at a bright future for mutant movies.
And Wolverine...
Speaking of the future, when it comes to Wolverine, Kinberg says they haven't even thought about the next iteration of the character:
"We haven't even thought of the next iteration of Wolverine. For all of us, we were keeping our fingers crossed that the audiences would respond to Logan the way they have. I can't visualize in my head another Wolverine but if that day ever comes, we would talk to Hugh about it."
That's all the new information we have on the future of the various X-Men and mutant franchises that are in the works over the next few years. With production on the three aforementioned movies beginning this year, we're bound to find out even more very soon.